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http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924028534240
THE LIBRARY
OF THE
Palestine pilgrims' êxt ocietg.
Vol. III.
THE PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS.
THE HODOEPORICON OF
ST.
WILLIBALD.
DESCRIPTION OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE.
MUKADDASI.
THE ITINERARY OF BERNARD THE WISE.
LONDON
24,
HANOVER SQUARE,
1897.
W.
By
THE
PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN
THE
HOLY LAND.
^y
'^ff
Pale0tim pilgrims' êxt
(Societg.
THE
PILGRIMAGE OF ARCULFUS
IN
THE
HOLY LAND
(About the Year A.D.
"ili-attaJatei
670).
anb ;^nttotateb
BY THE
REV. JAMES ROSE MACPHERSON, B.D.
LONDON
I,
ADAM STREET, ADELPHL

1889.
-(.
?,^'
CONTENTS.
PREFACE
LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS
-
^-
PAGE
xi
xix
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE

HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY
ADAMNAN.
BOOK
I.
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
I.
II.
III.
THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM, THE GATES OF THE

CITY, THE YEARLY MARKET, THE SITE OF THE TEMPLE,
THE ORATORY OF THE SARACENS, THE GREAT HOUSES
THE ROUND CHURCH BUILT ABOVE THE SEPULCHRE OF
THE LORD
THE FORM OF THE SEPULCHRE ITSELF AND ITS LITTLE
-----.
CABIN
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF THE

TOMB, WHICH THE ANGEL OF THE LORD, DESCENDING
FROM HEAVEN AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, ROLLED
BACK THE CHAPEL, AND THE SEPULCHRE THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, WHICH ADJOINS THE ROUND
CHURCH
THE CHURCH THAT IS BUILT ON THE SITE OF CALVARY
THE BASILICA WHICH CONSTANTINE BUILT CLOSE TO
THE ABOVE-NAMED CHURCH ON THE SPOT WHERE
THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD BEEN BURIED
IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER MANY CENTURIES
THE EARTH WAS DUG UP
THE SITE OF THE ALTAR OF ABRAHAM
-
9
9
10
10
CONTENTS.
vi
PAGE
CHAPTER
IX.
THE RECESS SITUATED BETWEEN THE CHURCH OF CALVARY AND THE BASILICA OF CONSTANTINE, IN WHICH
ARE KEPT THE CUP OF THE LORD AND THE SPONGE
FROM WHICH, AS HE HUNG ON THE TREE, HE DRANK
VINEGAR AND WINE
THE SPEAR OF THE SOLDIER WITH WHICH HE PIERCED
THE SIDE OF THE LORD
THE NAPKIN WITH WHICH THE HEAD OF THE LORD
WAS COVERED IN THE SEPULCHRE ANOTHER SACRED LINEN CLOTH WHICH, AS IS SAID,
ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER OF THE LORD,
-
X.
XI.
x'll.
II
12
12
l6
WOVE
THE LOFTY COLUMN SITUATED ON THE SPOT WHERE A
DEAD YOUNG MAN CAME TO LIFE AGAIN, WHEN THE
CROSS OF THE LORD WAS PLACED ON HIM AND THE
l6
MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
XIV. THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY BUILT IN THE VALLEY OF
JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH IS HER TOMB
17
l8
XV. THE TOWER OF JOSAPHAT BUILT IN THE SAME VALLEY l8
XVI. THE TOMBS OF SIMEON AND JOSEPH
XVII. THE CAVE IN THE ROCK OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVET,
ACROSS THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, IN WHICH ARE
FOUR TABLES AND TWO WELLS
l8
XVIII. THE GATE OF DAVID, AND THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS
ISCARIOTH HANGED HIMSELF BY A ROPS
"19
XIX. THE FORM OF THE GREAT BASILICA BUILT ON MOUNT
SIGN, AND THE SITUATION OF THAT MOUNTAIN
20
XX. THE LITTLE FIELD CALLED IN HEBREW AKELDEMAC 21
XXI. THE ROUGH AND ROCKY GROUND THAT EXTENDS FAR
AND WIDE, FROM JERUSALEM TO THE CITY OF
SAMUEL, AND TO CjESAREA OF PALESTINE TOWARDS
THE WEST 21
XXII. THE
MOUNT OF OLIVET, ITS HEIGHT AND THE
CHARACTER OF ITS SOIL
21
XXIII. THE PLACE OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, AND
THE CHURCH BUILT ON IT 22
THE
SEPULCHRE
XXIV.
OF LAZARUS AND THE CHURCH BUILT
ABOVE IT, AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY
26
XXV. ANOTHER CHURCH BUILT TO THE RIGHT OF BETHANY
26
XIII.
CONTENTS.
BOOK
vii
II.
CHAPTER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
PAGE
THE SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM
THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD, THE
CHURCH OF ST. MARY
THE ROCK SITUATED BEYOND THE WALL, UPON
WHICH THE WATER, IN WHICH HE WAS FIRST
WASHED AFTER HIS BIRTH, WAS POUREDANOTHER CHURCH, IN WHICH THE TOMB OF DAVID
IS
SEEN
28
28
29
30
THE CHURCH WITHIN WHICH IS THE SEPULCHRE

OF ST. HIERONYMUS (JEROME)
"3
VI. THE TOMBS OF THE THREE SHEPHERDS,
AROUND
WHOM, WHEN THE LORD WAS BORN, THE HEAVENLY
BRIGHTNESS SHONE AND THEIR CHURCH
30
Vn. THE SEPULCHRE OF RACHEL"31
"
VIIL HEBRON
3'
MAMBRE,
AND THE SEPULCHRE OF
IX. THE VALLEY OF
THE FOUR PATRIARCHS
"32
X. THE HILL AND THE OAK OF MAMBRE
"33
XL THE PINE-FOREST FROM WHICH FIREWOOD IS BROUGHT
TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS
"34
V.
XIL JERICHO
XIII.
XIV.
"
"
AND THE TWELVE STONES WHICH THE

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AFTER CROSSING THE RIVER
JORDAN, TOOK FROM ITS DRIED CHANNEL
THE PLACE WHERE OUR LORD WAS BAPTIZED BY
35
GALGAL,
35
JOHN
36
THE COLOUR OF THE JORDAN AND THE DEAD SEA - 38
CONTINUEDXVI. THE DEAD SEA
-2)9
XVII. THE FOUNTAINS OF THE JORDAN
"39
XVIII. THE SEA OF GALILEE
40
"41
XIX. SICHEM AND THE WELL OF SAMARIA
XX. A LITTLE FOUNTAIN IN THE WILDERNESS 43
HONEY
XXL THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD
43
XXII. THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD BLESSED THE FIVE
LOAVES AND THE TWO FISHES
"43
CAPHARNAUM
AND
TIBERIAS
"44
XXIH. THE SEA OF
XV.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER
NAZARETH AND ITS CHURCHES

"
XXV. MOUNT TABOR
XXVI. DAMASCUS
XXVII. TYRE XXVIIl. ALEXANDRIA, AND THE RIVER NILE AND
-
XXIV.
"45
"
--46
DILES
BOOK
"47
ITS
CROCO-
II.
III.
THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE THE FOUNDATION OF THAT CITY

THE CHURCH IN WHICH THE CROSS OF THE LORD
PRESERVED
IV. ST. GEORGE THE CONFESSOR
V. THE PICTURE OF ST. MARY
VL MOUNT VULCAN EPILOGUE
VIL
-
48
III.
'
I.
47
"53
"53
IS
"55
"57
62
-63
64
THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNING

THE HOLY PLACES.
(
The numbers in parentheses show the corresponding chapters of Arculfus.)

