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JERUSALEM
of Gennath brought water to the Tower of Hippicus
(Bell. Jud., V, vii, 3). Several fragments of ancient
aqueducts have been discovered under the Jaffa (iate
and about the Hamraain el Batrak, commonly called
the Pool of Ezechias.
(c) Adonias, the first-born son of David the king, secretly assembled his numerous partisans upon " the stone of Zoheletli, which was near the fountain Rogel ", where he offered rams and bulls, and was to have been proclaimed king at the end of the banquet. But Davitl, apprised of the plot by the Prophet Nathan, sent Solomon, with the Prophet and the royal guard, to Gihon, there to receive the sacred unction without Adonias's knowledge, and to be pro- claimed king to the sound of trumpets (III Kings, i, 5-9, 3.3-15). On the flank of the Mount of Offence, opposite to the Fountain of the Virgin, is an immense rocky ledge called Ez Zahwcile. This has been identi- fied by Clermont-Ganneau with the stone of Zoheleth ("Quart. Stat.", 1870, p. 251). Wilson and War- ren are of the same opinion (The Recovery of Jerus., p. 305). Conder supports the identification upheld "by the common opinion of the learned" ("Quart. Stat.", 1S.S4, p. 242, n. 1). If the City of David had been on Ophel, would Adonias ha\'e held his treason- able banquet under the windows of the royal palace? Would David have been ignorant of this large and noisy gathering until Nathan's arrival? Would he have sent Solomon into the Valley of Cedron, at the foot of Zoheleth? Would not the partisans of Adonias have heard the sound of trumpets and the shouts of the people before the royal procession had returned to Sion (III Kings, i, 41)? The fact appears to be that, while Adonias had withdrawn to a spot in the Valley of Cedron near En Rogel, Solomon was sent from the opposite side, where was the source of Gihon.
(d) There is no document which in any way at- tributes the construction of the tunnel of Siloe to Ezecliias. On the other hand, Isaias, in the reign of Achaz, the father of Ezechias, speaks (viii, 6) of "the waters of Siloe " (a word which means " sent " — John, ix, 7) "that go with silence". The Hebrew inscrip- tion found in 1881 on the wall of the tunnel is, accord- ing to Sayce ("Fresh Light", London, 1883, p. 116), earlier than Ezechias, and may even date from the time of Solomon. Conder, Maspero, Stade, Renan, and others hold that it antedates the time of Ezecliias.
(e) There is now no question of the fact that the Pool of Siloe was always without the walls of the city (Bell. Jud., V, iv, 2; ix, 4). Now Ezechias brought the waters of Gihon to a cistern within the city (IV Kings, XX, 20; Ecclus., xlviii, 19, fragment of the He- brew text). Isaias (xxii, 11) says, " You made a ditch between the two walls " — i. e., between the old wall and that of Ezechias, north-west of Mount Sion. The He- brews never divided the cardinal points of the compass.
(f) In the historical books Sion is applied to the city of Jebus, which, with the Mello, Ijecame the City of David. But in the poetic books Sion becomes, by metaphor, a synonym for the Temple (Ps. Ixxvii, 68), or for Jerusalem (Ps. cxxxii, 3; Ixxxvi, 5). Sion sometimes designates the people of Israel (Is., x, 32; Soph., iii, 14), or Judea (Lam., iv, 22), and even the Jewish community in the dispersion (Jer., xxxi, 12; Zach., ii, 7). In the days of the Machabees the City of David, to the west of the Temple, has become the resort of infidels (I Mach., i, 35 sqq.). Symljolically, the name of Sion was transferred to the Temple and its fortress, which had become the only remaining stronghold of Israel's faith. But Ophel was always excluded from this svmliolical Sion (I Much., xii, 36, 37). The text of the Bible, stiidii'd and intcrprcte<l on the spot, indicates the sanii^ hill for the locality of the holy Sion, the City of David, as does tradition. Archajology, too, positively confirms tradition.
