850
JERUSALEM
JERUSALEISI
few relics of real antiquity have survived till to-day. Under the Mdcid is a layer of dolomite limestone which comes to the surface in the valley to the south of the city, and is of importance, because along its non-porous surface the water, which percolates through the other layers, is con- ducted upwards to the one spring— the Virgin's Fountain.
The enormous accumulation of debris over the ancient site renders it difficult to picture to-day its primitive condition. The extensive investiga- tions made here during the past fifty years, as well as the examination of many kindred sites in other parts of Palestine, lead to the conclusion that the whole area before human habitation con- sisted of an irregular, rocky surface, broken up by a number of small shallow valleys in which alone there was sufficient soil for vegetation. To-day the rock is everywhere covered with debris of a depth varying from 40 to 70 or more feet. Only those who understand how much this vast accumu- lation has blotted out the ancient natural land- marks can realize how very difficult are even the essential and elementary questions of Jerusalem topography.
Of the broad natural features that survive, most manifest are the two great valleys which demark the before-mentioned tongue of land. Tlie Eastern Valley commences a mile north of the city wall in a shallow depression near the watershed, a little to the N. of the highest point on the Jaffa road. It at first runs S.E., and is shallow and open : it is here known as the Wadij cl-J6z. It then turns due south, and soon becomes a ravine with steep sides, called by the ^loslems the Wady Sitti Miriam, and by Christians since the 4th cent. the Valley of Jehoshaphat * (a name very prob- ably connected originally with the neighbouring village of SKafat, and corrupted to Jehoshaphat because of Jl 3-' '-). This ravine, on reaching the northern extremity of the village of Silwan, turns S.W. and joins the Western Valley near the well now called Bit- Eijyub. In ancient times this part of the valley with its steep and, in places, precipit- ous sides, must have formed a most efficient pro- tection to the whole E. and S.E. sides of the city. It is mentioned in the NT as the ' brook ' (xef/'appos) Kidron (Jn 18'). The valley is almost all the year quite dry, but after a sudden heavy storm quite a considerable torrent may pour down its centre. The present writer has traversed the road along the lower parts of the valley immediately after such rain, with the water half-way to his knees.
The Western Valley — known to-day as the Wady er-Iiababi — is sljorter and more crooked than that on the East. It commences to the S. of the modern Jafla road close to the Birkct Mamilla, its head being now occupied by a large Moslem burying - ground. After running E. towards the Jaffa Gate — near which it has been extensively filled up with rubbish during recent years — it curves south, and some 300 yards down is crossed by the arched, though now half-buried, ' low-level aqueduct.' A little further on it is transformed by the erection of a barrier across its breadth into a great pool — the Birkct es-Sult&n. Below the barrier it rapidly deepens and curves S.E., until at Bir Eyiji'tb it joins the Kidron Valley ; the new valley formed by their union runs, under the name of the Wady cn'-Niir (the Valley of Fire), down to the Dead Sea. The Wady er-Iiabdbi is very generally considered to be the Valley of Hinnom. Several good authorities are against this identiii- cation, but for the present purpose there is no need to enter into this discussion, and here it may be provisionally accepted. Although not • Eusebius, Onmiaslicon^, 193. 20.
iteep a valley as the Eastern one, the Wady er-Rabclbi presented a much more etlective pro- tection to the walls in ancient days than present conditions suggest. In NT times it must have made attack along the whole W. and S.W. sides almost impracticable. Only to the N. and N.W. was tlie city without natural defence, and it was from these points that she always proved vulner- able.
The quadrilateral plateau enclosed by these val- leys, about half a mile in breadth and some 1000 acres in extent, was subdivided by several shallow natural valleys. Of these the most important, and the only one which to-day is clearly seen, is a valley known as el- Wad. This, commencing near the present Damascus Gate, runs S. in a somewhat curved direction, dividing the modern city into two unequal halves, and after passing out near the Dung Gate joins the Kidron Valley at the Pool of Siloam. Although extensively filled up in places, the outline of the valley maj' still be clearly seen from any high point in the city near the Damascus Gate, and its bed is to-day traversed by one of the two carriage roads in the city. Though crossed near the Bab cs-Silsilch by an artificial causeway in which was discovered ' Wil- son's Arch,' it again appears near the Jews' AVailing-place, much of its bed being even to-day waste ground. At this point the W. hill still pre- serves something of its precipitous face,* but on its E. side it is largely encroached upon by the S.W. comer of the ^laram. This valley is evi- dently that described as the Tyropocon or Cheese- mongers' Valley, and by it the whole natural site of Jerusalem is divided into Western and Eastern hills.