The Recovery of Jerusalem. A narrative of exploration and discovery in the City and the Holy Land. By Capt. W, ... Capt. Warren. ... With an Introduction by A. P. Stanley. Edited by W. Morrison. (Explorations in the Peninsula of Sinai. By F. W. Holland.)

Introduction

I',Y ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D., DEAN OF WESTMINSTER. EDITED BY WALTER MOREISON, M.P., HONORARY TREASURER TO THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, ljublisljfr in ©roinarg to ilrr fflajestrj. 1871. LONDON . PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES ANI) SONS, STABIFOKH STKhET AND CHARING CROSS. The following' pages are put forth in the hope that they will be found to contribute in no small measure to our knowledge of the Holy City and the sacred localities about it ; that they will help to show not only what is known, but what is unknown ; and that they will serve as a further aid to real students of the Book which gives this volume all its interest. The Editor thinks it desirable to give a few words of explanation by way of preface. The work of the Fund had grown so much upon the hands of the Committee, had assumed dimensions so much larger than was originally contemplated, that it became important to devise some means, besides the medium of the " Quarterly Statement " issued by the Fund, of summing up' and popularizing the main results obtained.

This has been done in the following pages. In this volume will be found, besides other papers, VI an account of Captain Wilson's Survey, for which the necessary funds were supplied by Miss Burdett Coutts ; and of the excavations in Jerusalem itself by Captain Warren, illustrated by plans and woodcuts. It is due to Captain Warren to state that his interesting and valuable narrative has been drawn up under heavy pressure, owing to shortness of time and ill-health. Returning to England in May, suffering from fever and exhaustion caused by work more arduous and anxious than can be here explained, he found himself called upon not only to prepare a com plete account of his excavations, but also to give at several meetings an oral statement.* The limits of this volume have compelled the Editor, most unwillingly, to make considerable re ductions in Captain Warren's original paper.

Care has been taken to preserve all that relates to the actual work, while his conclusions are given in full. The revised paper has been submitted to Captain Warren. Ill-health has prevented Mr. Deutsch from con- * There are five illustrations for which the thanks of the Editor are due to the manager of the " Illustrated London News." These are the two full page engravings of Wilson's Arch and Eobinson's Arch,' and the three small ones of the shafts at the South-East Angle tho Golden Gateway, and the chamber at the North-East Angle, a'h of these, except the last, which is from a sketch by Captain Warren were taken in Jerusalem by Mr. Simpson, who examined all the works in company with him. They subsequently appeared in the " Illustrated London News ;" and permission has been very kindly given to re produce them here with some slight alterations made by Captain Warren himself. tributing an essay on the Moabite Stone, as had been originally contemplated.

There will be found, however, an accurate history of the finding and the steps taken for the recovery of the stone, with two of the latest translations. The Editor has to record his thanks to Mr. Greville Chester and Mr. Phene' Spiers for their valuable contributions, prepared at very short notice. He must, also, express his gratitude to the Count de Vogiie for the fulfilment of his promise to con tribute his paper on the Hauran. He was already at the front with the French army, occupied in his noble work with the ambulance corps, when a letter from the Secretary reached him, reminding him of the promised contribution. He hastened back to Paris, sent off the MS., which wanted only the last paragraphs, and returned to his post. The translation has been made with great care, and though it has not had the author's personal revision, it will be found as interesting as it is important.

With regard to the title : more than two-thirds of the volume are concerned with the Holy City itself, while the remaining pages describe explora tions in that range of country which, in a wide sense, may be considered the Holy Land. It is hoped, there fore, that the adoption for its title of the old Crusading watchword, the " Recovery of Jerusalem," will be thought germane to the general object of the Society under whose auspices it is put forth. That old cry pointed to the Land as well as to the City, and may fairly be used for the purpose of the new Crusade. The materials for the book, with the ex ception of those on the surveys of Jerusalem and Sinai, carried out under the direction of Colonel Sir Henry James, R.E., and that by the Count de Vogue, have been entirely furnished by the expeditions organized by the Palestine Exploration Fund.

