Not far from this fountain is the south-eastern angle of the present city; and the wall here, projecting a little into the valley, is on this account about twice the usual height. Even at a distance our attention is attracted by some remarkable stones at this corner; and an examination satisfied me that they belonged to the ancient Jerusalem. I have frequently been asked, since my return, whether I could see any remains whatever of the ancient temple. These stones probably did not belong to the temple itself, but there is little doubt in my mind that they were a part either of its cloisters, or of the huge wall that supported its courts. They are just at the foot of Mount Moriah, and are in all respects quite different from the stones that form the remainder of the present city wall. The latter are of irregular shape and of no great dimensions, such as are to be seen in any common wall. These are all rectangular, with a remarkably fine joint, and are sometimes of very great size; I noticed some, the length of which would measure twenty-one feet; and they were all of considerable dimensions. Though the stones are of the common compact limestone found northward of the city, the joints are so closely fitted as to be perceptible only on a close inspection. On the outer surface of each stone, is a pannel, raised one fourth of an inch, and approaching to within two inches of the joint; there is an edifice at Baalbec, supposed to belong to the time of Solomon, the stones of which are all ornamented with a panelling similar to this; the castle or citadel of Damascus is also in the same peculiar style of architecture. Josephus, when speaking of the wall that supported the court of the temple, seems to refer to something like this when he tells us that, although the stones were neatly fitted together, yet “the vastness of the stones in the front was plainly visible on the outside.”[60]
Built into the wall, at different elevations, from this angle on to the Golden gate, are also a great many columns, that appear to have belonged in ancient times to some splendid edifice. They are in a horizontal position; their extremities, which alone are visible, projecting two or three inches beyond the face of the wall. Some of them are of verd-antique of remarkable beauty, some are of a common kind of cipoline, and others are of a very handsome rose-colored marble. Their position, directly under the site of the ancient temple, and their beauty, lead me to think that they belonged once to the courts of that splendid edifice.
In front of us, on the opposite side of the valley of Jehoshaphat, were now two remarkable objects, and descending, we crossed a bridge which here spanned the dry channel of Kedron, in order to examine them. They are two square monuments, lying about thirty feet above the bottom of the valley, and seem to be partly imbedded in the side of the Mount of Olives. In fact they are cut out of that mountain, being composed each of the solid undetached rock, but isolated from the hill by a channel ten or twelve feet wide, cut at the back and sides. They are called the monuments of Zachariah and Absalom.
The first of these is ornamented on each face with four semi-columns of the Ionic order, and a pilaster at each angle, crowned by an entablature, making, with the columns, an elevation of about twenty feet; all of this is one solid piece of rock. The whole is surmounted by a flat pyramid of masonry, the sides of which are smooth, and come down to the edges of the cubical mass. We can discover no opening of any kind in this monument, though there is doubtless a cavity beneath the pyramid.
The monument of Absalom stands about one hundred feet north of this, and is nearly of the same dimensions; the columns in this, however, are of the Doric order, and with an entablature to correspond. These are also cut in the same mass of rock, but are surmounted by a square block of masonry edged with mouldings; this again by a circular mass similarly enriched, and this by a sharp pointed dome, which, finally, is crowned by a stone ornament resembling a flame of fire. In the hinder side of this monument is an opening about ten feet from the ground, giving access to a chamber in it, which is now nearly filled up with pebbles. Both Mahomedans and Christians, as they pass along, throw a pebble at the monument, to show their detestation of the unfilial conduct of him whose name it bears. The authority for calling it after Absalom is in 2 Samuel xviii. 18. “Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s-dale, ‘for,’ he said, ‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance;’ and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called unto this day Absalom’s Place.”
It has been conjectured that the columns and other exterior ornaments are of more recent date than the rest of the work; but the parts all correspond so well, and harmonize also so well with the shape and proportions of the main body of the rock, that I can see no room for such an opinion.
Between the two monuments is a cave, called the Tomb of Jehoshaphat, on what authority it would be difficult to say; it consists of three chambers, one of which borders on the front of the precipitous rock in which they are situated, and is there adorned with two Doric columns, placed so as to support the roof. Back of the tomb of Absalom the face of the rock is also ornamented with scrolls and other sculptures, in bas-relief, covering, apparently, the entrance to a tomb cut in the mountain.
Turning here into a footpath that by zigzag lines begins to ascend the Mount of Olives, we found ourselves soon in a scene of pathetic interest. Yearning ever after the holy land of his forefathers, the Jew, as life begins to wear out, often collects together his earnings, and rouses up his sinking strength to carry him hither, that he may die in Jerusalem, and have his bones laid beneath the mountain of the ancient temple. They are not permitted to set foot within the enclosure of Mount Moriah, but in pleasant weather they may be seen just without the outer wall, seated on the ground, and reading in their devotional books; and even for this privilege they have to pay the Turkish governor. Sad and humbled people! They come hither from the ends of the earth, and, excluded from the Holy Mountain, sit down in the dust without its walls to mourn over their desolations, and, cry, “Lord, how long, how long?” And the mark that is set upon them follows them, even in death. The Moslems occupy the slope down into the valley of Jehoshaphat for their own burying-place; and the Jews, desirous of having the shadows of Moriah fall upon their graves, have to take the opposite side of the valley along the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The ground there is whitened with the humble slabs that cover their graves.
“And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other; and among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of the foot have rest.” The sleep of death! The graves of such a people here by the relics of the ancient city, are a touching spectacle!
The valley of Jehoshaphat, which takes its name from the monument we have just been noticing, is about two miles in length. It is the belief, both of Mahomedans and of the eastern Christians, that the Last Judgment will be held in this place. The authority given by the latter is in Joel iii. 2 and 12. “I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,” &c.—“Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.”