BETII-LEIIEM
782
BETH-LEHEM
lem, first took possession of Bethlehem, at the entreaty of its Christian inhabitants. In A.D. 1110, King Baldwin I erected it into an episcopal see, a dignity it had never before enjoyed; but, although this was confirmed by Pope Pascal II, and the title long re- tained in tin' Romish Church, yet the actual possession of thv see appears not to have been of long continu- ance. In A.D. 1244, Bethlehem, like Jerusalem, was desolated by the wild hordes of the Kharismians. 'I here was formerly a Mohammedan quarter, but, af- ter the rebellion in 1834, this was destroyed by order of Ibrahim Pasha (Tobler, Bethlehem, Bern, 1849).
There never has been any dispute or doubt about the site of Bethlehem, which has always been an in- habited place, and, from its sacred associations, has been visited by an unbroken series of pilgrims and travellers. The modern town of Beit-lakm lies to the E. of the main road from Jerusalem to Hebron, 4i miles from the former. It covers the E. and N.E. parts of the ridge of a "long gray hill" of Jura lime- stone, which stands nearly due E. and W., and is about a mile in length. The hill has a deep valley on the N. and another on the S. The west end shelves down gradually to the valley ; but the east end is bolder, and overlooks a plain of some extent. The slopes of the ridge are in many parts covered by terraced gar- dens, shaded by rows of (dives with figs and vines, the terraces sweeping round the contour of the hill with great regularity. The many olive and fig orchards, and vineyards round about, are marks of industry and thrift j and the adjacent fields, though stony and rough, produce, nevertheless, good crops of grain. On the top of the hill lies the village in a kind of irregular triangle, at about 150 yards from the apex of which, and separated from it by a vacant space on the ex- treme eastern part of the ridge, spreads the noblo basilica of St. Helena, "half church, half fort," now embraced by its three convents, Greek, Latin, and Armenian. It is now a large and straggling village, with one broad and principal street. The houses have not domed roofs like those of Jerusalem and Ramleh ; they are built for the most part of clay and bricks; and every house is provided with an apiary, the bee- hives of which arc constructed of a series of earthen pots ranged on the house-tops. The inhabitants are. said to be 3000, and were all native Christians at the time of the most recent visits ; for Ibrahim Pasha, finding that the Moslem and Christian inhabitants were always at strife, caused the former to withdraw, and left the village in quiet possession of the latter, whose numbers had always greatly predominated (Wilde's Narrative, ii, 111). The chief trade and man- ufacture of the inhabitants consist of beads, crosses, and other relics, which are sold at a great profit. Smiie of the articles, wrought in mother-of-pearl, are carved with more skill than one would expect to find in that remote quarter. The people are said to lie rc- markable for their ferocity and rudeness, which is in- ch ed the common character of the inhabitants of most of the places accounted holy in the East. Travellers remark the good looks of the women, the substantial, clean appearance of the houses, and the general air of comfort I for an Eastern town) which prevails.
At tie- farthest extremity of the town is the Latin convent, connected with which is the Church of the Nativity, Baid to have been built by the Empress Helena. It has suffered much from time, but still be.-irs manifest traces of its Grecian origin, and is al- leged to lie the most chaste architectural building now remaining in Palestine. It is a spacious and handsome
hall, consisting Of a central nave amid aisles separated from each other by rows of tall Corinthian pillars of gray marble. As there is no ceiling, the lofty roof is exposed to view, composed (according to some) of the cedars of Lebanon, Btillingood preservation, ami affords a One specimen of the architecture ofthatage. Two spiral Staircases lead to the cave called the "Grotto
of the Nativity, " which is about 20 feet below the level of the church. This cave is lined with Italian mar- bles, and lighted by numerous lamps. Here the pil- grim is conducted with due solemnity to a star inlaid in the marble, marking the exact spot where the Saviour was born, and corresponding to that in the firmament occupied by the meteor which intimated that great event; he is then led to one of the sides, where, in a kind of recess, a little below the level of the rest of the rloor, is a block of white marble, hollowed out in the form of a manger, and said to mark the place of the
| one in which the infant Jesus was laid. His attention is afterward directed to the " Sepulchre of the Inno- cents;" to the grotto in which St. Jerome passed the greater portion of his life ; and to the chapels dedicated to Joseph and other saints. There has been much controversy respecting the claims of this cave to be regarded as the place in which our Lord was born.