This gives for the whole circumference a distance of 2 English miles less 74 yards; or very nearly 2 geographical miles. III. ADJACENT VALLIES AND HILLS. Valley of Jehoshaphat. Brook Kidron. The deep valley on the East of Jerusalem appears to be mentioned both in the Old and New Testament only under the name of the Brook or Torrent Kidron. Josephus also gives it only the same name.' The prophet Joel speaks indeed of a Valley of Jehoshaphat, in which God will judge the heathen for their oppression of the Jews; but this seems to be merely a metaphorical allusion to the signification of the name. There is not the slightest historical ground, either in the Scriptures or in Josephus, for connecting it with the valley of the Kidron.3 Yet on this slender foundation appears to rest the present name of the valley; and also the belief current among the Catholics, Jews, and Muhammedans, that the last judgment will be held in it. The name Jehoshaphat, however, was already etc. 1) 2 Sam. xv. 23. 1 Kings ii. 38. The Hebrew word is bn, which may be taken as nearly equivalent to the Arabic Wady. The Seventy, the New Testament, and also Josephus, have χείμαρρος, a storm-brook, winter-torrent; see as above, and John xviii. 1. Joseph. Ant. VIII. 1. 5. Josephus has also φάραγξ Κεδρών, B. J. V. 2. 3. V. 4. 2. 2) Joel iii. (iv.) 2, 12. Jehoshaphat, Heb. i. e. Jehovah judgeth. The reference sometimes made to 2 Chr. c. xx. has no bearing upon the illustration of Joel 1.c. 3) It is hardly necessary to remark, that there is likewise no historical ground for connecting this valley in any way with the Valley of Shaveh or the King's Dale, Gen. xiv. 17. 2 Sam. xviii. 18. 4) Doubdan Voyage, etc. p. 262. Quaresmius Elucid. Terr. Sanct. II. p. 156. Reland Pal. p. 355. Raumer's Pal. ed. 2, p. 327. Trav els of Ali Bey, II. p. 224. Hist. of Jerus. by Mejr ed-Din, Fundgruben des Orients, II. p. 381.-This latter writer calls the valley, or at least the part N. of the city, in allusion to the same belief, es-Saherah; p. 133. But both he and also Bohaeddin in the twelfth century, give to the part along and below the city, the name of Jehennam (Gehinnom); ibid. p. 133. Bohaed. Vit. Saladin. p. 73. ed. Schult. applied to it in the earliest ages of the Christian era; for it is found in Eusebius and other writers of the fourth century. There is therefore no good reason, why we should not employ this name at the present day. The Arabs too have adopted it, under the form of Wady Yehoshâfât. It is remarkable that no writer (at least so far as I have been able to discover) has given the topography of the upper part of this valley; nor correctly described either the place of its beginning, nor its course below the well of Nehemiah. One of the latest and most exact travellers has even said, that it commences near the N. E. corner of the city. For this reason, the following details are here given. In approaching Jerusalem from the high mosk of Neby Samwil in the N. W. the traveller first descends and crosses the bed of the great Wady Beit Hanîna already described. He then ascends again towards the S. E. by a small side Wady and along a rocky slope for twenty-five minutes, when he reaches the Tombs of the Judges, lying in a small gap or depression of the ridge, still half an hour distant from the northern gate of the city. A few steps further he reaches the water-shed between the great Wady behind him and the tract before him; and here is the head of the Valley of Jehoshaphat. From this point the Dome of the Holy Sepulchre bears S. by E. The tract around this spot is very rocky; and the rocks have been much cut away, partly in quarrying building-stone, and partly in the formation of sepulchres. The region is full of excavated tombs; and these continue with more or less frequency on both sides of the valley, all 1) Euseb. Onomast. art. Koiás, Coelas. Cyrill in Joel iii. (iv.) 2, 12. Itinerar. Hierosol. p. 594, ed. Wesseling. 2) Prokesch, p. 86. So also, by implication, Quaresmius, Tom. II. pp. 151, 155. the way down to Jerusalem. The valley runs for fifteen minutes directly towards the city; it is here shallow and broad, and in some parts tilled, though very stony. The road follows along its bottom to the same point. The valley now turns nearly East, almost at a right angle, and passes to the northward of the Tombs of the Kings and the Muslim Wely before mentioned.' Here it is about two hundred rods distant from the city; and the tract between is tolerably level ground, planted with olive-trees. The Nâbulus road crosses it in this part, and ascends the hill on the North. The valley is here still shallow, and runs in the same direction for about ten minutes. It then bends again to the South, and following this general course, passes