The principle which accounts for the eastward aspect of the temple at Jerusalem, accounts also for the southward aspect of the synagogues of Galilee: as that was open to the east, so they were open to the temple. It would be a crucial test of this theory to examine the remains of a synagogue said to exist near Beersheba, the only ruin of the kind which is not due north from Jerusalem.
The mention of temples reminds us that on Mount Gerizim numerous excavations were made under the direction of Lieut. Anderson. Within the ruins known as the 'Castle,' the foundations of an octagonal church were laid bare, probably the church known to have been built there by Justinian. On the eastern side of the church is an apse, on the northern side the main entrance, and on each of the others, doors leading to small side chapels. In the interior are the piers of a smaller octagon, apparently intended to carry a dome. The church and castle were found to be built on a rough platform of large stones laid together without mortar, and of this--which may possibly be the platform on which the Samaritan Temple stood--the 'twelve stones,' fabled to have been brought up by the tribes from the bed of the Jordan, form a portion. No trace of large foundations could be found on the southern portion of the small plateau on which the castle stands. Close to the Holy Rock of the Samaritans a number of human remains were dug up, but no clue could be obtained to their age or nationality. The study of the synagogue remains of Galilee, as well as the temples, mosques, churches, tombs, inscriptions, aqueducts, castles, theatres, ruined cities and general aspect of the country, is much facilitated by the series of 350 photographs taken by the two expeditions, which are most of them beautifully executed and very many of them taken for the first time.
We must now follow Captain Warren to Jerusalem, where the longer course of the operations supplies us with larger results for criticism; and the _reason_ for the more extended labours is a reason for our devoting more space to their consideration; it being simply the paramount interest of Jerusalem and the richness of the field Scripturally, historically, and archæologically. The ground on which the city of Jerusalem stands is included in a fork between two ravines, whose point of union is to the south-east of the city, near the Well of Joab, and which, if we trace them backward, may be said to clasp the city, the one on the south and west, the other on the east. The eastern ravine is known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat or of the Kedron, the westernmost as the Valley of Hinnom. On the north side they run up to the level of the northern part of the city; so that Jerusalem is not an isolated hill, but the southern tongue of a great plateau which stretches away northward. This table-land is one of the highest in the country, and Jerusalem is about 2,500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, while the Dead Sea, only twelve miles to the east, is 1,300 feet below the same. Of the cities of Palestine, Jerusalem alone is thus entrenched with deep ravines--a mountain fastness, with natural defences on every side except the north; and to this circumstance she owed in a great measure her early strength and subsequent greatness. After Joshua's conquest, the aboriginal inhabitants of Palestine, who elsewhere lingered only in the plains, were, able here to maintain a position in the hills;[13] and Joshua, Barak, Gideon, and Saul passed away without seeing the Jebusites conquered. When David became king of all Israel, it was necessary to fix his capital farther north than Hebron, and no city appeared so suitable as Jebus, both on account of its strength and its central position, and perhaps also from the circumstance that it was partly in the tribe of Judah, to which David belonged, and partly in Benjamin, the tribe of Saul. So strong was the citadel that the blind and the lame were thought sufficient to defend the walls; but the steep ascent was climbed by Joab, and David 'took the stronghold of Zion.' Before David's time the men of Judah and the men of Benjamin had gained some partial successes at Jerusalem, and perhaps before the Israelitish invasion the city had experienced varied fortunes in the wars of the aboriginal tribes among themselves. But in the 3,000 years since David's time, how eventful has been its history! From David to Nebuchadnezzar, from Nebuchadnezzar to Pompey and Titus, from Titus to the Crusaders, from Saladin to Sultan Suliman, who built the present walls in 1542, the sieges have been no fewer than twenty; while the city has been four or five times sacked or utterly destroyed.