It had been originally intended that it should be edited by the Honorary Officers of the Fund ; but the pressure of other labours threw this duty on one of the Treasurers. 9, Pall Mall East, November, 1S70. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I'AGE Preface ......... v Introduction by the Dean of Westminster . . . xiii

Part I

Ordnance Survey op Jerusalem by Captain Wilson, R.E. 3 Excavations at Jerusalem by Captain Warren, R.E. : — CHAPTKR I. Commencement of Operations .... 35 II. Method of Mining adopted 56 III. West Wall of Noble Sanctuary .... 76 Wilson's Arch ....... 76 Robinson's Arch ...... 94 Suburban Gates of Second Temple . . .111 IV. Southern Wall 118 V. Eastern Wall and South-East Angle . . . 135 North-East Angle 159 VI. North Side 189 Bethesda, according to early Tradition . . .196 Souterrain No. 1. Convent of Sisters of Sion . .198 Souterrain No. 2. Convent of Sisters of Sion . . 201 VII. Tanks and Souterrains of the Sanctuary . . . 204 VIII. Important Discovery north of the Platform of the Dome of the Rock 218 Important Discovery on the Sakhra . . . 221 Solomon's Stables 226 b TABLE OF CONTENTS. X CHAPIKB T^ IX.

The Waters of Jerusalem ..... 233 Aqueducts from Solomon's Pools .... 233 Virgin's Fount and Pools of Siloam . . . 238 Rock-cut Aqueducts in Kedron Valley . . . 256 Chasm in Rock at Lifta . . . . .265 X. The Holy City 268 Muristan 269 Gate Geimath 274 Damascus Gato ....... 277 Excavation at British Cemetery .... 280 Shaft in Valley Street 281 XI. Ophel 285 Ophel Wall 287 Extra Tower 293 Cavern in Front of Triple Gate .... 295 Sculptured Slab 301 Khalat al Jalud 301 The Holy City 303 Sarcophagus ....... 305 XII. The Temple of Herod 309 The Temple of Solomon 312 Solomon's Palace . . . . . .319 Appendices ....... 329

Part II

Sea of Galilee. By Captain Wilson, RE. . . . 337 The Architectural Remains of Palestine. By R. Phene Spiers, Esq. •■•..... 388 The Hauran. By the Count de Vogue . „ 410 The Survey of Palestine. By Lieutenant Anderson, R.E. 438 On the Pottery and Glass found in the Excavations By the Rev. Greville J. Chester . 472 Moabite Stone ....... 4gg Sinai. By the Rev. P. W. Holland . . gjo LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Robinson's Arch ....... Frontispiece Haram Area, or Noble Sanctuary ..... 8 Shaft at S.E. Angle ........ 35 Hesban .......... 44 Wilson's Arch ......... 76 Do. do. (from tracing) ....... 81 Capital of Pilaster ........ 89 Eastern End of Vault 93 Voussoir of Fallen Arch ....... 105 Base of Column . . . . . . . . . 107 Lamp 108 South and East Wall 119 Ancient Jar. ........ 140, 476 Incised Characters . . . . . . . .142 Stone C of Eastern Wall ....... 143 Gallery at S.E. Angle ....... 147 Ancient Marks on Handles of Vases .... 152, 474 Gallery at Golden Gate ....... 156 Newly-discovered Passage in Old Wall .... 165 Section through Birket Israil ......

Ib9 Triple Gate 230 Rock-cut Passage above Virgin's Fount .... 249 Eock-cut Tomb ......... 207 Doric Capital, Siloam 266 Gennath Gate ......... 274 Bock in Mount Moriah 298 Monumental Slab . . . . • . . . 302 Jerusalem at Time of King Herod ..... 303 Ford over the Jordan ........ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Lake of Galilee ........ 337 Tel Hum 342 Temple of Hibbariyeh ........ 397 Temple of Thelthatha ....... 398 Architecture of the Hauran ..... 424, 426 Upper Valley of the Jordan ...... 426 Valley of the Jordan. ....... 440 Valley of Shechem ........ 448 Four-lipped Lamp. ........ 475 Ancient Dish ......... 477 Portion of Large Jar ........ 478 Portion of Large Jar ........ 479 Vase found at Birket Israil ...... 480 Potter's Mark ......... 481 Potter's Mark ......... 482 Lamps . . . . . . ... . . . 484 Inscribed Lamp 485 Lamp. — Pool of Bethesda ....... 486 Glass Vase from Sepulchral Cave ..... 489 Glass Lamp .......... 489 Stone Weight ......... 492 Seal of Haggai ......... 493 Sarcophagus ......... 494 Bronze Candlestick ...... 495 Sinai 513 Map of Peninsula of Sinai

INTRODUCTION.

