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erected by Constantine, and consequently the place
of the Sepulchre over which it was built. The so-
called Pilgrim of Bordeaux who visited Jerusalem in
333, while the basilica was building, writes that it was
on the left hand of the way to the Neapolitan — now
Damascus — gate (Geyer, "Itinera Hier.", pp. 22, 23).
Eucherius, writing 427-40, says that it was outside
of Sion, on the north (op.cit., 126); Theodosius, about
530, " that it was in the city, two hundred paces from
Holy Sion " (op. cit., 141) ; an anonymous author, that
it was " in the midst of the city towards the north, not
far from the gate of David ", by which is meant the
Jaffa Gate (op. cit., 107). These descriptions are borne
out by the mosaic chart belonging to the fifth cen-
tury that was discovered at Medeba in 1897 (see
"Revue Biblique", 1S97, pp. 165 sqq. and 341). The
writers must have known that the New Testament
places the Crucifixion and the Tomb outside the city,
yet they tell us that the Constantinian basilica en-
closing both was inside. They neither show surprise
at this contradiction, nor make any attempt to ex-
plain it. Nor does anyone at all, at this period,
raise a doubt as to the authenticity of the Sepulchre.
Was it not possible to trace an old city wall belonging
to the time of Christ outside of which was the Sepulchre,
although it was inside of the existing wall that had
been built later? As the difficulty was seriously
urged in the last century, it will be fully considered
and answered at the close of this article.
The edifice built over the Holy Sepulchre by Con- stantine was dedicated in 336. The Holy Sepulchre, separated by excavation from the mass of rock, and surmounted by a gilded dome, was in the centre of a rotunda 65 feet in diameter. The basilica, extend- ing eastward from this to a distance of 250 feet, embraced Calvary in its south aisle. An atrium and a propyla'um gave a total length of 475 feet. The magnificent monument was destroyed by fire in 614, during the Persian invasion under Chosroes II. Two hundred years later new buildings were begun by the Abbot Modestus and finished, in 626, with the aid of the Patriarch of Alexandria, who had sent money and one thousand workmen to Jeru.salem. The.se buildings were destroyed by the Mohammedans in 1010. Smaller churches were erected in 104S, and stood intact until the crusaders partly removed them and partly incorporated them in a magnificent basilica that was completed in 1168. As in the basilica of Constantine, so also in that of the crusaders, a rotunda at the western end rose over the Holy Sepulchre. This basilica was partially destroyed by fire m ISOS, when the rotunda fell in upon the Sepulchre. A new church designed by the Greek architect, C'onimenes, and built at the expense of Greeks and Armenians, was dedicated in 1810. The dome of its rotunda was rebuilt in 186S, France, Russia, and Turkey defraying the expenses. In the middle of this rotunda is the Tomb of Christ, enclosed by the monument built in ISIO to replace the one destroyed then.
This monument, an inartistic Greek edifice, cased with Palestine breccia — a red and yellow stone some- what resembling marble — is 26 feet long by 18 feet wide. It is ornamented with small columns and pilasters, and surmounted at the west end by a small dome, the remainder of the upper part being a flat terrace. Against the west enti, which is pentagonal in form, there is a small chapel used by the Copts. In each of the side walls at (he east end is an oval open- ing used on Holy Saturday by the Greeks for the distribution of the "Holy Fire". 'I"he upper part of the fa<ja(k' is ornamented with three jiictures, the one in the centre belonging to the Latins, the one on the right to the Greeks, and the one on the left to the Armenians. On great solemnities, these communities adorn the entire front with gold and silver lamps, and flowers. The only entrance is at the east end, where there is a low doorway conducting to a small chamber
called the Chapel of the Angel. In the middle of the
marble pavement there is a small pedestal, which is
said to mark the place where the angel sat after rolling
the stone away from the door of Christ's Tomb. Im-
mediately beneath the pavement is solid rock, which
Pierotti was able to see and touch while repairs were
being made ("Jerusalem Explored", tr. from the
French, London, 1804). Through the stairca.ses, of
which there is one at each side of the entrance, he
was also able to see that slabs of breccia concealed
walls of masonry. Opposite to the entrance is a
smaller door, through which, by stooping low, one
may enter into a quadrangular chamber, about 6 feet
wide, 7 feet long and 7^ feet high, brilliantly lighted
by forty-three lamps of gold and silver that are kept
burning by the Latins, Greeks. Armenians, and Copts.
This is the Holy Sepulchre. On the north side, about
two feet from the floor, and extending the full length,
is a marble slab covering the sepulchral couch.
Floor, walls, and ceiling have also been covered with
marble slabs in order to adorn the interior area and
to protect the rock from pilgrims who would break
and carry it away. Pierotti declares that when he
matle his studies of the Sepulchre he succeeded in
seeing the native rock in two places. Breydenl>ach
tells us that in the fifteenth century it was still ex-
posed ("Itinerarium Hier.", ed. 1486, p. 40). And
Arculph, who saw it in the seventh century, describes
it as red and veined with white, still bearing the marks
of tools. Over the sepulchral couch there had been
an arch such as is seen in so many of the ancient
Hebrew tombs about Jerusalem. The walls that
supported the arch still remain. The door closely
corresponds with that of the Tomb of the Kings,
where a great elliptical stone beside the entrance
suggests the manner in which the Holy Sepulchre was
closed by a stone rolled before it.
It was not until the eighteenth century that the authenticity of this tomb was seriously doubted. The tradition in its favour was first formally rejected by Korte in his "Rei.se nach dem gelobten Lande" (Altona, 1741). In the nineteenth century he had many followers, some of whom were content with simply denying that it is the Holy Sepulchre, be- cause it lies within the city walls, while others went further and proposed sites outside the walls. No one, however, has pointed out any other tomb that has a shred of tradition in its favour. The most popularly accepted tomb among those proposed is one near Gordon's Calvary (see Calvary, Modern Cal- varies). But this has been found to be one of a series of tombs extending for some distance, and did not, therefore, stand in a garden, as did Christ's Tomb. Moreover, the ajiproach to this tomb is over made ground, the removal of which would leave the entrance very high, whereas the door of the Holy Sepulchre was very low. It has been suggested above, that when Con- stantine built his basilica, and for long afterwards, there may have been evident traces of an old city wall that had excluded the Holy Sepulchre from the city when Christ was buried. From Josephus, we know of three walls that at different times enclosed Jerusalem on the north. The third of these is the present wall, which was built about ten years after the death of Christ, and is far beyond the traditional Holy Sepulchre. Josephus describes the second wall as extending from the gate Gennath, which was in the first wall, to the tower Antonia. A wall running in a tlirect line between these two points would have in- cluded the Sepulchre. But it could have followed an irregular line and thus have left the Sepulchre out- side. No researches have ever yielded any indication of a wall following a straight line from the Gennath gate to the .\ntonia. That, on the contrary, the wall took an irregular course, excluding the Sepul- chre, seems to have been sufficiently proved by the discoveries, in recent years, of masses of masonry