between the city and the Mount of Olives. Before reaching the city, and also opposite its northern part, the valley spreads out into a basin of some breadth, which is tilled, and contains plantations of olive and other fruit-trees. In this part it is crossed obliquely by a road leading from the N. E. corner of Jerusalem across the northern part of the Mount of Olives to 'Anâta. Its sides are still full of excavated tombs. As the valley descends, the steep side upon the right becomes more and more elevated above it; until at the gate of St. Stephen, the height of this brow is about 100 feet. Here a path winds down from the gate on a course S. E. by E. and crosses the valley by a bridge; beyond which are the church with the Tomb of the Virgin, Gethsemane, and other plantations of olive-trees, already described. The path and bridge are on a causeway, or rather terrace, built up across the valley, perpendicular on the S. side; the earth being filled in on the northern side up to the level of the bridge. The bridge itself consists of 1) Page 355. 2) See page 345-347. an arch, open on the S. side, and 17 feet high from the bed of the channel below; but the N. side is built up, with two subterranean drains entering it from above; one of which comes from the sunken court of the Virgin's Tomb, and the other from the fields further in the Northwest.1 The breadth of the valley at this point, will appear from the measurements which I took from St. Stephen's Gate to Gethsemane, along the path, viz. 1. From St. Stephen's Gate to the brow of the descent, level, 4. N. W. corner of Gethsemane, slight rise The last three numbers give the breadth of the proper bottom of the valley at this spot, viz. 435 feet, or 145 yards. Further North it is somewhat broader. Below the bridge the valley contracts gradually, and sinks more rapidly. The first continuous traces of a water-course or torrent-bed commence at the bridge; though they occur likewise at intervals higher up. The western hill becomes steeper and more elevated; while on the East the Mount of Olives rises much higher, but is not so steep. At the distance of 1,000 feet from the bridge on a course S. 10° W. the bottom of the valley has become merely a deep gully, the narrow bed of a torrent, from which the hills rise directly on each side. Here another bridge is thrown across it on an arch; and just by on the left are the alleged tombs of Jehoshaphat, Absalom and others; as also the Jewish cemetery. The valley now continues of the same character, and follows the same 1) This bridge too has been ascribed to Helena; Breydenbach in Reissbuch des heil. Landes, p. 111. Adrichom. Theatrum Terræ Sanct. page 171. course (S. 10° W.) for 550 feet further; where it makes a sharp turn for a moment towards the right. This portion is the narrowest of all; it is here a mere ravine between high mountains. The S. E. corner of the area of the mosk overhangs this part, the corner of the wall standing upon the very brink of the declivity. From it to the bottom, on a course S. E. the angle of depression is 27°, and the distance 450 feet; giving an elevation of 128 feet at that point; to which may be added 20 feet or more for the rise of ground just North along the wall; making in all an elevation of about 150 feet. This however is the highest point above the valley; for further South, the narrow ridge of Ophel slopes down as rapidly as the valley itself. In this part of the valley one would expect to find, if anywhere, traces of ruins thrown down from above, and the ground raised by the rubbish thus accumulated. Occasional blocks of stone are indeed seen; but neither the surface of the ground, nor the bed of the torrent, exhibits any special appearance of having been raised or interrupted by masses of ruins. ---- Below the short turn above mentioned, a line of 1,025 feet on a course S. W. brings us to the fountain of the Virgin, lying deep under the western hill. The valley has now opened a little; but its bottom is still occupied only by the bed of the torrent. From here a course S. 20° W. carried us along the village of Siloam (Kefr Selwân) on the eastern side, and at 1,170 1) The first time we passed along the western brow of the Valley of Jehoshaphat in this part, in company with Mr. Nicolayson, and looked down upon it from above at. the S. E. corner of the area of the mosk, we all judged the depth to be 200 feet. By an error, which is very remarkable in him, Niebuhr estimates the general depth of the valley here at only 40 or 50 feet; Reisebeschr. III. p. 54; Anhang p. 143. Olshausen's Topogr. des alt. Jerus. pp. 72, 73.-The measurement given in the text, although only an approximation, is yet near enough to the truth to correct both these estimates. |