reason for every twist and turn and every gate and tower here represented. It will be seen by his plan that he does not stop at the Tower of Antonia, but continues his line of wall so as to defend the northern and eastern sides of the Temple. This is required by Nehemiah's descriptions. But when Herod enlarged the Temple courts, if not before, these portions of the wall would be interfered with—the northern portion would be removed, the eastern portion had perhaps become buried—and so Josephus is silent about them.
With the course of the walls thus definitely marked out, it becomes possible to follow the descriptions in the Book of Nehemiah, and to identify the towers and gates and places there mentioned.
Nehemiah's Night Ride to Survey the Ruins.—Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's general, and although the Chaldeans entered by a breach on the north side, they afterwards burnt the palace and every great house, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about (2 Kings xxv. 4). Nehemiah returned from the captivity to rebuild the city of his fathers, and prudently decided to make first a quiet survey of the extent of the destruction.
In chapter ii. 13, we read, "I went out by night by the Valley Gate, even towards the dragon's well, and to the Dung Gate." This Valley Gate was at or near the Gennath Gate, at the head of the Tyropœon Valley, and at the same time close to the Valley of Hinnom. It could not be far from the present Jaffa Gate. The Dung Gate—Josephus's "Bethso"—comes between the Jaffa Gate and the south-west corner of the city; a position also required by chap. iii. 13. "Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool." The Fountain Gate would be a convenient exit from the city to a path leading down to Siloam Pool; The King's Pool (el-Berekath) was probably Solomon's Pool, mentioned by Josephus as being by the
