Thus was the first inclosure, in the midst of which, and not far from it, was the second, reached by a few steps; this was encompassed by a stone wall for a partition, with an inscription which forbade any foreigner to go in under pain of death. (Ant. xv, 11:5.)

When one went through this [first court], into the second [court of the Temple], there was a partition made of stone all around, whose height was three cubits; its construction was very elegant; upon it stood pillars at equal distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that no foreigner should go within that sanctuary. (War, v, 5:2.)

....

Titus . . . . reproached John and his party and said to them: "Have not you, vile wretches, put up this partition-wall before your sanctuary? Have not you put up the pillars thereto belonging, at due distances, and on them engraved in Greek, and in our own letters, this prohibition, That no foreigner should go beyond that wall? Have we not given you leave to kill one who goes beyond it, though he be a Roman?" (War, vi, 2:4.)

This inclosure is also alluded to in Acts 2:28 ff., where the Jews seek to kill Paul because they suppose that he has brought Trophimus the Ephesian into the inner area. Middoth, ii, 3, speaks of this Balustrade as follows:

Inside [of the Mountain of the House] was a reticulated wall ten handbreadths high, and in it were thirteen breaches broken down by the Greek Kings. The (Jews) restored and fenced them and decreed before them thirteen acts of obeisance.

In 1871 Clermont Ganneau discovered one of the Greek inscriptions of which Josephus speaks, warning gentiles from passing within the barrier. This reads as follows:

No stranger is to enter within the balustrade and embankment round the sacred place. Whoever is caught will be answerable for his death which will

ensue.

The correspondence of the language of this inscription with the statement of Josephus is a striking confirmation of the accuracy of the Jewish historian's observation.

6. The Inner Court.-Within the Balustrade was the Inner Court, or Sanctuary, into which only Israelites might enter. Josephus (War, v, 5:2) describes it as follows:

That second court of the Temple was called the Sanctuary, and was ascended to by fourteen steps from the first court. This court was four-square, and had a wall about it peculiar to itself. Beyond these fourteen steps there was the distance of ten cubits to the wall: this was all level; hence there were other stairs, each of five steps apiece, that led to the gates.

Middoth, ii, 3, speaks of it thus:

Inside of it was the Ḥêl ten cubits broad and twelve steps were there. The height of each step was one-half cubit and the breadth one-half cubit. All the steps were in height one-half cubit and in breadth one-half cubit, except those of the porch.

In regard to the location of the Inner Court with reference to the Outer Court, Middoth, ii, 1, states that "the larger space was on the south, the second on the east, the third on the north, and the least westward." This shows that the Inner Court must have lain in the same position as the southern end of the present Inner Platform of the Haram. This Inner Platform rises to a height of several feet above the general level of the Haram area, and its shape is so peculiar in its departure from rectangularity that it is more likely to be a survival of an ancient construction than a creation of the Arab builders. According to Middoth, the Court of the Women was 135 cubits long, and the Court of the Priests 187 cubits long, making together the sum of 322 cubits. Between the Court of the Women and the Court of the Priests lay the Court of Israel. The length of this, unfortunately, is not given. (The statement in regard to the "place of the treading of the feet of Israel" does not apply to this court.) The present Inner Platform is about 300 cubits in the line from east to west through the middle. This leaves no room for the Court of Israel on the present Inner Platform, unless we suppose that the Court of the Women lay on the lower level east of the present Inner Platform. On this hypothesis the Court of Israel and Court of the Priests will coincide with the southern half of the raised Inner Platform of the Haram.

7. The Altar.-Josephus and Middoth both place the Temple at the west end of the Inner Court, with the Court of the Priests and the Court of Israel and the Court of the Women to the eastward (cf. War, ii, 17:3). The Temple, accordingly, must have stood close to the western edge of the present Inner Platform of the Haram. In front of the Temple in the Court of the Priests stood the Altar of Burnt Offering (cf. Ant., xv, 11:5). In War, v, 5:6, the Altar is thus described:

Before this temple stood the Altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth; each of which dimensions was fifty cubits. The figure it

was built in was a square, and it had corners like horns; and the ascent to it from the south sloped backward gently. It was formed without any iron tool, nor did any such iron tool so much as touch it at any time.

