Letters from Palestine / Written during a residence there in the years 1836, 7 and 8

by J. D. Paxton

The gate of St. Stephen is nearly opposite the tomb of Mary, and a road leads up from near the tomb to the gate. About two-thirds of the way from the gate to the bottom of the valley, they point out the place where Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned. It is rather singular that they have erected no monument over it. It is designated by a ledge of rocks, which projects from the ground.

Mount Olivet is higher than most of the ground on which the city stands—higher than Mount Moriah, and about as high as the ground above the Jaffa gate on the top of the ridge. There are a few olive-trees scattered over the mount, but not as many as I had been led to suppose. There is a mosque near the top of it, nearly opposite Mount Moriah, and what is singular, there is a small church in the inside of the mosque. The mosque is not used at present, and was probably a part of the church formerly. The church is said to be built on the spot from which our Lord ascended; and they gravely showed us what they said was his track, or the print of his foot. We know, however, that the ascent was nearer Bethany, which lies on the east side of the mount. Luke xxiv. 38.

While the Jews chose Mount Olivet as their burying-ground, the Mohammedans love to inter their dead on Mount Moriah, outside the wall, and as near as they can to the mosque of St. Omar. They extend these interments beyond the gate of St. Stephen, as there is more room outside the walls, north of this place, for this purpose. Thus the Jews bury on Mount Olivet, the Mohammedans on Mount Moriah, and north of it along the outside of the city walls, and the Christians on Mount Zion. There may be other burying-grounds occupied by each of these classes of persons; but these appear to be the ones most in use at present.

The north and west sides are the most assailable parts of the city. The wall there runs on ground nearly level; it is, however, high and strong. The rock for making it appears to have been raised from a space twenty or thirty feet outside the wall, and thus a pretty deep ditch has been formed, which gives much strength to the wall as a means of defence. There is north of the city an extensive grove of olives, and a few other trees. It seems to me almost certain, that the city must once have extended farther north and north-west. The old ruins and cisterns indicate that buildings have extended in that direction.

I had often heard of the Sepulchres of the Kings, and took this occasion to visit them. They are about a mile north-west of the city wall. Instead of being on the side of a hill as I expected, I found them on a level part of the plain. That part of the plain, as indeed is usual, is based on a horizontal stratum of rock. At this place the rock is more firm and compact than usual. A space, perhaps forty feet square, has been cut down fifteen or twenty feet, perhaps originally twenty-five or thirty feet, and the whole of the rock removed, leaving the sides regular and smooth, like the walls of a house. Parallel to the south side, and at the distance of eight or ten feet, a graduated road has been made fifteen or twenty feet wide, on a moderate descent, which brings it down near the south-east corner, to nearly the same level with the floor within. A noble archway is hewn through this wall, wide enough to admit three or four men abreast. The whole is evidently much filled up—enough remains to show that it was well planned and well executed.

Within this house-like place that I have described, and at the western side, about eight feet of the upper part is covered with sculpture of various kinds, wrought on the face of the rock. It is rich, and of admirable execution. The part under this is hewn away, and a kind of portico made, twenty feet long, ten or twelve feet wide, and twelve feet high. I give these as the probable dimensions, as I did not measure them. At the south end of this portico, the rubbish, which had accumulated several feet, has been removed, and an opening was found cut through the solid rock. Only so much of the rubbish was removed as would enable a person, by creeping, to enter. After creeping a few feet, we entered a room of considerable size, say twelve feet square. From this room doorways opened to another room, and from this to others; most of them on the same level, but some of the passages lead to rooms below, and, in one place, the hollow sound which the floor gave clearly showed that there were yet other excavations beneath. These rooms had niches all around for receiving the dead.

Originally these doorways had stone doors, with stone hinges. The place for hanging the doors was obvious, and we saw several of the broken doors made of a single stone slab. In one of the inner rooms we saw some richly carved covers of a sarcophagus; the sarcophagus itself was gone. The door of this room was lying there nearly entire; it was richly carved, and wrought in a kind of panel-work. The stone hinges were like those wooden hinges which we often meet with in cabins, stables, &c. On one side of the stone a piece is left at both ends to project out a few inches; holes are cut in the doorway of such a size as will receive these projections, the upper one made deep, the door put in, and made to turn on these points. These tombs, although called the Tombs of the Kings, are not believed to have been the place where the kings of Judah were interred. We are told that they were usually buried in the city of David,—that is, on Mount Zion. 2 Chron. xxiv. 16. We know not why they are so called; possibly because they are the most remarkable sepulchres that are known in the vicinity.

Learning that at the distance of a mile or two to the north-west, on the same plain, there was a remarkable set of sepulchres, called the Sepulchre of the Judges, we concluded to visit them also. There are extensive beds of rock in this part of the plain, and in many places its upper surface is six, eight, and ten feet above the level of the soil. The rock is softer than that at the sepulchre of the kings, being of that soft, friable limestone, which, from the ease with which it is worked, is so much used in building. I could see that in all directions it had been quarried and removed.

Advantage was taken of a place where the rock rose eight or ten feet above the ground. It was cut so as to make a plain, smooth front. Then a little porch-like place is hewn out, not unlike that described at the sepulchre of the kings, the rock being left above for a cover. A door was then cut in, with some rich carving over it. This led into a large room, around which were a number of niches for depositing the dead. Doorways opened at the three sides to other rooms, and around these were niches—from these again to others. Passing down through a hole in the corner of the first large room, we found that there was one under it of nearly the same size. It was in a less finished state than any of the others. It is usually said, that there are seventy or seventy-two of those niches for corpses—the number of judges in the Jewish sanhedrim. We could not make out that number. We found sixty-eight or sixty-nine, if my memory be correct.