PAGE
CHAPTER
I.
II.
(BOOK
THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM. - 67

(cHAP. VII., VL, II., IIL, IV., v., VIIL, X.) THE CHURCH OF
CONSTANTINE AND OF GOLGOTHA, THE CHURCH OF
THE RESURRECTION AND THE SEPULCHRE OF THE LORD,
THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF
THE TOMB, THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY, THE CUP OF
THE LORD AND THE SPONGE, THE ALTAR OF ABRAHAM, THE soldier's SPEAR 68
THE
XXIII.)
TEMPLE,
THE
XIX.,
ORATORY
(l.,
OF THE
SARACENS, THE POOL OF BETHESDA, THE FOUNTAIN
QF SILOA, THE CHURCH BUILT UPON MOUNT SIGN,
THE PLACE OF THE STONING OF ST. STEPHEN, THE
MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
"7
I.,
CHAP.
I.)
HI.
CONTENTS.
ix
CHAPTER
PAGE
THE NAPKIN OF THE HEAD OF THE LORD, AND

ANOTHER LARGER LINEN CLOTH WOVEN BY ST. MARY
V. (xXL, XV., XVI., XIV.) THE PLACES ROUND JERUSALEM,
THE VALLEY OF JOSAPHAT, HIS SEPULCHRE AND
THOSE OF OTHERS, THE CHURCH IN WHICH ST. MARY
WAS BURIED
VL (XVIII., XX.) THE PLACE WHERE JUDAS WAS HANGED,
AND ACHELDEMAC
VII. (XXIL, XXIIL, XXIV., XXV.) THE MOUNT OF OLIVET AND
THE CHURCH BUILT THERE, WHERE THE LORD
ASCENDED INTO THE HEAVENS THE TOMB OF
L.AZARUS, AND A THIRD CHURCH
vin. (BOOK ir., CHAP. L, II., III., IV. v., vi., vii.) the
SITUATION OF BETHLEHEM, THE CHURCH UPON THE
PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BORN, THE SEPULCHRES
OF DAVID AND HIERONYMUS AND THE THREE SHEPHERDS, AND ALSO THAT OF RACHEL
IX. (VIIL, IX., X., XL) THE SITUATION OF HEBRON, MAMBRE,
AND THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS AND OF ADAM,
THE PINE WOOD
X. (XIL, XIII.) JERICHO AND ITS HOLY PLACES, GALGAL
AND THE FOUNTAIN OF HELISEUS, THE GREAT
IV.
(XL, XII.)
PLAIN
XI.
(XV.,
XVII.,
XVIII.)
72
73
74
74
76
77
77
THE JORDAN AND THE SEA OF

'
GALILEE
79
THE DEAD SEA AND ITS NATURE, AND

THAT OF THE NEIGHBOURING DISTRICT
(XIV.) THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD WAS BAPTIZED
(XXL, XX.) THE LOCUSTS AND THE WILD HONEY, AND
THE FOUNTAIN OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
(XIX.) THE FOUNTAIN OF JACOB NEAR SICHEM
(xxn., XVIII., xxiii., XXIV.) tiberias and capharnaum
AND NAZARETH AND THE HOLY PLACES THERE
(XXV.) MOUNT TABOR AND THE THREE CHURCHES ON IT
(XXVI.) THE SITUATION OF DAMASCUS
(XXV-III.) THE SITUATION OF ALEXANDRIA, THE CHURCH
IN WHICH MARK THE EVANGELIST RESTS, AND THE
Xn. (xV., XVI.)
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
NILE
....
80
82
82
83
83
84
84
84
CONTENTS.
PAGE
IHAPTER
XX.
XXI.
(BOOK
CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE

BASILICA IN THAT CITY WHICH CONTAINS THE CROSS
-85
OF THE LORD
EPILOGUE
III.,
CHAP.
I.)
APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF ARCULF's NARRATIVE,' FROM
PROFESSOR WILLIS' 'HOLY SEPULCHRE'
'
87
PREFACE.
Nothing
known
appears to be
of Arculfus, the pilgrim of
work is a narrative, beyond the very

whose
slight notices of him contained in the work itself and in a
reference to it by the Venerable Bede in his 'Ecclesiastical
From these we learn that he was a native of
History.'
France (Gaul), and that at the time when he undertook the
journey referred to he had attained the rank of Bishop;
travels this
bur we have no information at
he presided.
in
It is stated
all
as to the see over which
by Bede
that his bishopric
was
France, and, although this might be a mere supposition
grounded on the references

not hesitate to accept
to the East
it
in the record itself,
as being correct.
was undertaken about the year
we need
His pilgrimage
a.d. 670, accord-
ing to the calculation of Dr. Tobler (Society de I'Orient

Latin),
and
it
must have occupied some
time.
He
spent
nine months in the city of Jerusalem (possibly during that
period he
may have made
shorter visits to the south or
the north of Palestine), and he gives us an account of the

chief places of interest to the west of the Jordan, including
in
the
the south, Bethlehem,
Dead
Sea,
and
Hebron, Jericho, Galgal, and
in the north,
Sichem, Mount Tabor,
Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the sources of the Jordan.
After -extending his travels as
far as
Tyre and Damascus,
xu
PREFACE.
and returning
from Joppa to
Jerusalem, he sailed
to
Alexandria, taking forty days to accomplish the voyage.
From Egypt he
passed to Crete, spending some days there,
and thence to Constantinople, where he stayed
months
from Easter to Christmas.
wards he
visited
On
his
for
and proceeded to Rome.
Sicily
some
voyage homeHere,
however, his good fortune ceased, as the ship in which he
had hoped
caught
of
its
to
home
reach his
in a violent storm,
course that
it
was
we
of Scotland, and
after leaving
which drove
find Arculf 'at length, after
Adamnan,
Monastery of Hy, who, according

v.,
Scriptures,
received
so
cap.
to
to
willingly,
the
many
Abbot of the
Bede's narrative
be
and acquainted with the Holy
him most
much so
'found him
15),
so completely out
cast on one of the western points
dangers,' at lona, the guest of
(book
it
Rome was
learned
in
the
Places, so that he
and heard him more willingly
writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention of

that he
that he himself caused to be at once committed to
had seen
in
the
Holy
Places.'
Adamnan, in
his
all
own
narrative, represents himself as sedulously asking Arculf to
him
tell
his experiences,
and writing them down
as they were dictated, on
waxed
tablets,
at once,
from which he
afterwards compiled this jvork, with such additional infor-
mation as he thought
it
advisable to insert from the works
of other writers with which he was acquainted, and with
the omission of a good deal of matter which was already

sufficiently well
known from
those other works.
had, in part of his travels, been accompanied
dian monk,
whom
he
and of whose haste he

to one
calls Peter,
MS. (Codex Caduinensis), had been
Holy Places in
in a
'
by a Burgun-
acted as his guide,
at times complains.
Peter, according
for a
long time
he was well acquainted with

Palestine, and he is represented as living
in exile for the Lord's
the
who
Arculf
solitary place,'
sake
which he was apparently desirous of
PREFACE.
xiii
returning to more hurriedly than accorded with the wishes

of his companion.
It
would be out of place to enter here on any general

and position of Adamnan, who is the
details as to the life
actual writer of this work.
native of Ireland (probably
of Donegal), where he was born in 624, belonging to a noble

family, he
known
is first
to us as entering the brotherhood
of lona, probably during the

abbot, 623-652.
abbacy of Seghine,
fifth
Here, during several years, he' so com-
mended himself
learning, that
to his brethren by his character and his

on the death of Failbhe, eighth abbot, in 679,
he was elected
other,
whether
his successor.
in
He had
at
some time
or in lona, been
Ireland
or
brought
in
contact with Aldfrid, the exiled prince of Northumbria,
who is spoken of in the Irish legends as the alumnus of

