THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
1. The Rotunda
of the Resurrection.
these pilgrimages that Constantine thought to adorn the tomb by a structure, the knowledge of which is due chiefly to Eusebius's description (Life of Constantine, iii. 25-40). Another writing of Eusebius dealing wholly with this subject is not extant. Eusebius's account is confirmed and supplemented by the account of the pilgrimage of Silvia Aquitana (380-390), and C. Mommert's investigations have shed much light on the subject. The site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is to-day shut in by streets. The rocks under the foundation slope from west to east and from north to south, so the site is not level, leading to the necessity for preparation for building by leveling the ground. That fact has led to certain investigations, and invites a description of the parts of the church.
II. The Structures Erected There. — 1. By Constantine: The rocks about the grave are broken away on all sides so that it has the appearance of a monument. The leveling of the site probably produced changes in the relation of the tomb to its entrance, though it is possible that the level of the approach remained as it was. To the east of the tomb lay the stone, described by Antoninus Placentinus (c. 570) as like a millstone, which was rolled to the mouth of the grave to close it (Mark xvi. 3) . The interior of the tomb is said by Arculf (c. 670) to have been large enough to hold nine men standing, and the roof might be touched by raising the hand. The grave was to the north, on the right of the entrance, trough-like, three spans above the floor. This, as the central point of interest, Constantine had adorned with beautiful and costly pillars. A round structure was arranged about the grave, with a circular hall, the upper part of which was open to the sky. The connection of this structure with the other buildings is shown to be possible from the fact that neither the inner circle of pillars which it contained nor the containing wall were closed toward the east.
The basilica stretched in a broad middle aisle and two smaller side aisles eastward from the rotunda, about 245 feet in length. The elevated choir, with the altar, bishop's throne, and twelve beautiful pillars, closed the middle aisle to the east. Mommert locates it partly over Helena's chapel and partly over the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross. Doubt arises as to the place meant as that where the cross was found; whether it was at or near Golgotha, or in the holy tomb, or in the so-called Chapel of Helena, or in a still deeper hole in the rock, the socalled Chapel of the Invention of the Cross. The finding was first mentioned by Cyril of Jerusalem about 350 (Catecheses, x. 19), described first by Rufinus, Socrates, and others, though the accounts differ. The place of the crucifixion was given as in the southern aisle, west of the choir. Constantine's builders treated this in like manner as they did the grave, breaking away the rock so that a high hexagonal platform raised itself above the surrounding level, to which the names Mount of the Rock, Mount Golgotha, and Mount Calvary became
2. The
Basilica, Atrium, and Propylseum.
attached. Three doors in the east wall of the basilica connected the latter with the atrium. That this was to the east of the basilica is confirmed by the Madeba map, by investigations on the spot, and by the fact that to the east lay the market-place. The architect thus departed from custom in the construction of the building, constrained partly by the circumstance that the tomb would not be suitably located in the court of the church. The atrium was a hall of pillars provided with lavers. From this three doors led into the propylaeum. As early as 1844-46 Dr. Schultz and Professor Krafft, of Bonn, found traces of this structure, which were confirmed by Mommert and supplemented by later discoveries. The whole building was begun in 326 and consecrated in 336.
2. Later Structures: These buildings were destroyed by fire under Chosroes II. in 614. In 616 Modestus, abbot of the monastery of Theodosius, began the erection of new structures which, finished in 626, differed from those erected by Constantine. He supplied the rotunda with three new niches on the south, east, and north, and installed altars. To the southeast he built a Church of St. Mary; over Golgotha, a special chapel; and over the place of the invention of the cross he erected a basilica called the Martyrium, between which and the rotunda was a square, entered from the south. The situation of Christians and their possessions after the taking of the city by the Arabs under Omar in 637 became constantly more precarious. From an old Arabic inscription on stone, found July 31, 1897, it appears that the Arabs possessed in the first half of the tenth century a mosque on the site of Constantine's atrium, commemorating the fact that Omar had prayed there. In the same century the buildings of Modestus were burned, and about 1010 special orders directed the destruction of the tomb. In 1048 new structures were erected under the auspices of the Byzantine emperor which embraced the rotunda, chapels over Golgotha and over the stone on which Jesus was said to have been laid for his anointing, and the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross. These coincided in general with those of Modestus, and were entered by the Crusaders in 1099. Under the Crusaders new structures were begun in 1140 and completed about 1168, among them a church with three aisles, in the French style of the twelfth century. The tomb itself was also subjected to change. After the destruction in 1244, the church of the Crusaders was restored in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The chapel of the tomb was newly erected by Boniface of Ragusa, also the Chapel of the Angels. On Oct. 12, 1808, the larger part of the church over the tomb was destroyed by fire. Restoration began in 1809 under the auspices of Greeks and Armenians upon the plans of Komnenus Kalfa, a Greek. The present dome was erected in 1868 under the joint auspices of France and Russia.
Light is thrown on the form of these varied structures by models in Europe copied from the originals. These are the holy tomb in San Stefano in Bologna (430), the Chapel of the Tomb in Constance (tenth century), and that in Gorlitz (1480).
(H. Guthe.)