A steep path descends hence, to the W., to the Garden of Gethsemane (Pl. K, 4), now the property of the Franciscans. Near the entrance (E. side) a rock marks the spot where Peter, James, and John are said to have slept (Mark xiv. 32 et seq.), and the fragment of a column close by indicates the traditional scene of the Betrayal. (A monk acts as guide; fee 3–6 pias.) A little higher up the Greeks have their own Garden of Gethsemane, containing the many-domed Church of Mary Magdalen (Pl. K, 4).
A few paces to the N.W., on the road to the upper bridge over the Kidron (Pl. I, 3) and to St. Stephen’s Gate, rises St. Mary’s Church (Pl. K, 3; Arabic Kenîset Sitti Maryam), built by queen Milicent or Melisendis (d. 1161) on the site of an ancient church mentioned as early as the 5th cent.; it contains the ‘coffin of the Virgin’, in which she lay until her Assumption.
The Valley of the Kidron, identified from a very early age with the Valley of Jehoshaphat, has been supposed, ever since pre-Christian times, owing to a misinterpretation of Joel iii. 2, to be the future scene of the Last Judgment. The Moslems bury their dead on the E. slope of the Haram esh-Sherîf, and the Jews on the W. slope of the Mt. of Olives.
From the Jericho road, to the S. of the Garden of Gethsemane, a path diverges to the right to the lower bridge over the Kidron (Pl. I, 5). To the left of the path are the so-called Tomb of Absalom, a cube of rock, with a curious conical roof expanding at the top; St. James’s Cavern, a rock-tomb; and the Pyramid of Zacharias. All these date from the Græco-Roman period.
Farther on, to the S.E., passing below the hill-village of Siloah (Pl. H, I, 7–9; Arabic Kafr Silwân), we come to St. Mary’s Fountain (Pl. H, 7; Aïn Sitti Maryam), an intermittent spring, probably the Gihon of the Old Testament. Since the time of Hezekiah (about 700 B.C.) its water has flowed through the underground Siloah Conduit to the Pool of Siloam (Pl. G, H, 9), within the Jewish town-wall.
Farther down the valley we reach in a few minutes ‘Job’s Well’ (about 2035 ft.; Bîr Eiyûb).
We return thence to the town by the Valley of Hinnom (p. [472]). The ‘Zion Suburb’ (p. [473]) rises steeply on the N.W.; to the left is the slope of Jebel Abû Tôr, covered with rock-tombs. Near (12 min.) the Sultan’s Pond (see below) we join the Bethlehem road.
The Excursion to Bethlehem, by a good road (half-a-day; carr. about 12 fr.; horse, see p. [471]), will even repay walkers.
The road descends to the S. from the Jaffa Gate (p. [473]) into the Valley of Hinnom (see above). Beyond the Birket es-Sultân (Pl. C, D, 8), an old Jewish reservoir restored by Suleiman the Great (16th cent.), the station-road diverges to the right.
Our road leads to the S.W. across the tableland of El-Bukeia (p. [470]), past the traditional Well of the Magi (Matth. ii. 9), to the (3 M.) Greek convent of Mâr Elyâs (left). Bethlehem appears in the foreground. Fine view of the Dead Sea (p. [479]) to the left.