90 feet from the south-west angle. There is a steep scarp from the Upper City down to the present Tyropœon, and thence the rock shelves down to the ancient valley bed.
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SOUTH WALL OF NOBLE SANCTUARY. (By permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund.)
On the Ophel Hill.—Ophel
is the southern slope of Mount
Moriah; and as we stand on
the slope, looking northward,
we face the south wall of the
Noble Sanctuary. Right in
the middle of it is the Triple
Gate, from which the surface
of the ground shelves down
22 feet to the south-east angle,
while westward it maintains
its level. Yet really, in that
western part (hidden from us
just now by the wall of the
city) the true bed of the Tyropœonan]
runs out, and the depth
of soil or rubbish is 85 feet.
At the Triple Gate itself the
rock is found about 2 feet
below the sill; but at the
south-east angle again we
should have to sink a shaft
80 feet deep to find it. Thus
the original surface of Ophel
is all covered up, and its true
contour disguised. Buried
in the rubbish Warren has
found the Wall of Ophel,
abutting on the wall of the
Sanctuary at the south-east
angle. It is about 12 feet
