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Munafa ebook

Munafa ebook

Read Ebook: The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume 11 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated Into English by Francke Kuno Editor

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ORIGIN OF THE NAME JERUSALEM--HISTORY--TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL ASPECT--CLIMATE--POPULATION--WATERS 1

ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY OF JERUSALEM--IDENTIFICATION OF THE MOUNTAINS, HILLS AND VALLEYS--JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF THE JEBUSITES, DAVID, SOLOMON, JOTHAM, HEZEKIAH, MANASSEH, NEHEMIAH, HEROD--THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPHUS EXAMINED--THE SIEGE BY TITUS--FORMER EXTENT OF THE CITY--JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF HADRIAN, THE CRUSADERS AND SOLYMAN 16

THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION, AND THE HOSPITAL OF S. JOHN, WITH THEIR ENVIRONS--HISTORY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE FROM THE DEATH OF CHRIST TO THE PRESENT TIME--GENUINENESS OF THE SEPULCHRE--GOLGOTHA--EXAMINATION OF THE EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH--RUINS OF THE HOSPITAL 102

INVESTIGATIONS IN THE VIA DOLOROSA . THE RELIGIOUS AND OTHER REMARKABLE BUILDINGS IN IT OR IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD AND IN THE REST OF THE CITY, TOGETHER WITH ALL THE CONVENTS OF THE DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES 135

EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE CITY ON THE EAST, SOUTH, AND SOUTH-WEST--THE VALLEY OF KIDRON, CALLED ALSO THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT, WITH ITS MONUMENTS AND REMARKABLE PLACES--THE MOUNT OF OLIVES--BETHPHAGE--BETHANY--THE VALLEY OF HINNOM--THE MOUNT OF EVIL COUNSEL--SOUTH-WESTERN PART OF THE VALLEY OF GIHON--MOUNT SION--CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES--TOMB OF DAVID, AND SUBTERRANEAN VAULTS--THE COENACULUM--THE HOUSE OF CAIAPHAS--THE GROTTO OF S. PETER--THE LEPERS 167

EXCURSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE CITY ON THE NORTH AND WEST--THE MONUMENT OF HELENA OF ADIABENE, AND THE CHURCH DEDICATED TO S. STEPHEN--ROYAL CAVERNS--GROTTO OF JEREMIAH--HOUSE OF THE VINE--TOMBS OF THE KINGS--SHEIKH JERRAH--ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE--TOMB OF SIMON THE JUST--TOMBS AT THE HEAD OF THE KIDRON VALLEY--KIDRON POOL--VARIOUS TOMBS ON THE NORTH-WEST--TOMBS OF THE JUDGES--SHEIKH AYMAR--RUSSIAN BUILDINGS--VALLEY OF GIHON--BIRKET MAMILLAH--MONUMENT OF HEROD, AND RUINS OF THE CHURCH OF S. BABYLAS--GREEK CONVENT OF THE HOLY CROSS--PROPERTY OF THE ARCHIMANDRITE NICOFORUS 223

ON THE WATERS, FIT OR UNFIT FOR DRINKING, IN JERUSALEM AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 245

GENERAL REMARKS UPON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM 262

NOTES 281

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY 311

PRINCIPAL PASSAGES FROM THE HOLY BIBLE 315

PASSAGES FROM JOSEPHUS'S ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS 323

PASSAGES FROM JOSEPHUS'S HISTORY OF THE JEWISH WAR 327

INDEX 333

CORRIGENDA ET ADDENDA.

JERUSALEM EXPLORED.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME JERUSALEM--HISTORY--TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL ASPECT--CLIMATE--POPULATION--WATERS.

Adonizedek was king of Jerusalem at the time of the conquest under Joshua. He fell in battle against the Jews, near Gibeon, and some time after the lower town was taken by them. The Jebusites, however, still remained in it, among the descendants of Judah and Benjamin, and were not driven from the upper town till the eighth year of David's reign, when their stronghold was taken by storm, and the place became the capital of his kingdom. Jerusalem attained to its highest pitch of grandeur under the government of Solomon, being the centre of commerce, civilization, and religion. After the division of the Tribes, it continued to be the capital of the kingdom of Judah. In the fifth year of Rehoboam it was taken and sacked by Shishak, king of Egypt. In the reign of Jehoram bands of Philistines and Arabs entered the city, plundered the king's palace, and carried his wives and sons into captivity. In the reign of Amaziah it was sacked by Joash king of Israel. It was unsuccessfully threatened by the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah. Manasseh fortified the western side of the city and Ophel, but it was laid waste by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar.