. BY THE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER. The Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund having done me the honour of asking me to write a Preface to the collected papers of the Society, I gladly comply, though not without a misgiving lest I should do injustice to a subject on which, full of absorbing interest as it once was to me, and dear as it must now be for its own sake, as well as for the memories of past years, I have been prevented by the pressure of other occupations from bestowing the continuous attention that it deserves. It has seemed to me that the simplest and most useful mode of introducing this volume to the public, would be to point out in each essay what are the most important additions to our knowledge — especially in the light of such hopes or anticipations as I, in common with others, some fourteen years ago ventured faintly to express. I. The first and most important of all the sites of c

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV Palestine, and that which occupies the largest por tion and furnishes the title of the following pages, is the ancient city of Jerusalem. When I first visited Palestine in 1852, I felt constrained to express what has doubtless occurred to many others, that " when we pass from the com " paratively secure knowledge of what may be called " the external situation * of the city to its internal " relations, we exchange a sphere of perfect certainty " for a mass of topographical controversy, unequalled " for its extent, for its confusion, and for its bitter " ness. If the materials, however slight, on which " our judgment was to be formed were all before us, " it might be worth while to attempt to unravel the " entanglement. But the reverse is the case. The " data exist, perhaps in abundance, but they are " inaccessible.

When Jerusalem can be excavated " we shall be able to agree ; till then the dispute " is for the most part as hopeless as was that con- * There is one point in the external topography of Jerusalem in which Captain Warren has corrected an erroneous conclusion which I shared in company with most others who have written on the subject. He has called attention to what I confess seems to me so incontrovertible, that I wonder how it should so long have escaped notice, — that the valley or ravine of Hinnom, instead of being confined, as it has been usually in modern times confined to the valley south of Jerusalem, includes, if it is not identical with the glen of the Kedron east of the city. This appears to follow beyond question from Jer. xix. 11 ; and it agrees, not only with the Mussulman nomenclature, but with almost all the Biblical indications on the subject, and especially with the word GE-hinnom

INTRODUCTION.

. XV " cerning the Roman Forum before the discovery of " the pedestal of the column of Phocas."* This hope has been fulfilled. At last the excavations of Jerusalem have been begun, slowly and gradually indeed, but when these pages are read it will probably be thought, as rapidly as the circumstances would permit. In the plain and unadorned narrative of Captain Warren, the difficulties and dangers of the undertaking might almost escape notice. Yet the perils will appear sufficiently great to any one who draws out from the good-humoured story the fact that these excavations were carried on at the constant risk of life and limb to the bold explorers. The whole series of their progress was a succession of "lucky escapes" (p. 5(5). Huge stones were day after day ready to fall, and some times did fall, on their heads (p. 248).

One of the explorers was "injured so severely that he could " barely crawl out into the open air " (p. 86) ; another extricated himself with difficulty, torn and bleeding ; while another was actually buried under the ruins (p. 279). Sometimes they were almost suffocated by the stifling heat ; at other times they were plunged for hours up to their necks in the freezing waters of some subterranean torrent (p. 241) ; sometimes blocked up by a falling mass, without light or escape (p. 133). And these labours * " Sinai and Palestine," Chap. III. c

INTRODUCTION.

. XVI had to be carried on not with the assistance of those on the spot, but in spite of the absurd obstacles thrown in the way of work by that singular union of craft, ignorance, and stupidity which can only be found in Orientals— workmen who in " winter could " never get the idea drummed into their heads "that working would make them warm" (p. 71). Turkish dignitaries believing that the sacred rock lies on the top leaves of a palm-tree, from the roots of which spring all the rivers of earth, and with a ready pretence for evading every request* (pp. 38, 41). The readers of these pages will be compensated by being thus enabled to form the acquaintance of such good and tried friends as Captain Warren and his faithful Achates, Sergeant Birtles. We trust that they are compensated by the results of their labours.

