[142]
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.
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