Buried Cities and Bible Countries

by George St. Clair

The necessity for this wall arose as follows. Through the increase of the population a suburb had sprung up, not only in the upper reach of the Tyropœon Valley, but on the hill beyond it. On the spur of this hill, which projected toward the Temple, stood the Akra fortress, but north-west of the fortress the ground was high and open, and unprotected by any deep valley. To protect this suburb it was necessary to carry a wall across the saddleback, sweeping round from the corner of the High Town to the north-west corner of the eastern hill; and this was probably done as early as David’s day.

There is not now much difficulty in finding approximately the position of the gate Gennath, the starting point of this wall. We observe on Conder’s plan of the rock site that a narrow ridge runs north and south, immediately east of the Tower of David, and separates as a shed the broad head of the Tyropœon from the western valley. The Tyropœon deepens very suddenly, and any wall carried across it would of necessity be commanded by the ridge to the west of it. The only sensible course for the builders was to carry the wall along the ridge itself, on ground commanding all without it. Exactly along this ridge, at its western side, a wall was discovered in the year 1885, during the rebuilding of the Greek Bazaar. At a depth 15 feet below the present street Dr Merrill found two layers of stone, and at some points three, still in position; and the stones were of the same size and character as the largest of the stones in the Tower of David opposite. Broken Roman pottery was found in these excavations, and a stone ball, such as the Romans used in warfare. The discovery of these foundations enables us to lay down the second wall for a distance of 40 or 50 yards, with accuracy.[28] Thus we know where the wall began, and where it ended. Its intermediate course can only be ascertained by arguments of probability, and by mapping every bit of ancient wall uncovered in connection with building operations and the making of drains. Upon the true course of this wall depends the answer to the question whether the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was without the city or within. We are contented here to adopt the line of wall arrived at by Herr Conrad Schick, who has studied the question on the ground, who is acquainted with every bit of ancient wall that has come to light, and has a reason for every twist and turn and every gate and tower here represented. It will be seen by his plan that he does not stop at the Tower of Antonia, but continues his line of wall so as to defend the northern and eastern sides of the Temple. This is required by Nehemiah’s descriptions. But when Herod enlarged the Temple courts, if not before, these portions of the wall would be interfered with—the northern portion would be removed, the eastern portion had perhaps become buried—and so Josephus is silent about them.

With the course of the walls thus definitely marked out, it becomes possible to follow the descriptions in the Book of Nehemiah, and to identify the towers and gates and places there mentioned.

Nehemiah’s Night Ride to Survey the Ruins.—Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s general, and although the Chaldeans entered by a breach on the north side, they afterwards burnt the palace and every great house, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about (2 Kings xxv. 4). Nehemiah returned from the captivity to rebuild the city of his fathers, and prudently decided to make first a quiet survey of the extent of the destruction.

In chapter ii. 13, we read, “I went out by night by the Valley Gate, even towards the dragon’s well, and to the Dung Gate.” This Valley Gate was at or near the Gennath Gate, at the head of the Tyropœon Valley, and at the same time close to the Valley of Hinnom. It could not be far from the present Jaffa Gate. The Dung Gate—Josephus’s “Bethso”—comes between the Jaffa Gate and the south-west corner of the city; a position also required by chap. iii. 13. “Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool.” The Fountain Gate would be a convenient exit from the city to a path leading down to Siloam Pool; The King’s Pool (el-Berekath) was probably Solomon’s Pool, mentioned by Josephus as being by the east face of the old wall. In after times it would be called in Scripture the King’s Pool, because it was appropriated and used by Solomon’s successors, just as Solomon’s Palace is called the king’s house in Neh. iii. 25. This pool would be within the protected suburb. Nehemiah continues, “But there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.” Why? Because here we have two walls in a narrow space, and the destruction of both of them had filled the valley with debris. “Then I went up by the brook (nachal, the Kedron) and viewed the wall: and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.”

The Rebuilding of the Walls and Gates.—Nehemiah decides that the walls can be and shall be rebuilt; and he parcels out the work among forty-six of the principal people, who each have their retainers. The work is sacred, and is appropriately begun by the high priest, who naturally selects a spot near the Temple—the Sheep Gate of the city wall, which would seem to have been about midway between the north-eastern and north-western corners of the temple area of that time. The description of the repairs takes us westward, or to the left, and carries us all round the city to the same point again. “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the Sheep Gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Hammeah[29] they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananel.” These two towers, we may suppose, with Mr Lewin and Herr Schick, already occupied the site of the future Antonia. In fact they were parts of the Baris or Castle where Nehemiah himself intends to reside (Neh. ii. 8, where the Hebrew word is the Birah).

After these towers of the Baris the various gates and places come before us in the following order:—

The Fish Gate, placed in Herr Schick’s plan where the first main line of street ran out into the country.

The Old Gate, where the next main line of street ran out. It is where these two roads cross one another that we get, at a later period, the Damascus Gate set up. Streets running direct towards a city wall seem to demand a gate in that wall to complete their usefulness.