To these I briefly turn. 1. The original stimulus to the whole undertakin-r was supplied by the benevolent wish of Miss Burdett Coutts to ascertain the best means of brino-inowater to the thirsty city. The answer to this is given in the excellent Ordnance Survey, accomplished under the auspices of Captain Wilson, and the elaborate * It is gratifying to find that the French archæologists seem generously to have given their aid to the work (pp. 82, 201).

INTRODUCTION.

. XVII description of the ancient water supplies given by Captain Warren (p. 233). It may be added that in this investigation the interesting question of the supposed spring inside the walls of Jerusalem and under the Temple Courts has been for the first time followed to the bottom ; and the result appears to be, that whilst there is no actual spring within the walls, the whole mount is so honeycombed with cisterns (pp. 17-21), as to give ample materials for the conjec ture of Tacitus, and for the imagery of Scripture, whilst at the same time it takes away from them the foundation of exact and literal truth. 2. The course of the ancient walls, on which hangs the much disputed question of the possible authen ticity of the Holy Sepulchre, still remains unsolved ; or rather so much additional progress has been made towards its solution, that as far as the excavations have as yet gone, they disparage, rather than confirm, the alleged proof that the walls excluded the site from their compass, and therefore admitted of its genuineness (p. 10). 3.

The controversy respecting the Temple Area is still sub judice ; but whatever materials can be fur nished are set forth by Captain Warren in the most impartial and unostentatious form (pp. 100,171, 218, 309). 4. The external aspect of the ancient Jerusalem is in two or three points brought out with new force.

INTRODUCTION.

. XVIII There are some proofs discovered of the form of the ancient houses (p. 106). There is also the astounding revelation of the immense height of the Temple wall above the Kedron Valley (p. 187). 5. Some approximation to the date of the walls of the Temple has been made by the discovery of the supposed Phœnician characters marked in red paint on their surface (p. 138). 6. The interesting discovery by Dr. Robinson of what he supposed to be the arch of the bridge, which later travellers much contested, has now been defi nitely confirmed by the disclosure of its remaining fragments (pp. 95-102). 7. The whole history of the cartography of Jeru salem is for the first time clearly set forth, whilst it has reached its best illustrations in the maps and contours now for the first time published (pp. 28, 32).

It is impossible to conclude this brief statement of the results of this part of the subject, without notin« the kindly and just appreciation of the three chief explorers of the internal topography of Jerusalem Mr. Williams, Dr. Robinson, and Mr. Fergusson (p. 286). There still remains much to be done ; the Tombs of the Kings have yet to be found, as they must be found, somewhere within the walls ; the area of the " Noble Sanctuary " has yet to be explored thoroughly ; the exact course of the walls still to be

INTRODUCTION.

. XIX traced. But this must form the next act of the Society's operations. II. In turning from the Holy City to the Holy Land, the first region which attracts our attention is the Lake of Gennesareth. It might have seemed that nothing new remained to be told as to the general aspect of the lake. Yet it may, I think, be truly said, that there has been no account given at once so accurate and so vivid, as that with which Captain Wilson prefaces his narrative (p. 337). Nor, as far as I am aware, has there ever been published by an eye-witness a complete description of a storm on the lake in illustration of the Gospel narrative (p. 340). In speaking of the localities on the lake, I was obliged, fourteen years ago, to say that, " There is " nothing which enables us to fix with certainty the " precise spots of the history of our Saviour's resi " dence, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin." * It is too much perhaps to maintain that these points have been fixed with certainty.

But it may be affirmed now positively that a far nearer approach has been made than ever before. 1. As regards Capernaum, what may be called the intrinsic arguments in favour of Tel Hum had been often urged ; and in recent years the recognition of the remains of a Jewish Synagogue in the great * " Sinai and Palestine," Chap. X.

INTRODUCTION.