Adamnan. Whatever this relationship may have actually
been, it led Adamnan, on the restoration of Aldfrid in 685,
'
'
to undertake an
embassy
to his court, with a view (appar-
ently) to plead the cause of
some
Irish captives.
his account of this visit to Aldfrid that the
introduces his reference to this work
wrote a book about the Holy

to
many
readers
dictation,
was
its
real
Arculfus,
Places,
author,
by
French
'
:
It is in
Venerable Bede
This same
which
is
most useful
instruction
Bishop
man
and by
(Galliarum
who
for the sake of the Holy Places had gone

and having passed over all the Land of
Promise, visited also Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria,
Episcopus),
to Jerusalem,
and many islands of the sea; and as he was returning to

his native land by sea, he was carried by the violence of a
tempest to the western shores of Britain
and
after
many
came to that servant of Christ, who has been

mentioned, Adamnan, who found him to be learned in the
Scriptures, and acquainted with the Holy Places, so that he
received him most willingly, and heard him more willingly;
[dangers], he
PREFACE.
xiv
SO
much
so that he himself caused to be at once committed
worthy of mention
to writing whatever he testified to be
of
all
that he had seen in the
a work, as
so to those
have
who
said,
which
Holy
is
of
Places.
much
And
use,
he made
and specially
are so far distant from those places in
which the patriarchs and the apostles lived that they can
them only what they can inform themselves

Now, Adamnan brought this book to
King Aldfrid, and by his liberality it was read by men of
humbler station. The writer also was himself presented
by him with many gifts, and sent back to his country
Eccles. Hist.,' book v., cap. 15).
The presentation of the
work to Aldfrid is postponed by Dr. Reeves to a second
journey made by Adamnan in 688, when he stayed for
some time in Northumbria.
The work, De Locis Sanctis,' thus written by Adamnan,
the first two of which are of
is divided into three books
about the same length, the third much shorter. The First
learn as to
about by reading.
('
'
Book opens with a description of the city of Jerusalem,

and proceeds to describe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
and the neighbouring
buildings, the description being of
the greatest importance, as showing the actual position (at

least, as
understood by the writer) at a period separated
from that of Antoninus Martyr, the next preceding pilgrim
whose narrative
is
in
our possession, by the Persian invasion
under Chosroes H., when the city was
by
that of the
all
but ruined, and
Arabs under the Caliph Omar.
been found to be practicable to insert

satisfactory note
in
this
It
has not
volume a
on these details as recorded from Arculf's
account, but this will follow later.
The
narrative
is
inter-
rupted by a long, and to the modern mind most useless,

chapter as to the napkin that covered the head of the Lord
in the
sepulchre,
and
it
account of the sites in
is
followed in this book
by an
the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the
PREFACE.
Mount
of Olives, and Bethany.
XV
The Second Book opens
with Southern Palestine, represented by Bethlehem and
Hebron, with the places of interest
in their
neighbourhood
then brings us again northward to Jericho, the
it
and the
thence
Dead
Sea,
Holy Places on and near the Jordan

passes somewhat erratically over Shechem, Mount
different
it
Tabor, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the sources of the

Jordan, and closes with allusions to Damascus and Tyre,
and a longer description of Alexandria, with
The Third Book
its
harbour.
describes Constantinople, relates
marvellous incidents in connection with

Confessor, and, after a reference to
St.
some
George the
Mount Vulcan,
closes
with an Epilogue.
The work appears
to have attained very considerable
acceptance over Europe.
no
less
by the
Disfigured as
much
insertion of
that
is
simply rubbish, than by the omission of
it is
to our minds,
now regarded as
so much that we
should have greatly welcomed, the numerous copies of

scattered over the Continent
was
of
held.
it,
which
The Venerable Bede prepared an

is
also translated in this volume,
he inserted some portions

the
show the esteem
MSS. used by
in his history.
in
which
it
it
abbreviation
and of which
In addition to
Dr. Tobler for his edition of the work,
Germanus a Pratis
probably the Corbey MS. used by Mabillon
copies are found at the monastery of S.

(eighth century,
for
his
edition),
Berne (tenth century), at Rheinau
at
(eleventh century), and at Salzburg (ninth or tenth century)
(Reeves, pp.
8,
58).
The
first
printed edition was
published by Gretser, at lugoldstadt, in 1619, from a

sent to him by Father Rosweyd
(Proleg., p. 22).
in 1734,
The
'
MS.
ex intima Holandia
text was again published, at Venice,
from better manuscripts, by Mabillon (Actt. SS.
Ord. Bened., sec.
A certain
iii.,
part
2).
special interest
would attach to
this work, as
PREFACE.
xvi
the
undpubted
composition
of
the
of
prior
Scotic
monastery of lona, and some information might be gathered

from
it
as to the exact belief of the Celtic
questions, were
not that
it
disadvantage for
this
Adamnan
purpose of having so strenuously
Roman
endeavoured to introduce the
The
tract
visit to
King
Church.
second
Church on certain
labours under the
usages into that
must have been written before the

Aldfrid, during
which
his discussions
with Ceolfrid, Abbot of Jarrow, as to Easter and the

tonsure, resulted in his adoption of the
it
seems scarcely possible to use
who has, studied the

make some interesting
although one
be able to
it
Roman
in
usage; but
this connection,
question closely might
deductions as to the
customs of the Celtic Church.
Adamnan's other work,
Dr. Reeves, the editor of

Life of St.
Columba (published
and Celtic Society, Dublin, 1857; republished, with a

lation,
in
the series of
The
for the Irish Archaeological
'
'
'
The
Historians of
trans-
Scotland,'
Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas, 1874; the references

are to the former edition), says (p.
two Latin works, the
tract
'
De
Ixi.)
that
'
Of Adamnan's
Locis Sanctis
'
is
the better
and more flowing but it bears a striking resemblance to the other in many particulars of style, and
the use of peculiar words and phrases.'
As to the latter,
written
one has only, after studying the Latin text of the present
work, to turn to the Glossary provided by Dr. Reeves,
order to realize
works
is.
[I
how
similar the vocabulary of the
have to express
Glossary for aid
in
my
in
two
indebtedness to this
one or two cases, such as the peculiar
But if this work is really the

and more flowing of the two, one may
express one's condolence with Dr. Reeves in the difflculty
use of 'pyramis,' pp. 30, 31.]
better written
of the task he undertook, for even in this tract there are

several passages in which the author's
meaning
is
scarcely
PREFACE.
and wliere
distinguishable,
been specially the case

andria
to
make what
at the translation.
This has
one can do
all
seems to be the best guess
in the
whose assistance
friend,
as to another passage, p. -37, characterizes the
connection of the words as passing
Among
sion.
is
chapter dealing with Alex-
and a very distinguished
was asked
xvii
the
marked
human comprehen-
all
peculiarities that
recognises with Dr. Reeves, are
'
the liberal
one at once
employment
of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition, used
without any grammatical
same
atives
and commutable,
force,
chapters, with their primitives
and
intensitives
;'
;'
'
in
the
the use of frequent-
the occasional use of Greek or
unnatural, interweaving of his words in
and often
long sentences, and
the oft-recurring ablative absolute in
awkward
Greco-Latin words; 'above
(Reeves, p.
the
all,
artificial,
position
Ixi.).
Reference has been
Adamnan's
narrative
made already to the abbreviation of

made by the Venerable Bede, and a
work
translation of this
also included in this volume.
is
Nothing need be said as to
its
author, and
it is
useless to
ask whether there can have been any connection at
between him and Adamnan.

