Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/316

286 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.-ea. This hypothesis being satisfactorily disposed of, let us turn to holy writ as the best authority on the subject in question. We have seen that numerous passages allude to Zion as the last resting-place of David and his descendants ; whilst Ezekiel, in his vision, is no less clear in excluding them, as well as the palace, from Moriah, but close to it ; for he exclaims, " They placed their threshold near my threshold, their posts near my posts, and there was but one wall between them and me." 1 The inference to be drawn from this passage, and the narrative of Nehemiah with regard to the rebuilding of the wall of enclosure, " carried over against the sepulchres of David," lead to the conclusion that the latter was close to the king's garden, just below the pool of Siloam. 2 Over it, hidden under the wall of Ophel, the entrance to the royal vaults may some day be brought to light. Besides the necropolis to the north and south of the city, we believe that there was a third in the Valley of Hinnom, frequently mentioned as a place where children were offered to Moloch ; i.e. passed through fire. 3 There is no difficulty in assigning an early date to the tombs with kokim, and small square entrance in the face of the cliff or slope ; but it is not so easy to determine the age of those distinguished about their façade by guttae, diglyphs, vegetable forms, or listels, as Fig. 193. 4 Jewish tombs lack originality, and remained what we have seen them until the downfall of Jerusalem, contrary to those of most nations, which may be ranged into three classes : excavations, partly structural, and wholly built. Judaea borrowed the inner 1 We follow Segom and Smend (Ezek. Erkldrt. p. 352). 2 Nehemiah iii. 16 should be compared with xii. 27. See also Birch, "The Sepulchres of David and of the Kings of Judah " {Quarterly Statements, pp. 191- 205, 1877), and "Tomb of David," pp. 172-176, 1879-1881. Birch's contention is that his conclusions were arrived at through knowledge of the topography of Jeru- salem, and of its perfect coincidence with the text : " Shallun made the wall of the pool of Siloam, near the king's garden, as far as the steps which descend from the city of David." These steps, rock-cut, are even now to be seen at the southern extremity of Ophel over the pool {Recovery, p. 280). They were used by the inhabitants of this quarter, who descended and ascended them to fetch water from Siloam. These views, which we share, were combated by Conder in the following papers: Nehemia/is Wall, etc., pp. 176-179, 1879; Notes on Disputed Points, pp. 228-231, 1880. 3 2 Kings xxiii. 10. 4 De Saulcy, Voyage, etc., torn. ii. pp. 313-324; Atlas, Plates XLIII., XL1V., X LV., and Gazette Arch., pp. 189, 190, Plate XXX F., 1880.