CHAP. XVI. +HN.........THC Tomb. Having reached the extremity of the second chamber, we could proceed no farther, owing to the rubbish which obstructed our passage. Perhaps the removal of this may, at some future period, lead to other discoveries. It was evident that we had not attained the remotest part of these caverns. There were others with similar Greek inscriptions, Remarkable and one which particularly attracted our notice, from its extraordinary coincidence with all the circumstances attaching to the history of our Saviour's Tomb. The large stone that once closed its mouth had been, perhaps for ages, rolled away. Stooping down to look into it we observed, within, a fair sepulchre, containing a repository, upon one side only, for a single body; whereas, in most of the others, there were two, and in many of them more than two. It is placed exactly opposite to that which is now called Mount Sion. As we viewed this sepulchre, and read upon the spot the description given of Mary Magdalene and the Disciples coming in the morning, it was impossible to divest our minds of the probability that here might have been the identical Tomb of Jesus Christ; and that up the steep which led to it, after descending from the gate of the city, the Disciples strove together(763), when" John did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre." They are individually described as stooping down to look into it(764); they express their doubts as to the possibility of removing so huge a stone (765), that when once fixed and sealed, it might have baffled every human effort. But upon this, as upon the others already mentioned, instead of a Hebrew or a Phonician inscription, there were the same Greek characters, destitute only of the Greek cross prefixed in the former instances. The inscription stood like the two first lines of the inscription in the preceding page, excepting the cross, Hebrew the letters being very large, and deeply carved in the rug- Inscriptions. ged surface of the rock. The Hebrew Inscriptions, instead of being over the entrances, were by the side of the doors. Having but little CHAP. XVI. knowledge of the characters with which they were written, all that could be attempted was, to make as faithful a representation as possible of every incision upon the stone, without attempting to supply any thing by conjecture: 'and even admitting, in certain instances, doubtful traces, which were perhaps casualities caused by injuries the stone had sustained, having no reference to the legend (766). The following characters appeared upon the side of the entrance to a sepulchre somewhat farther towards the west than the last described. From the imperfect state of this inscription, and the decom. position of the rock itself whereon it is placed, the copy may be liable to error. It was made, however, with great care, and due attention was paid to the position of the lines. The words of the inscription are supposed to be Arabic, expressed in Hebrew and Phoenician characters (767). The arrow-headed character occurs here, as in the Inscriptions at Telmessus. All the face of this mountain, along the dingle supposed to be the Vale of Gehinnon by Sandys, is marked by similar excavations. Some of these, as may be seen by reference to a former Note, did not escape his searching eye; although he neglected to observe their inscriptions, probably from keeping the beaten track of pilgrims going from Mount Sion to the Mount of Olives, and neglecting to cross the valley in order to examine them more nearly. The top of the ނ mountain is covered by ruined walls and the remains of CHAP. XVI. sumptuous edifices: these he also noticed; but he does not even hint at their origin. Here again we are at a loss for intelligence; and future travellers will be aware of the immense field of inquiry which so many undescribed remains belonging to Jerusalem offer to their observation. If the foundations and ruins as of a citadel may be traced all over this eminence, the probability is, that this was the real Conjecture Mount Sion; that the Gehinnon of Sandys, and of many Mount Sion. respecting other writers, was in fact the Valley of Millo, called Tyropoon by Josephus (768), which separated Sion from Mount Moriah, and extended as far as the Fountain Siloa, where it joined the Valley of Jehosaphat. The sepulchres will then appear to have been situated beneath the walls of the citadel, as was the case in many antient cities. Such was the situation of the Grecian sepulchres in the Crimea, belonging to the antient city of Chersonesus, in the Minor peninsula of the Heracleotæ (769). The inscriptions already noticed seem to favour this position; and if hereafter it should ever be confirmed, "the remarkable things belonging to Mount Sion," of which Pococke says (770) there are no remains in the hill now bearing that appellation, will in fact be found here. "The Garden of the Kings, near the Pool of Siloam, where