nothing more than
'
way
felt
professes to have
done
follow trustworthy histories^ and espe-
cially that of Arculf, a
not in any
He
all
Bishop of Gaul
bound
'
(p. 87).
He
has
to follow the order of the former
work, but has at times shown considerable ingenuity in

passing from page to page.
He
traverses practically the
whole range of that narrative, but
in
about one-third of
the space.
Bede, after referring to the work of
passage
already quoted,
devotes
'Ecclesiastical History' (book

this
work of
his
longer narrative.
own
It
in
v.,
Adamnan
in
the
two chapters of
his
16, 17) to extracts from
which he has abbreviated the
seems to have been generally assumed
PREFACE.
xviii
Bede has
that the extracts are from the larger work, and
used words in introducing them that certainly favour the

idea and might mislead writers
word
both
but they are taken almost
word from the shorter tract, and differ altogether

form and in language from the former text. They
for
in
consist of the following passages:
the last sentencej cap.
ii.,
cap.
cap.
vii.,
viii.,
i
The misapprehension
the last sentence,
i,
except
ix.,
except
cap.
as to the exact
source has been shared by Dr. Reeves in both editions of

of
his 'Life
'
Adamnan
Biography'
Columba,' and also
St.
in
(vol.
Smith's
Dr.
i.,
on 'Arculf
article
The
'
that
in
sive
p. 303),
but there
is
article
(vol.
i.,
been at times known as
de Locis
Sanctis,'
'
Bede
no reason
'
in
and
is
on
Christian
of
Mr. Deedes
Dictionary
only under the former part of this
Oxford, in his notice of
his
in
Dictionary
p. 42), as well as
tract has apparently
de Situ Jerusalem,
'
'
in
p.
his
154)
Libellus
referred to
by the Bishop of
the same work (vol
title
i.,
for regarding this otherwise
than as a mistake.
translation has been
The
made
as literal as possible in
passages where the exact rendering was of any controversial or archseological importance, as in the description
of sites and buildings
freedom has been used.
but in some other cases greater
There has been inserted as an
Appendix, at the suggestion of Sir Charles

rendering of some passages as given
in
W.
Wilson, the
Professor Willis'
Holy Sepulchre.' Sir Charles Wilson has also contributed

some notes of special value, besides making several im'
portant suggestions as to the translation.
The
text used
(Itinera
et
is
that of the Society de I'Orient Latin,
Descriptiones Terrae Sanctae
Lingua Latina,
IV.-XL Exarata, sumptibus Societatis Illustrandis

Orientis Latini Monumentis, edidit T. Tobler, Geneva, 1877,
Ssec.
i->
PP-
'
39-240)'
The
variations of the different
MSS. have
PREFACE.
xix
been noted when the sense was

the readings of the
in any way affected, and

Codex Caduinensis have been specially
That MS. of the twelfth century gives a greatly

abbreviated text, with a few interesting additions. These
noted.
additions are always given, but the notice of the omissions
would have involved the preparation of a separate translation,
which would have been without any gain.
has in a similar
way appended
to the text of
Tobler
Bede the
somewhat shorter text of the Codex Wirziburgensis, a

MS. of the ninth century, but in this case there are no such
additions to note.
The
following are the
MSS. used by Tobler:
ARCULFUS DE LOCIS SANCTIS.

L. British
Museum, Cotton.
Tib. D.V.,
folio, viii.-ix. cent.
B. Public Library of Brussels, 292, small quarto, ix. cent.
Bern. Library of the City of Berne, 582, quarto, ix. cent.

P.
National Library, Paris, Lat. 13048,
P.
National Library of Paris, Lat. 12943,
G.
Abbey
Abbey
C.
ix.
of St. Gall, 320, small octavo,

of Caduinum, smallest
V. Vatican Library, 636, A,

R. Library of
Queen
cent.
xi. cent.
xii.
cent.
folio, xii. cent.
folio, xiii, cent.
Christina (Rome), 618, xv. cent.
BEDA VENERABILIS DE LOCIS SANCTIS.

Ma. Public Royal Libraryof Monaco,6389,quarto,ix.cent.
W. Library
of the University of Wirtzburg,
f 74, folio,
Mp. Th.
ix. cent.
Med. Ambrosian Library of Milan,
x. cent.
Pa. National Library of Paris, Lat. 2321, x, cent.
Mb. Public Royal Library of Monaco, 13002,
larger folio,
xii. cent.
Pb. National Library of Paris, Lat. 14797, xii. cent.
PREFACE.
XX
L. British
Museum, Cotton.
Faust.
A.,
quarto,
vii.,
xii.-xiii. cent.
O. Lincoln's College, Oxford, 96,
xiii.
cent.
Pc. National Library of Paris, Lat. 12277, xv. cent.

References to Antoninus Martyr, the Bordeaux Pilgrim, the Abbot
Daniel,
etc.,
are to the translations already published
by
this Society.
References to Dr. Reeves' works are to the edition of the
Columba' published at the University Press, Dubhn,

ArchEeolOgical and Celtic Society, 1857.
St.
'
Life of
for the Irish
J.
R. M.
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.

INTRODUCTION.
In, the
name
Spirit, I
am
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
about to write a book concerning the Holy
Places.
Arculf, a holy bishop, a Gaul
with
many
witness,!
who dwelt
Adamnan,
sedulously asked
first I
nation, well acquainted
far distant lands, a truthful

in
that
all
him
and
is
to tell
Holy Places by
worthy
narrative,
daily visits,
hereafter to be written, as
me
his experiences,
wrote down on tablets as he dictated
and unimpeachable
right
the city of Jerusalem for a space of
nine months, and examined the

told me,
by
and now
in
which at
a faithful
briefly inscribe
upon
parchment [membranes],
1' Judge,' 5., P. 12943, C.
2 'This record is an important item in the history of writing, as
showing the collateral and respective uses among the Irish of waxed
tablets and membranes for literary purposes, towards the close of the
Compare, pp. 5, 8; also, 'I
seventh century' (Reeves, p. Iviii.).
noted down a brief but faithful abridgment of it in my tablets, which
I will now endeavour to commit succinctly to my parchment' (Orderic,
quoted by Dean Church, 'St. Anselm,' 1888, p.

sentence, the word used for 'write' means literally
the action of the stylus in wax.
55).
In the
first
'scratch,' denoting
ARC ULP'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
BOOK
I.
The Situation of Jerusalem, the Gates of
I.
THE
the Yearly Market, the Site of the

Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens, the
Great Houses.
As
City,
we
to the situation of Jerusalem,
shall
now
write a
few of the details that the sainted Arculf dictated to me,
Adamnan
but what
the position of that

circuit of its walls,
found
is
we
city,
the books of others as to
in
shall pass over.
In the great
Arculf counted eighty-four towers and
twice three gates, which are placed in the following order

in the circuit of the city
Mount
side of
Sion,
is
The Gate
reckoned
the Place of the Fuller^
of David, on the west
first
second, the Gate of
Gate of
third, the
St.
Stephen
The reading of C. in this passage is

Second, the Gate of the
Fuller's Road
third, the Gate of St. Stephen, where he was stoned
'
'
fourth, the
Gate of Benjamin
;' fifth,
a small gate, where one hastens
down by steps to the Valley of Josaphat sixth, the Gate ThecuitisJ

As to the position of these gates, see The City of Jerusalem,' p. 4.
I. The Gate of David must have been close to the present Jaffa Gate.
Somewhat to the north of it, a wall was built across the northern brow
of Mount Sion to the edge of the clifif overhanging the causeway at
;
'
Wilson's Arch (cf Bord.
Pil., p. 59).
There was no gate in this wall, or
northwards from it. II. The Gate of the Place of
the Fuller 'must have been to the west of the Damascus Gate
its name
"Porta Vilte [Vise C] FuUonis" being so named from "the Highway
in the wall leading
'
'
of the Fuller's Field " (Isaiah
by the Bordeaux Pilgrim,

ei
Jacob
"
(p. 18).
It
also
vii. 3).
Villa
is
used in the sense of "
field
"
" ubi positus est
means
Joseph in villa quam dedit