(3) Sion the Upper City. — The sides of the tradi- tional Mount Sion contain a great many dwelling-
places whollv or partly excavated in the rock. These
were, according to the common opinion, the houses of
the aljoriginal inhabitants. While constructing the
Gobat School and the Protestant cemetery, in 1874-
75, to the south of the western plateau of Sion,
Maudslay discovered the line of an ancient fortress.
Its base is a scarp cut vertically in the rock, about 600
feet in length, and 40 to 50 feet in height. To the
west and east of this colossal scarp are salients hewn
out of the rock, their siiles measuring 40 to 50 feet.
These are the rock bases of flanking towers. The first
is 20 feet in height, and rests upon a plateau of rock
rudely shaped into a talus. Along the scarp runs a
ditch, which is also dug out of the hving rock, having a
depth of from 5 to 10 feet and an average width of 18
feet (Conder, "The Rock Scarp of Zion" in " Quart.
Stat.", 1875, pp. 81 sq.). In 1894 Bhss took up and
continued the work of exploration. From the eastern
tower the scarp turns towards the north-east, follow-
ing the outlines of the high plateau, and the ditch
follows uninterruptedly in the same direction. On
account of some houses which are grouped about the
Holy Cenacle, the exploration has only been carried on
to a length of 185 feet. The scarp was once crowned
by a wall (some of the stones of which, cut and bev-
elled, were found in situ), rises to a height of 240 feet
above the bed of the Ennom (Hinnom) (see BHss).
Tills fortress, which was originally isolated, and was
constructed with marvellous art, and which was so
solid as to defy every attack, occupied the high city
indicated by Joseplius, " upon much the highest hill,
straight along its length, which, by reason of its strong
position, had been named by David the citadel " (Bell.
Jud., V, iv, 1). It was about 2300 feet in length and
800 in breadth. To the north, where it was protected
by a valley of no great depth, Herod caused a strong
castle to be built, which made the position almost
impregnable, even against the Roman legions. Thanks
to the dimensions and other indications supplied by
Josephus, it is thought that the Tower of Phasael may
be recognized in the first courses of masonry of the
actual "Tower of David, and that of Hippicus in the
tower to the north-west of the citadel; that of Ma-
riamne ought to flank the western wall. On the same
side the Gate of the Valley formerly opened (II Par.,
xxvi, 9; II Esd., ii, 13, 15; iii, 13), and at the north-
west angle rose the Tower of the Furnaces (II Esd.,
iii, 11 ; xii, 37), which defended the Gate of the Corner
before the Herodian structure existed (IV Kings, xiv,
13; II Par., XXV, 23). The high city, which, accord-
ing to Josephus, was the aristocratic quarter, con-
tained the Cenacle, according to tradition, on the
south, next, the palace of Caiphas, farther on, that of
Annas, and, at the south-east angle of Herod's palace,
the prison where St. James the CJreater was beheaded.
From the Tower of Phasael the wall descended,
from west to east, upon the southern slope of Mount
Sion, and ended ai the enclosure of the Temple. An
important fragment of this rampart has been dis-
covered to the east of the Tower of David, and, farther
on, another piece, 290 feet long, flanked by two towers,
the stone facing of which, on the side towards the
valley, remains intact to a height of 39 feet (Warren,
"Quart. Stat.", 1884, pi. III). This wall was pierced
by the ancient Gate of Ephraim (IV Kings, xiv, 13;
it Par., XXV, 23). According to tradition, St. Peter
was cast into prison in the suburb of Ezechias; after
being delivered by the Angel, he made his way to the
city proper, where he found the iron gate open (Acts,
xiij 3-11). As early as the sixth century a church
marked the site of the house of Mary, the mother of
John Mark, fifty paces south of this wall (Acts, xii,
12-17). The southern wall of Mount Sion probably
formed part of the wall liy which Daviil joined the
City of Jebus and the Mello (the .Vera of the Septua-
gin't). This hill, acconling to Josephus, is the lower
eitv, the Akron of the Syrians, which was levelled
