Seen from the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem appears to stand on a plain declining gently towards the east; but the ground is far from being an unbroken level. On the contrary, it is quite uneven, though in no part rising into hills, unless the remains of Mount Zion be entitled to this name. The steep descent from Zion on the eastward I have already noticed. Passing from Calvary to the south-east, we begin immediately to descend, and towards the site of the ancient castle of Antonia the slope is very rapid; then succeeds a piece of low ground for the space of 100 feet; and next as we reach the site of the castle is an eminence fifteen or twenty feet in height, with a rapid ascent from the west, but sloping gradually down towards the gate of St. Stephen ([marked c]) in the eastern wall. From Calvary, northward and westward, the ground ascends by a gentle inclination, with the exception of the rapid slope already mentioned, at the line which I have marked for Agrippa’s wall. But this slope does not continue far.
Without the city on the south and west, after crossing the valley of Hinnom, we find ourselves on an open and rather barren plain ascending gently as it recedes from the city, and stretching off for a distance of two or three miles; on the northward the ground is rolling for a few miles, when it begins to ascend, and at the distance of about five miles attains considerable elevation; there was probably the Scopus of ancient times.
On this, the northern side, Jerusalem as it is approached appears to the best advantage, as the cultivated grounds, the olives scattered thickly around, the verdant slopes of the Mount of Olives, towering upward just on the left, impress the visitor favorably with the environs of the city; while the walls of the city itself, at the northern end battlemented in a fanciful manner, and by numerous angles broken in a picturesque form, produce, with their numerous towers, a very favorable effect. Jerusalem, however, seen from a great many points of view, is a highly picturesque city; and I can say for myself at least, that I found it presenting on the outside a more imposing appearance than I had anticipated. War and the earthquake had left the interior wretched indeed; nor, as far as we could judge, have its narrow streets, and its low rude houses, even in better times, any thing very attractive; but from numerous places without, and particularly as we wound along the valleys below, its battlements, and castles, and towers, rising from the edge of the high steep bank, and brought into strong relief against the sky, sometimes overhanging our path, and sometimes stretching off to a distance, appearing and disappearing along the uneven ground, had a very picturesque effect. When viewed from the Mount of Olives, the whole city appears like a map at our feet. The houses, which are of stone, are seldom more than two stories in height, and on the exterior are rude and without any pretensions to beauty; but when seen from an elevated spot, the city has a singular appearance, in consequence of the domes, with which every dwelling is covered. Sometimes every chamber in the house has its dome; and as these are whitewashed on the exterior, when we look down upon it from the Mount of Olives, the whole city appears dotted over with these excrescences. A couple of open green spots just within the walls, a few trees rising here and there, the tower of the church of the Holy Sepulchre and its large domes, several minarets, and close to us the extensive open court of the mosque of Omar, with its trees, and in the centre the handsome mosque itself, complete the view as seen from the Mount of Olives.
The walls of Jerusalem are twenty-five or thirty feet in height, and are flanked with numerous towers, both circular and square; and at the Jaffa gate are still further strengthened by a mass of buildings forming a castle. There are four principal gates; and on the north and south two smaller ones or posterns, which, however, I believe are seldom used.
Leaving the church of the Holy Sepulchre, we turned down a street at right angles to the one by which we had come, and leading towards Mount Moriah. It forms a portion of the “Via Dolorosa,” or way by which, they tell us, our Saviour came, bearing his cross, from the judgment hall to the place of his suffering. The street is narrow and badly paved, and at the distance of about 600 feet from the church, is crossed, for a space of twenty feet, by a low heavy arch, which, they say, is a remnant of the ancient gateway. I suppose this arch is near the line of the northern wall of Acra, but, apart from what is said in Josephus, (de Bel. lib. vii. cap. i. § 1.) this arch wants the massive character of that wall; and the account is not at all probable. They call it the Puerta Judicaria, and point to a broken column as one on which the Roman authorities were accustomed to stick the sentence of persons condemned to death; and they quote from Salignatius that of our Saviour as posted here. “Jesus of Nazareth, a subverter of the kingdom, a derider of Cæsar, and a false Messiah, as is proved by the evidence of the chief men of his nation, is to be led to the place of common punishment, and with mock majesty is to be crucified between two thieves; hasten, Lictor, and prepare the crosses.”
We pass on, and again they try to tax our credulity by pointing to a house on the left, about two hundred feet below this gate, as the veritable house of Veronica, a pious woman living at the time of the crucifixion. They say that as Jesus passed by this dwelling, his face covered with blood streaming from the crown of thorns, Veronica offered a napkin, which, having been pressed against his face, when given again to her was found to present an exact copy of his features. Pictures of the Saviour are to be seen in all Catholic countries, represented as painted on a towel, and said to be copies from this.
Though we cannot believe it, yet there is something pretty in the tradition; and the same may be said of a great many of the traditions which they relate to us, but it would require an excess of credulity to suppose that this is her house, when we know that by the infuriated soldiers of Titus every dwelling was destroyed;[55] and the appearance of the building itself must satisfy us that it is comparatively a modern dwelling.
Still lower down they put a climax to all this by pointing out the very house in which dwelt “the rich man,” and the spot (on the opposite side of the street) where Lazarus used to recline. The house is a large good looking edifice, and I believe is now occupied by Aboo Ghoosh.
Here the Via Dolorosa bends, for a short space, to the left, and then, turning again in the direction of St. Stephen’s gate, ascends a low eminence, and terminates at what they call the ruins of Pilate’s house. At this place is a lofty arch over the street, with two windows above, in which, they tell us, the Roman governors were accustomed to address the people; and which they call “Ecce Homo,” from a tradition that the Saviour was there brought out before the Jews, when they cried out, demanding his crucifixion. (John xix. 5.) Here, too, they showed us the place from which were taken a suite of marble steps, now shown at Rome, as then belonging to the Judgment Hall, and which I have seen in that city, where no one is allowed to ascend them except on his knees. Indeed, all the region around this spot is fruitful in their traditions; some of which are sufficiently curious, but the reader has probably by this time had enough of them. I will only add, that the windows over the arch had formerly a pillar between them; but that on one occasion a deputy of the Sultan being on a visit to the cities of Syria, on his arrival at Jerusalem the Father Guardian of the Latins neglected to carry him a present, on which the deputy ordered him to carry this pillar on his shoulders to the mosque of Omar. “But for this he was well chastised; for, on departing from Jerusalem, he fell from his horse and broke a leg; so at least it is affirmed by many.”[56]
Pilate’s house stands a short distance from the street leading to St. Stephen’s gate; and we turned aside to it, not to speculate upon their traditions, but for the advantage offered by the lofty terrace that forms its roof for getting a good view of the mosque of Omar. The Turks will allow no Christian to enter even the court of this mosque, and as the edifice from which we had our view forms a part of its boundary, we were able, from our elevated position, to overlook the whole of it.