" farm," " country house," or " place,"
as in the "Villa Pampati," "Villa Job," etc., of the Bordeaux Pilgrim

and the "Villa Publica" or "Place of Assembly" in the Campus
Martius' [C.
Crusaders.
W.
III.
W.].
It
is
the 'Postern of St.
The Gate of St. Stephen'

'
is
Lazarus' of the
the present
Damascus
HOLY
fourth, the
Httle gate,
PLACES, WRITTEN
;
This then
Gate Thecuitis.
sixth, the
is
the order round the intervals between those
and towers
David
from the
above-mentioned
gate
of
turns towards the northern part of the circuit,
it
and thence towards the
But although
east.
counted in the
walls, yet
gates are niore
commonly frequented
part of the walls with
its
Mount
from the south), as
the
one to the west,

east
while
that
interposed towers, which extends
Gate of David
above-mentioned
the
northern brow of
six gates are
those the entries of three
of
another to the north, a third to
from
Gate of Benjamin fifth, a portlet, that is a

by which is the descent by steps to the Valley
of Josaphat
gates
BY ADAMNAN.
the
across
Sioni (which overhangs the city
far as the face of that
looks eastwards, where the rock
is
mountain which
precipitous,
is
proved to
have no gates.
But
this toOj
it
seems to me, should not be passed over,
which the sainted Arculf, formerly spoken

the honour of that city in Christ
month
of September
of various nations
of,
told us as to
fifteenth
day of the
yearly, an almost countless multitude
is in
the habit of gathering from
to Jerusalem for the purposes of
and purchase.
On the
Whence
of various nations stay
it
all
sides
commerce by mutual
sale
necessarily happens that crowds
in
some
that hospitable city for
days, while the very great
number
of their camels and
IV. The Gate of. Benjamin is

Gate, see Abbot Daniel, Appendix I.
Bab ez Zahrah, or Herod's Gate, east of the Damascus Gate (now
the
V.
closed).
(closed)
by which
Paula,
This Postern must have been near the Golden Gate

alluded to by Antoninus, p. 14. VI. The Gate Thecuitis,
probably meant the Gate of Tekoa (the Thecua of St.
now Khurbet Tekua), is now the Bab el Maghiribeh, or
it is
is
p. 10,
'
'
Dung Gate, on the south wall towards the east. The names of
the gates have varied very greatly, and have been to a considerable
extent interchanged at different periods.
On the position of Sion, as accepted in the fourth and following
the
'
centuries, see Bord.
Pil.,
Appendix
IV., pp. 56-62.

I

horses and asses, not to speak of mules and oxen, for their
and
varied' baggage, strews the streets of the city here
the abominations of their excrements
there with
the
smell of which brings no ordinary nuisance to the citizens
Wonderful to say,
and even makes walking difficult.
on the night after the above-mentioned day of departure
with the various beasts of
immense abundance of
which washes
city,
streets,
the crowds, an
of
from the clouds on that
the abominable
all
and cleanses
burden
rain falls
from
filths
For the
from the uncleannesses.
it
the
very situation of Jerusalem, beginning from the northern
brow of Mount Sion, has been so disposed by

God, on a
lofty^ declivity, sloping
down
its
Founder,
the lower
to
ground of the northern and eastern walls that that over-
abundance of
rain cannot settle at all in the streets, like
stagnant water, but rushes down, like

higher to the lower ground
from the
rivers,
and further this inundation of
the waters of heaven, flowing through the eastern gates,
and bearing with
it
all
the filthy abominations, enters the
Valley of Josaphat and swells the torrent of Cedron
and
having
after
thus baptized Jerusalem,
abundance of rain always

must
in
no negligent manner note
chosen and glorious city

Sire,8
Hence
ceases.
Who
is
in
this
over-
what honour
honoured
But
sites
in that
this
to remain longer filthy, but
it
because of the honour of His Only Begotten cleanses

it
we
therefore
held in the sight of the Eternal
does not permit
quickly, since
has within
the circuit of
its
walls
it
so
the
of His sacred Cross and Resurrection.
renowned* place where once the Temple had
been magnificently constructed, placed
hood of the wall from the
east,
in
the neighbour-
the Saracens
now
frequent
a four-sided house of prayer, which they have built rudely,

1
'
Of
'
Judge and
the different carriers,' G.

Sire,' B.,
V.,
R.
2
'
'
'
slight
'
in
MSS,
Beautiful,' in
except L.
some MSS.
HOL V PLACES, WRITTEN B V ADAMNAN.

constructing
by
it
raising boards and great
remains of ruins:
this
house can,
it
beams on some
hold three
said,
is
thousand men at once.
when we asked him about the dweUings of that

answered
I remember that I both saw and visited
Arculf,
city,
'
many
buildings of that city, and that
very often observed
good many great houses ^ of stone through the whole of

the large city, surrounded by walls, formed with marvellous
skill.'
But all these we must now, I think, pass over, with
a
the exception of the structure of those buildings which
have been marvellously built in the Holy Places, those

namely of the Cross and the Resurrection as to these we
:
asked Arculf very carefully, especially as to the Sepulchre

of the Lord and the Church constructed over
which Arculf himself depicted
of
for
me
it,
the form
on a
tablet
covered with wax.^
The Round Church
built above the Sepulchre OF the Lord.
II.
And
which
Church,^ the whole of
certainly this very great
of stone, was formed of marvellous roundness in
is
every part, rising up from the foundations
in three walls,
which have one roof
having a broad
at a lofty elevation,*
pathway between each wall and the next

three
altars
middle
in
there are also
dexterously formed places of the
three
This round and very large church, with
wall.^
the above-mentioned
altars,
looking
one to the
another to the north, a third towards the west,

1
'Domos
grandes.'
by Adamnan
(Reeves,
p.
The phrase 'domus magna,'
in his 'Life of St.
Cdlumba'
Corhpare
For Professor
'Which
'
p. I.
Willis' translation, see
elevation
In the middle of the
'
in L. only.
wall,'
G,
south,
supported
or 'major,'
is
used
in the sense of 'monastery.'
216 n.)
is
Appendix.

by twelve stone columns of marvellous
four gates, that
is
It
size.
has twice
four entrances, through three firmly built
walls which break
upon the pathways
in
a straight line, of
which four means of exit look to the north-east^ (which

also called the
'
is
cecias' wind), while the other four look to
the south-east.
The Form of the Sepulchre
III.
itself
and
its
Little Cabin.
In the middle of the interior of this round house
round cabin (tugurium)^ cut out
which
men
in
is
one and the same rock,
can pray standing
and from the

head of a man of ordinary stature as he stands, up to the
in
thrice' three
arch of that small house, a foot and a half
The
upwards.
entrance of this
and the whole outside

its
highest point
is
no small
cross of
is
little
covered with choice marble, while
In the northern part of this cabin
size.
the inside, but the pavement of the cabin

the place of the Sepulchre; for from
1
east
measured
adorned with gold, and supports a golden
the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the
is
is
cabin looks to the east,
its
same rock
is
in
lower than
pavement up
to the
VulUirnus, variously explained as the north-east and as the southwind here (and in Bede, p. 69) the former. Cecias is the Greek
;
KaiKiag,
the north-east wind.
(The MSS. give the various readings
'calcias,' 'calceas,' 'hetias,' 'caluar.')