. XX ruin on that spot gave much additional interest to the question. But what is new and, it seems to me, almost decisive is the identification of the fountain at Tabigah with the fountain of Capernaum by the discovery that the track round the rock of Khan Minyeh is an aqueduct carrying the waters of the fountain into the plain of Gennesareth (p. 349). This at once elevates the claims of Tel Hum to be the ancient Capernaum to the very highest rank. 2. As regards Chorazin, the identification of it with the ruins of Kerazeh had been slightly indicated by others, but here again it is substantiated more firmly than heretofore. 3. The determination of these two sites naturally leaves Khan Minyeh for the Western Bethsaida. It may be doubted, as Captain Wilson properly reminds us, whether the MSS. allow of two places of that name.

But if there be a Western, as well as an Eastern, Khan Minyeh offers a site. 4. There is another point on which it has been extremely difficult to arrive at any fixed conclusion — the scene of the demoniacs and the swine. The difficulty is to find any spot with " a precipice " and "tombs" near the lake on the eastern side. Mr. Elliott and Lord Lindsay differ in their printed accounts from each other. Two separate parties of British travellers, in 1861 and in 1863, in then private accounts communicated to me, also differ from

INTRODUCTION.

. XXI each other, and from the two published accounts.* After this entanglement it would be rash to say that Captain Wilson's identification of the site with the entrance of Wady Semakh (in which he agrees with Dr. Thomson and Mr. Macgregor) is likely to stand. But it must be taken as the most careful that has been made (pp. 368, 369). III. The comparative absence of architectural remains in Palestine is doubtless one reason why it is difficult to regard the exploration of the Holy Land with the same archæological interest which is excited in respect to Greece, Rome, Asia Minor, and the cities on the Tigris and Euphrates. Still there is enough in the temples of " the holy mountain " of Hermon, in the tombs of the valley of the Kedron, in the recently discovered synagogues at Meiron and Tel Hum, and in the masonry of the walls of the sanctuaries of Jerusalem and Hebron, to deserve a complete investigation ; and towards this an excellent step is made in Mr. Spiers' paper (p. 388).

IY. Count de Vogue's essay on the Hauran is the most scientific account we possess in English of that mysterious district. Its unfinished state and abrupt conclusion give it a peculiar interest. There can have been few concerned in the exploration of Palestine who did not feel a thrill of sympathy, when, amidst * " Sinai and Palestine," Chap. X.

INTRODUCTION.

. the horrors of the carnage after the battle of Worth, they came on the affecting narrative of the scene in which the chivalrous Prussian Prince tenderly an nounced to the Count de Vogue the sad tidings that amongst the killed and wounded whom he came to tend, the first body that he would find would be that of his brother. V. The. Ordnance Survey of Palestine was so obvious a duty for the English nation to undertake, that it is needless to dwell on its importance. It is therefore only right that this volume should contain a narrative of the mode in which the work was conducted by Lieutenant Anderson, " and some " geometricians who could not easily fail of knowing " the truth when they were sent to measure the " country" (to use the happy quotation from Josephus prefixed to the chapter). Besides the interest of the general narrative (pp. 438-471), it may be worth while to call special attention to the remarks on Dothan and Jacob's Well (p. 463-465).

VI. The objects of pottery — described by Mr. Chester — open a new sphere of sacred archæology hitherto almost untouched ; the peculiarity of those in the early Christian era seems well worth noticing. VII. Of all the discoveries connected with the Palestine Exploration Fund, that of the Moabite Stone, if not the most important, is undoubtedly that

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIII which has excited the keenest and most general in terest, and deservedly so. 1. It is the only inscription which has hitherto been found reaching back to the age of the Jewish monarchy. 2. It indicates the possibility — one might almost say the certainty — that more such inscriptions might be discovered, if only we had the means of searching for them. It removes the disagreeable impression that, as no written record on stone had ever been found, no such record had ever existed. Strange, almost incredible as this seemed, when compared with the acres of inscriptions (many of a much earlier date) in Egypt — yet it was a not unnatural con clusion, until this unexpected discovery broke the silence and dispelled the illusion. 3. Whether or not the King of Moab who is mentioned is the same " Mesha " as the monarch of whom we read in 2 Kings iii., he evidently belongs to the same dynasty.