After a captivity of half a century, the Jews were permitted by Cyrus to rebuild it, but, owing to the opposition of their enemies, the work was not completed till the time of Nehemiah. Jerusalem was involved in the troubles caused by the fall of the Persian Empire. The city opened its gates to Alexander, who not only treated it with humanity, but also conferred upon it several privileges. After his death it was taken by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, king of Egypt. Under the Ptolemies, and for a while under the Seleucidae, it on the whole enjoyed peace and honour, until the barbarity of the tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes renewed the sorrows of the unhappy city. The heroic sons of the house of Mattathias delivered their country from this yoke, and it remained under the princes of the Asmonean family until Palestine was conquered by the Romans. Pompeius the Great, who entered Jerusalem as a conqueror 63 B.C., respected the lives and property of the inhabitants. The temple was protected by him, only to be plundered by Crassus. The liberality of Herod the Great added much to the splendour of Jerusalem; but after his death the spirit of sedition spread more and more every day among the Jews, producing frequent revolts against the Romans, which were terminated by the destruction of the city by Titus, A.D. 71. Thus were the predictions of the prophets fulfilled.

After lying in ruins for sixty years it was rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian upon a part of its former site, and called AElia Capitolina; but the Jews were forbidden to enter it under pain of death. When Christianity triumphed in the reign of Constantine, the heathen temples were replaced by churches in honour of every memorial of the Saviour's life and death.

On the north commences the valley of Kidron, at first not deep but sinking as it approaches the east, and continuing to do so along the whole of that side, until it reaches the lower extremity of the gardens of Siloam. Here it unites with the valley of Hinnom, which runs parallel to the south of the city. On the west is the valley of Gihon, which is very deep at the point where it takes the name of Hinnom, on the south-west. From this conformation of the ground, it is obvious that, in times when only the weapons and military engines of ancient warfare were employed, the city was an important stronghold, well defended by nature, except on the north-west and a small portion of the north side, where the almost level ground exposed it to an attack. From the most remote periods of antiquity until the time of the Crusades and Saladin, Jerusalem was invariably assaulted at these points by those who made themselves masters of the city.

A few olive-trees, a bare argillaceous soil scattered over with stones and flints, some ruins of ancient sepulchres, four water-tanks, some cisterns almost entirely dilapidated, and bare rocks, some of which exhibit traces of chiselling, are the only objects that meet the eye throughout the whole region of the north and north-west.

On the east, along the course of the valley of Kidron, nothing is seen but rocks and accumulations of earth and rubbish: these continue likewise along the south, but the desolate effect is somewhat concealed by the growth of vegetation, and by the gardens of the peasants of Siloam. The ruins still existing, and the nature of the soil, which is mostly grey in colour and full of lime, shew that the ground on this side was once occupied by houses. Finally, on the west are seen the reservoir of Mamillah, accumulations of earth and rubbish, argillaceous soil, bare rocks, and a few recent plantations,--the work of the improver of cultivation in Palestine, the Greek Archimandrite, Nicoferus.

As may be inferred from this description, the environs of Jerusalem present an appearance of wretchedness and desolation, that cannot fail to strike the eye of the traveller: and the feeling of melancholy is further increased by the thought that the Holy City itself is surrounded by tombs which are daily being opened, and that the inhabitants have only cemeteries for their public promenades. The memories of the past alone are able to attract the traveller and the pilgrim to Jerusalem,--not its present condition; for the miserable spectacle presented by the monuments still existing above ground would certainly not repay the trouble and fatigue of so long a journey. But those memories, together with the subterranean remains, afford ample recompense to any one possessing imagination and religious feeling, who wishes to study the Bible in its own peculiar country, where its use will inevitably lead him to the truth.

During the past few years several buildings have been erected in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, more especially on the north-west. Of these, the most remarkable, both for their extent and for their site, which commands the city on every side, are those belonging to Russia. This great nation, though the last to establish a mission here, has been the first to choose a fine situation and erect suitable buildings upon it. The occupants have also the advantage of escaping from the bad smells of the city. I was the first to offer this site to Cyril, Bishop of Melitopolis, and head of the Mission, but it was declined. I renewed the offer to His Excellency M. de Mansouroff, who at first refused it, but afterwards gave orders that the purchase should be made.

