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1. The city of Jerusalem was fortified with three walls, on
such parts as were not encompassed with unpassable
valleys; for in such places it had but one wall. The city was
built upon two hills, which are opposite to one another, and have
a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the
corresponding rows of houses on both hills end. Of these hills,
that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length
more direct. Accordingly, it was called the
"Citadel," by king David; he was the father of that Solomon who
built this temple at the first; but it is by us called the "Upper
Market-place." But the other hill, which was called "Acra," and
sustains the lower city, is of the shape of a moon when she is
horned; over against this there was a
third hill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly
from the other by a broad valley. However, in those times when
the Asamoneans reigned, they filled up that valley
with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. They
then took off part of the height of Acra, and reduced it to be of
less elevation than it was before, that the temple might be
superior to it. Now the Valley of the
Cheesemongers, as it was called, and was that which we
told you before distinguished the hill of the upper city from
that of the lower, extended as far as Siloam; for that is the
name of a fountain which hath sweet water in it, and this in
great plenty also. But on the outsides, these hills are
surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the
precipices to them belonging on both sides they are every where
unpassable.
2. Now, of these three walls, the old one was hard to be taken,
both by reason of the valleys, and of that hill on which it was
built, and which was above them. But besides that great
advantage, as to the place where they were
situated, it was also built very strong; because David and
Solomon, and the following kings, were very zealous about this
work. Now that wall began on the north, at the tower called
"Hippicus," and extended as far as the "Xistus," a place so
called, and then, joining to the council-house, ended at the west
cloister of the temple. But if we go the other way westward, it
began at the same place, and
extended through a place called "Bethso," to the gate of the
Essens; and after that it went southward, having its bending
above the fountain Siloam, where it also bends again
towards the east at Solomon's pool, and reaches as far as a
certain place which they called "Ophlas," where it was joined to
the eastern cloister of the temple. The second wall took its
beginning from that gate which they called
"Gennath," which belonged to the first wall; it only
encompassed the northern quarter of the city, and reached as
far as the tower Antonia. The beginning of the third wall was at
the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter
of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and then was so far
extended till it came over against the
monuments of Helena, which Helena was queen of
Adiabene, the daughter of Izates; it then extended further to a
great length, and passed by the sepulchral caverns of the kings,
and bent again at the tower of the corner, at the monument which
is called the "Monument of the Fuller,"
and joined to the old wall at the valley called the "Valley of
Cedron." It was Agrippa who encompassed the parts added
to the old city with this wall, which had been all naked
before; for as the city grew more populous, it gradually crept
beyond its old limits, and those parts of it that stood northward
of the temple, and joined that hill to the city, made it
considerably larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in number
the fourth, and is called "Bezetha," to be
inhabited also. It lies over against the tower Antonia, but is
divided from it by a deep valley, which was dug on purpose, and
that in order to hinder the foundations of the tower of Antonia
from joining to this hill, and thereby affording an opportunity
for getting to it with ease, and hindering the security that
arose from its superior elevation; for which reason also that
depth of the ditch made the elevation of the towers more
remarkable. This new-built part of the city was called "Bezetha,"
in our language, which, if interpreted in the Grecian language,
may be called "the New City."
Since, therefore, its inhabitants stood in need of a covering,
the father of the present king, and of the same name with him,
Agrippa, began that wall we spoke of; but he left off building it
when he had only laid the foundations, out of the fear he was in
of Claudius Caesar, lest he should suspect that so strong a wall
was built in order to make some
innovation in public affairs; for the city could no way have
been taken if that wall had been finished in the manner it was
begun; as its parts were connected together by stones twenty
cubits long, and ten cubits broad, which could never have been
either easily undermined by any iron tools, or shaken by any
engines. The wall was, however, ten cubits wide, and it would
probably have had a height greater than that, had not his zeal
who began it been hindered from
exerting itself. After this, it was erected with great
diligence by the Jews, as high as twenty cubits, above which it
had battlements of two cubits, and turrets of three cubits
altitude, insomuch that the entire altitude extended as far as
twenty-five cubits.
3. Now the towers that were upon it were twenty cubits in
breadth, and twenty cubits in height; they were square and solid,
as was the wall itself, wherein the niceness of the joints, and
the beauty of the stones, were no way inferior to those of the
holy house itself. Above this solid altitude of the towers, which
was twenty cubits, there were rooms of great magnificence, and
over them upper rooms, and
cisterns to receive rain-water. They were many in number, and
the steps by which you ascended up to them were
every one broad: of these towers then the third wall had
ninety, and the spaces between them were each two
hundred cubits; but in the middle wall were forty towers, and
the old wall was parted into sixty, while the whole
compass of the city was thirty-three furlongs. Now the third
wall was all of it wonderful; yet was the tower Psephinus
elevated above it at the north-west corner, and there Titus
pitched his own tent; for being seventy cubits high it both
afforded a prospect of Arabia at sun-rising, as well as it did of
the utmost limits of the Hebrew possessions at the sea westward.