The description of the Altar in Middoth, iii, 13, is as follows:

The Altar was thirty-two cubits square. . . . And in the southwestern corner were two holes as two thin nostrils that the blood poured upon the western and southern foundations should run into them; and it commingled in a canal and flowed out into the Kidron. Below in the pavement in the same

corner there was a place a cubit square with a marble tablet and a ring fastened in it. Through it they descended to the sewer and cleansed it.

The Temple was 100 cubits long (cf. Ant., xv, 11:3; Middoth, iv, 6); and since the Altar of Burnt Offering stood in front of it to the east, it must correspond with the Sakhra, or "rock," that lies under the center of the dome of the Noble Sanctuary. Sacred spots are cherished in the Orient with remarkable persistency. The Altar must have been the first structure reared on the top of the

hill, and the memory of its location has lasted down to our own day and is the explanation of the sanctity of the Șakhra. This rock is the original summit of the hill, which appears here only in the entire Haram area. The highest point would be the one naturally selected at the outset for the placing of the Altar. Moreover, the description of the channels and receptacles for blood under the Altar corresponds with the caves and tunnels under the modern Ṣakhra. This view is more probable than that of Moslem tradition, followed by Conder and some other authorities, which identifies the Şakhra with the site of the Holy of Holies.

8. The cisterns and drains.-Josephus and Middoth speak of a large number of cisterns and channels for water that existed beneath the Temple area. These correspond with the cisterns and channels that exist beneath the modern Ḥaram area, but a precise identification of the particular names is at present impossible.

9. Jerome in his commentary on Isa. 2:8, and on Matt. 24:15, states that Hadrian set up a statue of Jupiter on the site of the Temple. This statue was seen by the Bordeaux Pilgrim in 333 A. D. The inscription that stood originally on its base is still to be seen on a large stone built upside down into the wall near the Double Gate.

On the basis of these facts it is indisputable that the Haram area corresponds with the site of the Temple of Solomon, of Zerubbabel, and of Herod. On this point there is agreement among all writers, Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan, Protestant and Catholic, critical and uncritical. It is the only point in the topography of ancient Jerusalem in regard to which there is universal agreement. This, accordingly, we must make our point of departure in our investigation of the city.

CHAPTER II

THE VALLEYS OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM

Jerusalem lies on a plateau between two deep gorges. The principal one of these starts north of the city in an insignificant depression known as Wâdy el-Jôz, or "Valley of the Walnuts. In its upper reaches this lies about 2,500 feet above the sea. It circles around at some distance from the northeast corner of the city and then falls rapidly in a southwesterly direction, continually approaching the eastern wall. At a point opposite the southeast corner of the city, it lies 200 feet below its source. Between this point and its junction with the other main valley it falls 300 feet more. In this portion of its course it is known as Wâdy Sitti Maryam, or "Valley of the Lady Mary," being so named from the Virgin's Fountain that lies in its midst. Below its junction with the other main valley it is known as Wâdy en-Nâr, or "Valley of Fire. This falls rapidly between lofty cliffs to the Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below sea-level.

The Wâdy Sitti Maryam has very precipitous sides. At all points its banks are so steep that they render the city impregnable on its eastern side. The cliffs are full of rock-hewn tombs, which show that once there existed here an important ancient city. The commanding sepulchral monuments known as the Tomb of Absalom, the Tomb of James, and the Tomb of Zechariah, near the southeast corner of the Haram, or Mosque area, are conspicuous landmarks. The view of Jerusalem from the lower end of this valley, looking up toward the Mosque on the left and the village of Silwân on the right, is very imposing. This valley is dry, except during the rainy months when a considerable stream flows through it. The water of the Virgin's Fountain, which must formerly have entered it, is now diverted through the Siloam tunnel. The result is that the Wâdy has a drier appearance at present than it must have had in ancient times.