The walls contain eleven gateways, five of which are closed up.

It was but poetic justice that the novelist of the stormy days of the Revolution should be permitted to spend the declining years of his long life in the sunshine of the new Berlin, in whose making he had participated and whose life he had chronicled. He died February 24, 1911, having passed his fourscore years.

STORM FLOOD

TRANSLATED AND CONDENSED BY MARION D. LEARNED, PH.D.

Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pennsylvania.

The weather had grown more inclement as evening came on. On the forward deck groups of laborers on their way to the new railroad at Sundin were huddled more closely together between the high tiers of casks, chests, and boxes; from the rear deck the passengers, with few exceptions, had disappeared. Two elderly gentlemen, who had chatted much together during the journey, stood on the starboard looking and pointing toward the island around the south end of which the ship had to pass. The flat coast of the island, rising in a wide circuit to the promontory, became more distinct with each second.

"So that is Warnow?"

"Your pardon, Mr. President--Ahlbeck, a fishing village; to be sure, on Warnow ground. Warnow itself lies further inland; the church tower is just visible above the outlines of the dunes."

The President let fall the eye-glasses through which he had tried in vain to see the point of the church tower. "What sharp eyes you have, General, and how quickly you get your bearings!"

"It is true I have been there only once," replied the General; "but since then I have had only too much time to study this bit of coast on the map."

The President smiled. "Yes, yes, it is classic soil," said he; "there has been much contention over it--much and to no purpose."

"I am convinced that it was fortunate that the contention was fruitless--at least had only a negative result," said the General.

"I am not sure that the strife will not be renewed again," replied the President; "Count Golm and his associates have been making the greatest efforts of late."

"Since they have so signally proved that the road would be unprofitable?"

"Just as you have shown the futility of a naval station here!"

"I know, I know," interrupted the President; "old Prussian honesty, which amounts to scrupulousness. Count Golm and his associates are less scrupulous."

"So much the worse for them," replied the General.

The gentlemen then turned and joined a young girl who was seated in a sheltered spot in front of the cabin, passing the time as well as she could by reading or drawing in a small album.

"You would like to remain on deck, of course, Else?" asked the General.

"Do the gentlemen wish to go to the cabin?" queried the young girl in reply, looking up from her book. "I think it is terrible below; but, of course, it is certainly too rough for you, Mr. President!"

"It is, indeed, unusually rough," replied the President, rolling up the collar of his overcoat and casting a glance at the heavens; "I believe we shall have rain before sundown. You should really come with us, Miss Else! Do you not think so, General?"

"Else is weatherproof," replied the General with a smile; "but you might put a shawl or something of the kind about you. May I fetch you something?"

She bowed gracefully to the President, cast a pleasant glance at her father, and took up her book again, while the gentlemen went around the corner to a small passage between the cabin and the railing.

She read a few minutes and then looked up and watched the cloud of smoke which was rising from the funnel in thick, dark gray puffs, and rolling over the ship just as before. The man at the helm also stood as he had been standing, letting the wheel run now to the right, now to the left, and then holding it steady in his rough hands. And, sure enough, there too was the gentleman again, who with untiring endurance strode up and down the deck from helm to bowsprit and back from bowsprit to helm, with a steadiness of gait which Else had repeatedly tried to imitate during the day--to be sure with only doubtful success.

"Otherwise," thought Else, "he hasn't much that especially distinguishes him;" and Else said to herself that she would scarcely have noticed the man in a larger company, certainly would not have observed him, perhaps not so much as seen him, and that if she had looked at him today countless times and actually studied him, this could only be because there had not been much to see, observe, or study.

Her sketch-book, which she was just glancing through, showed it. That was intended to be a bit of the harbor of Stettin. "It requires much imagination to make it out," thought Else. "Here is a sketch that came out better: the low meadows, the cows, the light-buoy--beyond, the smooth water with a few sails, again a strip of meadow--finally, in the distance, the sea. The man at the helm is not bad; he held still enough. But 'The Indefatigable' is awfully out of drawing--a downright caricature! That comes from the constant motion! At last! Again! Only five minutes, Mr. So-and-so! That may really be good--the position is splendid!"

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