'
The words
p. xvii.),
'
tugurium,'
tuguriolum,' used here interchangeably (see
'
are of frequent occurrence in
Adamnan's
Life of St.
Columba,
used specially of the abbot's domus, or hospitium, or hospitiolum, at

some distance from the huts of wattles or of wood in which the other
luembers of the community lived it was built of wood with joists,

and stood on an eminence here the founder sat and wrote, or read.
;
The
other huts are often spoken of as cellula, the
scribing the monastery on
of
some MSS.
is
Mount Tabor,
p. 46.
word used
in.
de-
The form tegurium
the Irish orthography (Reeves, pp. 360, 455).
It is
a suitable rendering for the word here. At Sir Charles

Wilson's suggestion. Professor Willis' translation, cabin, has been
difficult to find
adopted.
'
Three,' B., Bern., G., C.
HOL Y PLA CES, WRITTEN BY A DAMNAN.
edge of the side of the Sepulchre a measure^ of about three

palms is reckoned. So Arculf, who used often to visit the
Sepulchre of the Lord and measured
it
most accurately, told
me.
Here we must
Tomb
the
refer to the difference of
and
Sepulchre
the
names between
round cabin
that
for
which we have often mentioned, the Evangelists called by
Tomb
another name, the
That place
rose.
Sepulchre, which
they speak of the stone rolled to
linen cloths
the
properly called
is
the northern side of the Tomb, in which
when
buried, rested, rolled in the
the length of which Arculf measured with his
own hand and found

not, as
mouth, when the Lord
its
the cabin
in
is in
the body of the Lord,
is
mouth, and rolled back from
its
some
Now
to be seven feet.
this
Sepulchre
think, double, having a projection
left
from
the solid rock, parting and separating the two legs and the
two thighs, but
man
holding a
soles.
It is in
is
wholly single, affording a bed capable of
lying-
on
his
back from
his
head even to
the manner of a cave, having
its
his
opening at
the side, and opposite^ the south part of the sepulchral

chamber. The low roof is artificially wrought above it. In
the Sepulchre there are further twelve lamps according to
the number^ of the twelve Apostles, always burning day
and
night, four of
which are placed down below
in
the
lowest part of the sepulchral bed, while the other twice

four are placed higher above
its
edge on the right hand
they shine brightly, being nourished with
But
seems that
it
Mausoleum
1
'
to the
should be noted, that the
or Sepulchre of the Saviour (that
From knee
ment
this also
'
or
'
thumb
to ear,' B., V.
Sepulchre of the Lord
wj:iere
C. reads,
He
'
lay, is
is,
'A cave having

'
Rule,'
'
MSS.
the pave-
a height of four
in the entlrancean altar opposite,' Z,
names,' in some
the often-
From
fingers.'
'
oil.
mentioned cabin),
may
rightly be called a Grot or Cave,
concerning our Lord Jesus
concerning which, that
is
to say,
Christ being buried in
it,
the prophet prophesied
'He
dwell in a most lofty cave of a most strong rock.'^

a
little
gladden the Apostles, there
after, to
about the Resurrection of the Lord

with glory.'
The
'
:
Ye shall
is
shall
And
inserted
see the King
frontispiece shows,
accordingly, the
above-named church with the round
little
in its centre, in the northern side of -which
is
form of the
cabin placed
the Sepulchre
of the Lord, and also the forms of the other three churches
about which we
shall
We have drawn
speak below.
these figures of the four churches accord-
ing to the model which, as has been said above, the sainted
Arculf drew on a waxed tablet/ not that a likeness of them

can be given
in
the Lord, be
it
a drawing, but in order that the

in
Tomb
of
however poor a representation, may be
shown placed in the middle of the round church, and that

the church more properly belonjjing to this, or the one
placed further
IV.
off,
may
be
made
The Stone that was
c|ear.
the Mouth
OF the Tomb, wpuch Tni Angel of the Lord,
descending from HEAyEN AFTER HiS RESURRECTION, ROLLED BACK
THE ChAPEL, AND THE
rjOlled to
i
;^'
Sepulchre.
But among these things,
briefly
it seems that one ought to tell

about the stone, mentioned above, which was rolled
mouth of the Tomb of the Lord, after the burial of

Lord slain"* by many men
which, Arculf
relates, was broken and divided into two parts, the smaller
of which, rough hewn with tools, is seen placed as a square
to the
the crucified
Isaiah xxxiii. i6.
'
See page
i.
^ j^^
Betrayed
ji^^^_
<
'
in
MSS.
except L.

altar
the round ehurch,
in
mouth of
Tomb
described
above, before the
that often-mentioned cabin, that
is,
the Lord's
hewn
while the larger part of that stone, equally
around, stands fixed in the eastern part of that church as
another four-sided altar under linen cloths.
As
to the colours of that rock,
which that often-
in
mentioned chapel was hollowed out by the tools of hewers,

which has,
in its
northern side, the Sepulchre of the Lord
and the same rock
cut out of one
in
which
is
also the
is,
the cabin, Arculf when questioned by
That Cabin of the Lord's Tomb is in no way
ornamented on the inside, and shows even to this day over
Tomb,
that
me, said
surface the traces of the tools, which the hewers or
all its
excavators used in their work

of the
Tomb
the colour of that rock both
and of the Sepulchre
not one, but two
is
colours seem to have been intermingled,
whence
white,
namely red and
also that rock appears two-coloured.
what has been said
as to these points let
But
suffice.
The Church of St. Mary which adjoins the

Round Church.
V.
As
to
details
the buildings
of
the
holy places,
some
must be added. The four-sided Church of
the mother of the Lord,
is
been so often mentioned
also called the Anastasis, that
is
Resurrection, because
it
was
Mary,
adjoined on the right side by
that round church which has
above, and which
St.
few
built
is
the
on the spot of the Lord's
Resurrection.
VI.
built on the Site of

Calvary.
The Church that
is
Another very large church, looking eastwards, has been

built on that place which, in Hebrew, is called Golgotha,^
i
C. adds,
'
but in Latin,
Mount
Calvary.'
lo
high up
lamps
which a great circular chandelier of brass with
in
hung by
is
great cross of
below which has been
ropes,
silver, fixed
in
set
up a
same spot where once
the
stood fixed the wooden Cross, on which suffered the Saviour

of the
human
below the
offered
race.
same church
In the
site
on an
a cave has been cut out in the rock
of the Cross of the Lord, where sacrifice
altar for the souls of certain specially
is
honoured
persons whose bodies are meanwhile placed lying in a courts

before the gate of that Church of Golgotha, until the holy
mysteries on their behalf are finished.
The
VII.
Basilica which Constantine built close
above-named CHURCH ON THE _SpOT

WHERE THE CROSS OF THE LORD, WHICH HAD
BEEN BURIED IN RUINS, WAS FOUND, WHEN AFTER
MANY Centuries the Earth was dug up.
TO THE
This four-sided church, built on the
site
of Calvary,
is
adjoined on the east by the neighbouring stone Basilica,

constructed with
which
is
great
reverence by
King Constantine
also called the Martyrium,^ built, as
that spot where the Cross of the
is
said,
on
Lord, which had been
hidden away under the earth, was found with the other
two crosses of the robbers,

thirty-three years,
after a period of
two hundred and
by the permission of the Lord Himself
VIII. The Site of the Altar of Abraham.