The few indications that the inscription contains of the state of Moab agree with those contained in the Sacred Books. 4. Whatever may be the variations of readings in other parts of the inscription, there is an entire agreement as to some of the most interesting parts. The name of Mesha, the names of Chemosh and Moloch, the name of Omri, the names of the various Moabite towns, above all, the name of Jahveh or

INTRODUCTION.

. Jehovah for the God of Israel— appear in both the versions here presented to us.* VIII. Amongst the chapters in this volume, the one to which I feel individually called to bear the strongest testimony of interest and satisfaction is that on the explorations in the Peninsulaj of Sinai, by Mr. Holland. " Is it possible," I ventured? to ask in 1856, "to ascertain the route by which the Israelites " passed through the desert ? . . . Can we be guided " by tradition ? . . . Such a question can only be " authoritatively answered by a traveller, who, with " complete knowledge of Arabic, has sifted and " compared the various legends and stories of the " Peninsula."! " Hitherto no one traveller has " traversed more than one or at most two roads of " the Desert ; and thus the determination of the " route of the Israelites has been obscured, first, by " the tendency of every one to make the Israelites " follow his own track, and secondly, by his inability " to institute a just comparison between the facilities " or the difficulties which attend the routes that he " has not seen.

This obscurity will always exist till " some competent traveller has explored the whole * The essay on the Moabite Stone has the peculiar merit of giving not only the various versions of the inscription, but an exact account of the much disputed and much misunderstood details of the discovery. f " Sinai and Palestine," Chap. I., pp. 27, 33.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXV " Peninsula of Sinai." Such a traveller has happily been found — or rather two such travellers have been found — one, the Rev. F. W. Holland, writer of this essay, the other Mr. E. H. Palmer, to whose rare knowledge of Arabic Mr. Holland bears full witness ; and the general results are contained in the closing pages of this volume. It is with, I trust the pardonable gratification of an old Sinaitic traveller, that I observe how this elaborate investigation in almost every instance confirms the conclusions at which I had arrived after my hasty survey — always under the reserve suggested by the probability that they might be modified by a more complete research. The spot of the passage of the Red Sea (p. 526) — the course of the Israelites by the Wady Useit and the Wady Tayibeh (p. 529) — the identification of the Wilder ness of Sin with the plain of El Murkhah (p. 533) — the identification of Rephidim with Feiran, and of the sacred hill of .Aaron and Hur* with the eminence crowned by the ruins of Paran (pp. 535-537) — the identification of the Ras Sufsafeh and the plain of Rahah with the scene of the giving of the Law and the Israelite encampment (pp. 520-523) — the general failure of the ancient names — the probable change in * In this instance Mr. Holland rather inclines against tho identification ; but I am glad to find that my view — in the first instance suggested by the lamented Bitter — is adopted by Captain Wilson, Captain Palmer, and Mr. Palmer.

INTRODUCTION.

. the resources of the wilderness (p. 541)- — the com paratively modern date of the Sinaitic inscriptions — all these points, which I had laid down as the nearest approximations which I could make to the truth, have now all been established, as far as they are likely to be, by explorers who can speak with authority, as the first who have traversed not one route only, but every possible route in the Desert, and have seen not one or two only, but every possible scene of the great acts of the Exodus. Such a ratification of what could at the time have been treated only as conjecture, is the best reward that any traveller can have ; and I beg to tender my sincere thanks to the adventurous investigators who, at so much risk to themselves, and with so much advantage to Biblical lore, have been the first to pene trate into every nook and corner of those secluded fastnesses; and, having qualified themselves to say positively where the sacred events could hot have taken place, have been the first to be able to say with authority where they probably did take place.

With these words of gratitude I commend this volume to the serious attention of all who care for the additional light which sincere desire for truth and patient investigation can throw on the most sacred of all books, on the most interesting of all geographies. Much has been done, but much

INTRODUCTION.

. XXVII remains to be done ; and it is in order to stimulate and insure the completion that this instalment is given to the world. May that completion be worthy of the beginning, worthy of the indefatigable zeal and labour which first set on foot this new Crusade, worthy of the Holy Land and the Holy History which it is intended to illustrate and elucidate.