Moreover, it was an octagon, and over against it was the tower
Hipplicus, and hard by two others were
erected by king Herod, in the old wall. These were for
largeness, beauty, and strength beyond all that were in the
habitable earth; for besides the magnanimity of his nature, and
his magnificence towards the city on other occasions, he built
these after such an extraordinary manner, to gratify his own
private affections, and dedicated these towers to the memory of
those three persons who had been the
dearest to him, and from whom he named them. They were
his brother, his friend, and his wife. This wife he had slain,
out of his love [and jealousy], as we have already related; the
other two he lost in war, as they were courageously
fighting. Hippicus, so named from his friend, was square; its
length and breadth were each twenty-five cubits, and its height
thirty, and it had no vacuity in it. Over this solid building,
which was composed of great stones united
together, there was a reservoir twenty cubits deep, over which
there was a house of two stories, whose height was twenty-five
cubits, and divided into several parts; over which were
battlements of two cubits, and turrets all round of three cubits
high, insomuch that the entire height added together amounted to
fourscore cubits. The second tower, which he named from his
brother Phasaelus, had its
breadth and its height equal, each of them forty cubits; over
which was its solid height of forty cubits; over which a cloister
went round about, whose height was ten cubits, and it was covered
from enemies by breast-works and bulwarks. There was also built
over that cloister another tower, parted into magnificent rooms,
and a place for bathing; so that this tower wanted nothing that
might make it appear to be a
royal palace. It was also adorned with battlements and
turrets, more than was the foregoing, and the entire altitude
was about ninety cubits; the appearance of it resembled the tower
of Pharus, which exhibited a fire to such as sailed to
Alexandria, but was much larger than it in compass. This was now
converted to a house, wherein Simon exercised
his tyrannical authority. The third tower was Mariamne, for
that was his queen's name; it was solid as high as twenty cubits;
its breadth and its length were twenty cubits, and were equal to
each other; its upper buildings were more
magnificent, and had greater variety, than the other towers
had; for the king thought it most proper for him to adorn that
which was denominated from his wife, better than
those denominated from men, as those were built stronger than
this that bore his wife's name. The entire height of this tower
was fifty cubits.
4. Now as these towers were so very tall, they appeared
much taller by the place on which they stood; for that very old
wall wherein they were was built on a high hill, and was itself a
kind of elevation that was still thirty cubits taller; over which
were the towers situated, and thereby were
made much higher to appearance. The largeness also of
the stones was wonderful; for they were not made of
common small stones, nor of such large ones only as men
could carry, but they were of white marble, cut out of the
rock; each stone was twenty cubits in length, and ten in breadth,
and five in depth. They were so exactly united to one another,
that each tower looked like one entire rock of stone, so growing
naturally, and afterward cut by the hand of the artificers into
their present shape and corners; so little, or not at all, did
their joints or connexion appear. low as these towers were
themselves on the north side of the wall, the king had a palace
inwardly thereto adjoined, which exceeds all my ability to
describe it; for it was so very curious as to want no cost nor
skill in its construction, but was entirely walled about to the
height of thirty cubits, and was adorned with towers at equal
distances, and with large bed-chambers, that would contain beds
for a hundred
guests a-piece, in which the variety of the stones is not to be
expressed; for a large quantity of those that were rare of that
kind was collected together. Their roofs were also
wonderful, both for the length of the beams, and the
splendor of their ornaments. The number of the rooms was also
very great, and the variety of the figures that were about them
was prodigious; their furniture was complete, and the greatest
part of the vessels that were put in them was of silver and gold.
There were besides many porticoes, one beyond another, round
about, and in each of those
porticoes curious pillars; yet were all the courts that were
exposed to the air every where green. There were,
moreover, several groves of trees, and long walks through them,
with deep canals, and cisterns, that in several parts were filled
with brazen statues, through which the water ran out. There were
withal many dove-courts of tame
pigeons about the canals. But indeed it is not possible to give
a complete description of these palaces; and the very remembrance
of them is a torment to one, as putting one in mind what vastly
rich buildings that fire which was kindled by the robbers hath
consumed; for these were not burnt by the Romans, but by these
internal plotters, as we have
already related, in the beginning of their rebellion. That fire
began at the tower of Antonia, and went on to the palaces, and
consumed the upper parts of the three towers
themselves.
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