Between these two churches
where the patriarch Abraham
1
'
2
'
Platea,' see next page, note
Monastery'
the Basilica the
by Eusebius
^
On
p. 96.
in
some MSS.
name
to the
of
lies
built
that
an
illustrious
altar,^ laid
on
place
it
the
i.
'
Arculf appears to have applied to

of the Resurrection," given
"The Martyrium
whole group of Constantine's buildings,'
.'The Altar of Abraham,' see
C. W. W.
Abbot Daniel, Appendix IL,
HOLY
and seized the drawn sword to
of wood,
pile
own
sacrifice his
BY ADAMNAN.
PLACES, WRITTEN
son, Isaac
where
now
is
ii
offer
wooden
in
table
of considerable size on which the alms of the poor are
by the people. This also the sainted Arculf added,

enquired of him more diligently Between the Anastasis,
offered
as I
that
is
the round church
and the Basilica
we have
often mentioned above,
of Constantine, lies a small square extend-
ing to the Church of Golgotha, where lamps burn always by
day and
night.i
IX. The Recess situated between the Church of

Calvary and the Basilica of Constantine, in
which are kept the cup of the lord and the
Sponge from which, as He hung on the Tree,
He DRANK Vinegar and Wine.
Between that
there
is
He
Lord, which
Golgotha and the Martyrium^
Basilica of
Cup of the
and gave with His own hand to
a recess (exedra)
blessed
which
in
is
the
He
the Apostles in the supper on the day before

as
He
and they
sat at
meat with one another
suffered,
the cup
is
of silver, holding the measure of a French quart,* and has
two
little
cup also
the Lord
'
handles placed on
'
Between these churches
of Golgotha, which
small square'
is
side.
who were
In this
crucifying
with vinegar and, putting it on hyssop, offered
marble, extending as
'
one on each
the sponge which those
is
filled
C. reads,
it,
a small square covered with
is
far as the Basilica of
is
Constantine and the Church
The word here rendered
extremely beautiful.'
plateola,
'
a green' or
'
a court
'
within the enclosure
of a Scotic monastery, surrounding or beside which were the lodgings

of the community (Reeves, p. 360).
Z?., P. 12943, V., R.
a small chamber, or chapel, attached to the side of a
'Testimony,'
'Exedra'
church;
the 'cubiculum' or 'separatum
monastery.
Josephus
"
is
The Greek word
in reference to the
(IÊ^pa)
is
conclave'
of the
Scotic
of frequent occurrence in
Temple (Reeves,
pp. 224, 444).
Sextariiis, the sixth- part of a congitis, or gallon.
12
to His mouth.
drank
The
apostles.
From
same cup,
He
saw
sainted Arculf
own hand, and
his
the
His Resurrection, as
after
kissed
it.
as
is
Lord
said, the
sat at meat with the

it
and touched
it
with
through the opening of the
perforated cover of the case within which
it
is
concealed
indeed, the whole people of the city resort greatly to this
cup with immense veneration.
X. The Spear
of the Soldier with which

PIERCED THE SiDE OF THE LORD.
he
Arculf also saw that .spear of the soldier with which he
smote through the side of the Lord as
The
spear
is
fixed in a
wooden
Basilica of Constantine,
parts
and
kisses,
its
He hung on the
Cross.
cross in the portico of the
shaft being broken into
two
this also the v/hole city of Jerusalem resorts to,
and venerates.
XL The
Napkin with which the Head of the

Lord was covered in the Sepulchre.^
As
to the sacred napkin which
of the Lord in the Sepulchre,
learn from the narrative
with his own eyes.

The whole people of Jerusalem bear witness to the truth
of the narrative we now write.
For on the testimony of
of the sainted Arculf,
who
was placed upon the head^
we
inspected
it
several faithful citizens of Jerusalem, the sainted Arculf
learned this statement which they very often repeated to

as he listened attentively
him
certain trustworthy believing
Jew, immediately after the Resurrection of the Lord, stole
from His Sepulchre the sacred linen cloth and hid

house
it
for
many days;
was found
but,
C. places this chapter at the
C. adds,
and the body.'
in his
by the favour of the Lord Himself,
after the lapse of
'
it
many
end of the
years,
first
and was brought
Book.
13
to the notice of the whole people about three years^ before
made to Arculf j.^ That happy, faithful

when at the point of death, sent for his two sons, and,
showing them the Lord's napkin, which he had at first
statement was
[this
thief,
abstracted furtively, offered
the choice
is
now
it
to them, saying
Therefore
given to you.
let
say which he rather wishes to choose, so that
'
:
My
boys,
each of you
I
may know
own
without doubt to which of you, according to his

choice,
shall
bequeathe
which only
to
hearing
this,
this
the one
wealth, received
made
to
it
all
sacred
the substance
from his
will.
On
napkin of the Lord.'
who wished
him under the
have, and
father,
to obtain all his sire's
according to a promise
Marvellous to say, from that
day all his riches and all his patrimony, on account of

which he sold the Lord's napkin, began to decrease, and all
that he had was lost by various misfortunes and came to
nothing.
blessed
all his
While the other blessed son of the above-named
thief,
who chose
the Lord's napkin in preference to
patrimony, from the day when he received
it
from
the hand of his dying
sire, became, by the gift of God,

more and more rich in earthly substance, and was by no
means deprived of heavenly treasure. And thus this napkin
of the Lord was faithfully handed down as an heirloom
by the successive heirs of this thrice blessed man to their
believing sons
generation.
in
regular succession,
even to the
But many years having now passed, believing
heirs of that kindred failed, after the fifth generation,
the sacred linen cloth

Three hundred
came
suggested by various editors.
'
C. reads, instead of next three sentences,
'
is
point of death, he said to his two sons

faithfully to receive the
the one
who had
'
My
And when he was at the

who of you would
sons,
napkin of the Lord? On hearing

sire's wealth according to his
received his
received the napkin that has been spoken

brother.'
and
hands of unbelieving
into the
wish
fifth
of,
and sold
it
to his
this,
will,
own
14
Jews, who, while unworthy of such an

it
honourably and, by the
office,
yet embraced,
the Divine bounty, were
gift of
greatly enriched with very diverse riches.
But an accurate
narrative about the Lord's napkin having spread
began
people, the believing Jews
among
the
contend bravely with
to
the unbelieving Jews about the sacred linen cloth, desiring
with
might to obtain possession of
their
all
common
that arose divided the
and the
parties, the faithful believers
Upon
and the
strife
faithless unbelievers.
King of the Saracens, was
Mavias,! the
this,
it,
people of Jerusalem into two
appealed to by both parties to adjudicate between them, and
he said to the unbelieving Jews who were persistently

taining the Lord's napkin ?
my
which you have into
command, they bring

bosom.
his
ordered a great
people, and while
going up to the
a loud voice
who
Now
now
casket and place
its
in
it
with great reverence, the king
made
square before
in the
fiercely,
all
the
he rose, and
addressed both contending parties
suffered for the
napkin, which
it
was burning
it
fire,
'
from
it
to be
fire
In obedience to the king's
hand.'
Receiving
re-
Give the sacred linen cloth
'
let Christ,
the Saviour of the world,
human
race,
hold
my
in
in
upon whose head
bosoiji,
and
this
as to which
you are now contending, was placed in the Sepulchre, judge

between you by the flame of fire^^ so that you may know
to which of these
two contending hosts
most worthily be entrusted.'
Saying
may
this great gift

this,
he threw the
sacred napkin of the Lord into the flames, but the
way touch
could in no
from the
1
L.,
'
fire, it
Mavius
;'
Caliph, 66l
'
began to
a^/iers,
the founder of the
it,
'
for,
fly
rising
whole and untouched
on high,
like a bird with out-
Majuvias,' 'Navias
Omeyyad
;' C, 'Nauvias.'
Muivia,
dynasty, Caliph of Syria, a.d. 658 sole
;
died, 680.
In the sight of the Christian Jews
P. 12943.
fire
who were
present,'
K,
R.,
HOL V PLA CES, WRl TTEN BY ADA MNA N.

spread wings, and looking
two contending
air for
it
flew round
if
in
some moments then slowly descending, under

