And now look northward, and westward, and southward, and notice how, from these distant heights, the land slopes gently downward; bending hitherward as if in reverence, and to add dignity to the consecrated spot. Now look downward. Behold now I spread over the place the spell of a sober and chastened Fancy. I call up again the buried objects of other days. City of the olden time—arise!
See, this is the ancient Jerusalem!
Truly it is a magnificent place; a picture of rare and exquisite beauty set in a frame of brilliants. Recovered from our surprise, and the eye having grown more familiar with the unique spectacle, we turn now to examine it in detail. And, first, observe the walls by which it is begirt; what a proud and formidable array of strength is here. The massive battlements seem to set all earthly power at defiance, while the stones of immense size excite our wonder, not only by their prodigious size, but by their peculiar and careful finish. That wall on the north is eighteen feet in thickness, and with its battlements and turrets is forty-five feet in height; it runs zigzag, so that each part may be raked from the towers, of which there are ninety in this wall. The towers, thirty-six feet square, are of solid masonry, and are crowned each with two stories or suites of rooms, in which architectural beauty is consulted as well as strength, and which are of great magnificence. The angles in the wall are acute, receding considerably from the towers; and the whole structure, as it sweeps around the city, looks like a mountain of solid and immoveable rock. At its north-western angle, high above all the rest, rises the tower of Psephinus, massive below, but in its upper part marked by graceful, though still heavy architecture; it is octangular, and attains an elevation of one hundred and twenty-seven feet.
Within this, separating Acra from Bezetha, is another wall, a solid mountain of masonry, presenting high angular walls, battlements, and towers of exceeding strength; and here, south of Acra, on the edge of Zion, is a third line of similar defences, making, with the steepness of the ascent, a bulwark by no means less formidable than the rest; and on the southern and western sides of this mountain, grow up from the edge of the high rocky precipice, by which it is there begirt, lines of broad and high stone-work, presenting an utterly hopeless barrier to an assailant. “Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof; mark ye well her bulwarks; beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. The kings were assembled, they passed by together; they saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.”
The chief glory of these defences of Zion, however, is a nest of towers there at the north-west angle, “which, for largeness, beauty, and strength, are beyond all that are in the habitable earth.” They were built by Herod, and called after his friend, his brother, and his wife. They stand at a point where the elevation of Mount Zion, contracting into narrow limits, becomes more remarkable, and thus presents their altitude and elaborate architectural beauties in a more striking point of view. One of them is placed in the sharp angle, and is called the tower of Hippicus. It is 46 feet square; and to an elevation of 55 feet is composed of firm and solid masonry, the stones with which it is built being 36 feet in length, by eighteen in width, and nine in height; above this enduring mass is a reservoir 36 feet in elevation; next above this is a double range of magnificent chambers of ornamental yet massive architecture, making an additional height of 46 feet; and above these rise battlements and turrets, the whole height of the tower being 146 feet.
A short distance from it we behold the tower Phasaelus, 72 feet square and 164 in height. Seventy-two feet of this elevation consists of stones like those in the tower just described; and the rest is composed of heavy stone work faced with colonnades; of richly ornamented chambers, and of battlements and turrets.
The third tower of Mariamne, named by Herod after his wife, is smaller than these, but of exquisite beauty, and richly adorned with ornaments; it attains an elevation of 91 feet.
All these look immediately down upon the royal palace, also on Mount Zion; and here the eye is wearied with tracing the labyrinth of courts, the succession of porticos adorned with rich and curious pillars, the ranges of lofty windows, giving light to halls where statuary and carved work have added their embellishments, and where the vessels are of silver and gold. And in the courts below and in the gardens are rare trees, and fountains, and brazen statues, and winding streams. No cost or skill has been spared in this palace by a prince whose resources were of the most ample kind. These palaces and courts and towers are the Kremlin of Jerusalem.
Observe now that long bridge, with its lofty arches, a striking feature in this scene, and adding greatly to its picturesque effect. It rises high above the dwellings of Acra, and, stretching quite across that portion of the city, connects the precincts of this palace with the Temple. But let us hasten to turn our attention to the Temple. The city has yet many striking objects that solicit our attention; the lofty and frowning castle of Antonia, palaces in great numbers, private edifices of remarkable architecture, brought out into strong relief by the uneven nature of the ground, invite our notice; but the wonderful Temple, grand, mysterious, awful, is here before us, and the eye glances impatiently at other objects. Let us turn then, and suffer our eyes to dwell and feast on this.