Manasseh and Amon, kings of Judah, were buried;" the cemetery of the kings of Judah; the traces and remains of Herod's palaces, called after the names of Cæsar and Agrippa; "together with the other places mentioned by Nehemiah(771)." All along the side of this mountain, and in the rocks above the Valley of Jehosaphat, upon the eastern side of Jerusalem, as far as the sepulchres of Zechariah and Absalom (772), and above these, almost to the top of the Mount of Olives, the Jews resident in the city bury their dead, adhering still to the cemetery of their ancestors; but having long lost the art of constructing the immense sepulchres now described, they content themselves in placing Hebrew inscriptions upon small upright slabs of marble, or of common limestone, raised after the manner at present generally in use throughout the East. ૨૧ CHAPTER XVII. 1 CHAP.XVII. THE HOLY LAND-JERUSALEM. The Subject continued—Identity of the Holy Sepulchre again contested-Origin of its supposed Locality-Improbability of the Tale-Further View of the Jewish Cemeteries-Aceldama-Inscriptions--Antient Paintings -Age of the CRYPTE-Fountain Siloa, and Oak Rogel -Mount of Olives-View from the Summit-Difference between the Modern and Antient City-Situation of Mount Sion-Pagan Remains of Mount Olivet-Their possible Origin-Ascent of David-LAKE ASPHALTITES -General Appearance of Judæa-Miraculous Impression of our Saviour's Foot-GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE— Olives of the Mount-Tomb of the Virgin Mary-Sepulchres of the Patriarchs-Bazars-Sepulchres of the Kings-History of that Cemetery-Mosque of OmarGreek and Armenian Convents-State of Politics in Jerusalem. PE ERHAPS it may now be manifest, that so far from deriving accurate notions of the topography and anThe subject Continued. tiquities of Jerusalem in the descriptions of former writers, these objects really remain for future investigation. If, during an endeavour to remove existing prejudices, and to excite a due contempt for Monkish errors, the subject seem rather perplexed than elucidated, it is because, in the subversion of a fabric raised by Ignorance and Superstition, its parts must neeessarily lie scattered and confused. The materials have been falsely put together, but they are genuine; and others, coming after, will arrange and connect them in a more reasonable manner. Since the period of the Author's visit to Jerusalem, the building, which had received the appellation of the Church of Mount Calvary, has been destroyed by fire. In all probability it will now -- be seen, that what was called the Holy Sepulchre was a CHAP.XVII. mere delusion-a Monkish juggle; that there was, no crypt nor monument, resembling a Jewish place of burial, bemeath the dome of that building; that we must seek else. where for the place of our Saviour's Tomb; and that the city never was so limited in its extent, towards the northwest, as to admit a wall in that situation. A sepulchre, such as was that of the Messiah, being, of all others, the least liable to injury, would remain in spite of the devouring element. It is, perhaps, not impossible to develope the true cause of the selection made by Helena, in fixing upon that spot as the place of crucifixion. Persons who have been accustomed to compare the manners of different countries, must be well aware how general the practice iss among all nations, of connecting with a Lusus Naturæ, or any extraordinary physical appearance, some wild and superstitious fantasy. Thus the similitude of a hand in the face of a rock, as at Nazareth(773); of a foot, as at the Mount of Olives (774); any remarkable shape in a log of wood, as in the Palladium of antient Ilium(775); the places venerated by Laplanders (776), and the idols worshipped by the Chinese(777); in short, in every country of the earth where uncultivated man is found, Fear, the parent of Superstition, has pointed out objects of adoration, or multiplied articles of faith. The state of human intellect is not less degraded among Christians of the Holy Land, making prostrations and processions before stocks and roots(778), than among the forlorn worshippers of Thor, the loggerheaded idol of Nothern nations(779). Such superstitions disgraced both the Greek and the Catholic churches long posterior to the time of Constantine; and Helena, whether the daughter of a British Prince (780) or of an inkeeper at Drepanum(781), cannot be supposed to have possessed the attainments beyond the age in which she lived, or the circumstances of her origin. That she was amiable, that she merited, by her virtues, her exalted station, has not been disputed; but her transactions in Palæstine bear the stamp of dotage and infirmity. Few things, considering her sex and the burthen of her years, have occurred more extraordinary than was her journey to the Holy Land, and its consequences. Whatsoever might have been her mental endowments, her bodily energies, at a sea |