DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0120
96
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
One of the best examples of this class is the Tombs of the Kings (see page 103), situated
to the north of Jerusalem on the right-hand side of the road to Nablus. A large rectangular
court, measuring about ninety-three feet by eighty-seven feet, and some twenty feet deep, is
sunk in the solid rock, which here forms the natural surface of the ground. On the south side
a broad trench was cut so as to leave a wall of rock seven feet thick between it and the court;
a flight of steps leads to the bottom of the trench, whence an arched doorway, cut in the
intervening rock, gives access to the court. In the west face of the court an open portico is
excavated in the rock ; the front was supported by two pillars, which are now broken away.
The face of the portico is ornamented with a frieze and cornice of a debased Roman Doric
THE QUARRIES NEAR TO THE DAMASCUS GATE.
Beneath the city of Jerusalem.
order ; the former is enriched with clusters of grapes, triglyphs, and paterae, and a continuous
garland of fruit and foliage, which extends across the portico and is carried down the sides.
About half a mile from the Tombs of the Kings, on the road to Neby Samwil, is the
extensive necropolis which includes the Tombs of the Judges (see page 103). Within an
open vestibule facing west, ornamented with a simple architrave moulding, surmounted by a
Greek-looking pediment of considerable beauty, there is a small doorway, also decorated with
architrave and pediment, which leads from the vestibule to the principal tomb-chamber.
Returning to the Kedron Valley and following its course downwards, numbers of tombs
of greater or less size are to be seen on either side. The most noteworthy is that of Simon
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
One of the best examples of this class is the Tombs of the Kings (see page 103), situated
to the north of Jerusalem on the right-hand side of the road to Nablus. A large rectangular
court, measuring about ninety-three feet by eighty-seven feet, and some twenty feet deep, is
sunk in the solid rock, which here forms the natural surface of the ground. On the south side
a broad trench was cut so as to leave a wall of rock seven feet thick between it and the court;
a flight of steps leads to the bottom of the trench, whence an arched doorway, cut in the
intervening rock, gives access to the court. In the west face of the court an open portico is
excavated in the rock ; the front was supported by two pillars, which are now broken away.
The face of the portico is ornamented with a frieze and cornice of a debased Roman Doric
THE QUARRIES NEAR TO THE DAMASCUS GATE.
Beneath the city of Jerusalem.
order ; the former is enriched with clusters of grapes, triglyphs, and paterae, and a continuous
garland of fruit and foliage, which extends across the portico and is carried down the sides.
About half a mile from the Tombs of the Kings, on the road to Neby Samwil, is the
extensive necropolis which includes the Tombs of the Judges (see page 103). Within an
open vestibule facing west, ornamented with a simple architrave moulding, surmounted by a
Greek-looking pediment of considerable beauty, there is a small doorway, also decorated with
architrave and pediment, which leads from the vestibule to the principal tomb-chamber.
Returning to the Kedron Valley and following its course downwards, numbers of tombs
of greater or less size are to be seen on either side. The most noteworthy is that of Simon