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Page 51
Page 51
TitlePage 51
CreatorHolland, Frederick Whitmore, 1837-1880.
DescriptionSinai and Jerusalem; or, Scenes from Bible Lands: Illustrated by Twelve Colored Photographic Views, Including a Panorama of Jerusalem, With Descriptive Letterpress.
CaptionJERUSALEM. are permitted to approach the ancient walls to mourn over the desolation of their city, and the destruction which has overwhelmed their Temple. It is a touching sight to see them covering the stones with their kisses and bathing them with tears, while they lament, in accents of the deepest sorrow, the reproach that has fallen upon them, and call on God to cause His face again to shine upon them. I have said that the Haram Area stands upon the ancient Mount Moriah, but it is impossible for us now to know the limits and shape of that mountain, in consequence of the artificial raising of the enclosed ground. It is even by no means certain that the Temple itself occupied the site of the Mosque of Omar. All authors are agreed in placing it within the sacred enclosure; but some say at one spot, some at another: and it has even been suggested that the Mosque of Omar is the identical church which Constantine erected over the rock which contained the tomb of Christ. The author of this theory places the Temple on the site now occupied by the Mosque of El-Aksa. Christ was, we know, buried without the Avails of the city; and if we could only succeed in tracing the lines of the three walls, which are described by Josephus as fortifying Jerusalem, "wherever it was not encompassed by impassable valleys, " we might probably succeed in setting at rest for ever these vexed questions of the sites of the Holy Sepulchre and the Jewish Temple. Unfortunately, the features of the ground in and around the city have altered so much, that his description, minute as it is, cannot be followed. The debris of former times has filled up the valleys to an almost incredible extent, and the ruins of ancient Jerusalem lie buried some twenty, forty, sixty, and even eighty feet beneath the present surface. A society, entitled the Palestine Exploration Eund, has for several years been at work on the recovery of the ancient city, and much has already been accomplished. Excavations have been made in different places; underground passages have been explored; and, by degrees, a map is being pieced together, which will, it is hoped, present us in time with a faithful record of the leading features of Jerusalem, and the position of its principal buildings, in the time of our Saviour. The most interesting discoveries have been made around the Haram Area. On the west of it a succession of shafts, sunk across the Tyropceon valley, has shown that it Avas formerly a valley of considerable depth, and
Date1870
PublisherLondon: Printed by Jas. Truscott and Son, Suffolk Lane, City.
Subject.Topical (LCSH)Palestine -- Description and travel.
Sinai Peninsula -- Description and travel.
Jerusalem -- Description and travel.
Subject (Geographic)Palestine
Sinai Peninsula
Jerusalem
Original Item Locationhttp://library.uh.edu/record=b3601783~S11
RepositorySpecial Collections, University of Houston Libraries
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