,
it
inclined towards the party of the
Christians,
who meanwhile prayed
Judge, and
finally
to heaven,
it
with great honour, a
gift to
it,
and put
away
Raising their
receive the Lord's napkin
be venerated as sent to them
they render praises
who gave
bosom.
and bending the knee with great gladness,
God and
from heaven
earnestly to Christ, the
settled in their
they give thanks to
it
one another as
armies in battle array,
the guidance of God,
hands
a great height on the
parties, placed opposite
they were two
mid
down from
and they cover

in
it
in their
up
in
hymns
to Christ,
another linen cloth
a casket of the church.
Our brother Arculf saw it one day taken out of the

and amid the multitude of the people that kissed it,
casket,
he himself kissed
it
measures about eight
been said
1
in
an assembly of the church;
feet^ in length.^
As to
it
let
it
what has
suffice.
'Cubits' in some
MSS.
the margin of C. there is added in the handwriting of the

But afterwards it came into the possession of the
fifteenth century
2
On
'
Bishop of Anicia, who had made a voyage in the districts beyond the
sea and he, dying there, gave it to one who was his priest. This
the precious gift to
priest also died as he was crossing the sea, leaving
a cleric who served him. He, when he was in the country of Petragora,
where he was born, placed the napkin of the Lord in a church which
was recommended to him, near Caduinum. And not long after he
had left the church one day, a fire broke out in a [the nearest] farm
it did not
and also in that church, and burned whatever it found but
preserved, and which was
touch the casket in which the napkin was
brothers, who were lately
near the altar. On hearing this, some of the
they had found the
when
and
thither,
hastened
Caduinum,
staying at
taking the " barietum," where the
casket, they broke it by force, and,
them very quickly and
napkin of the Lord was, they brought it with
year of the Lord 1512.
deposited it in their own monastery about the
went on to Caduinum, and
But the cleric, not finding the treasure,
monk's habit, and as long
the
on
put
he
it,
recover
not
when he could
formeriy possessed.'
he lived, he guarded there what he had
;
as
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE-
i6
Another Sacred
Mary the
XII.
SAID, St.
Cloth which,
Linet^
as
is
Mother of the
Virgin, the
Lord, wo,ve.
Arculf saw also
in that city
cloth of larger size, which, as
which, on that account,
Church and by
of Jerusalem another linen

is
the people.
all
Mary wove, and
said, St.
held in great reverence in the
is
In this linen cloth the
forms of the twelve Apostles are woven, and the likeness

of the Lord Himself
is
figured
one side of the linen cloth
of red colour, while the opposite side
is
green, i
is
The Lofty Column situated on the Spot

where a Dead Young Man came to Life again,
WHEN the Cross of the Lord was placed on
him AND THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD.
Xin.
We
must speak
briefly
about a very lofty column, stand-
ing in the middle of the city, which meets one coming
from the sacred places northwards.
This column
on that spot where a dead young man came to
when the Cross
of the
vellously in the
summer
comes
when the solstice
is
when
solstice at mid-day,
passed, which
it
the sun
no shadow
lessens,
it
column, which the brightness of the sun
solstice
at
mid-day, as
heaven,3 shining straight
for
casts a
first
in the
Thus
summer
stands in the centre of
it
down from
above, shines upon
round from every quarter, proves that the

situated in the middle of the earth.
is
up
again
the 24th^ of June, after
is
day gradually
casts
short shadow, then a longer one as the days pass.

this
set
Lord was placed on him, and mar-
to the centre of the heaven,
three days, as the
is
life
the
all
city of Jerusalem
Whence
also the
Psalmist, prophesying on account of the sacred sites of the

1
Of
23rd,' L.
the colour of green herbs,' B., P. 12943.

3
'
Pole,' B..
P. 12943,
f^-,
R-
17
Passion and the Resurrection which are contained within

that ^lia, sings
'
:
But God, our King, before the ages
wrought salvation
earth,'^ that
midst of the
in the
Jerusalem, which, being in the middle,
has.
is,
in
also called the
is
navel of the earth.^
The Church of
XIV.
Valley of Josaphat,
That sedulous
Mary
St.
which
in
Holy
visitor of the
Arculf, visited the
Church of
Josaphat, which
built in
is
two
Places, the sainted
Mary
St.
in the
her Tomb.
built
is
,8
Valley of
in the
stories, the
lower of these
being a round structure, under a marvellous stone roof,
with an altar
the
is
it
while on the right side of
in its eastern part,
empty stone sepulchre of
Mary,
St.
a time she rested after her burial.*
in
which for
But how or when or
by whom her sacred body was raised from that sepulchre,

or where it awaits the Resurrection, it is said that no
one knows certainly.^ Those who enter this lower round
Church of
St.
Mary
see inserted, on the right of the wall,
that stone above which, on the night
when He was betrayed
men, the Lord prayed in

the field of Gethsemane, on bended knees, before the hour
of His betrayal and in this rock are seen the marks of
by Judas
into the hands of sinful
if
they had been very deeply impressed
the softest wax.
Thus we were informed by our
His two knees, as

in
brother, the sainted Arculf, the visitor of the holy places,
who
with his
own eyes saw what we
upper Church of
shown
'
"*
Mary, which
is
In the
describe.
also round, there are
to be four altars.
Psalm Ixxiv. 12.

Compare Abbot Daniel,
1888, pp. 260

3
St.
pp. 13, 96
Quarterly Statement, October,
ff.
Compare Ant. Mar., p. 14 Abbot Daniel,

and belongs to the saints.'
As Jerome relates,' C, P. 12943.
;
B. adds,
p.
23
Mukaddasi,
'
'
p. 49.
ARCULFS NARRATIVE ABOUT THE

The Tower of Josaphat built
XV.
in
the same
Valley.
In the
same
valley that has been mentioned above, not
from the Church of
far
St.
Mary,
Josaphat, in which his sepulchre
XVI.
Thisi
is
shown the Tower
is
seen.
The Tombs of Simeon and
little
tower
is
of
Joseph.
joined on the right hand by a stone
house, cut out of the rock and separated from the
Mount
of Olivet, within which are shown two sepulchres cut out
One
with iron tools, destitute of ornament.
of these
is
that of Simeon, the just man, who, having embraced the

Infant, the
little
Lord
Temple in both his

The other is that of Joseph,
Jesus, in the
hands, prophesied about Him.
the spouse of St. Mary, and the upbringer of the Lord Jesus.
the Rock of the Mount of

Olivet, across the Valley of Josaphat, in
WHICH ARE Four Tables and two Weixs.^
XVII.
The Cave
in
Mount
In the side of the
from the Church of
St.
of Olivet
is
a cave, not far
Mary, placed on the higher ground
across the Valley of Josaphat, having in
it]
two'very deep
wells, one of which descends to a great depth under the
mountain,^ while the other

its
immense cavity
is
being, as
course, descending into the
always closed.
1
in
little
is
pavement of the
cave,
said, directed in a straight
depth
same cave
these two wells are
are four stone tables, of
XV. and reads, Thence, not far from the Church of St.
which her sepulchre is seen, in that same Valley of Josaphat,
tower of stone, which is joined on its right side [?], cut out
C. omits
Mary,
is
In the
in the
'
of the jock,' etc.

^
'
The cave
of the two wells,' E.,
13048.
G.J other MSS. read, is extended to a great distance at a profound depth.' C. has this reading, but adds, 'under the mountain.'
3
'
HOLY
PLACES,
WKITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
19
which the one nearest the entrance of the cave on the

inside is that of our Lord Jesus Christ, His seat beyond
doubt adjoining His
little
table
He was
here
in
the habit
sometimes of
sitting at meat with His twelve Apostles,

same time sat at the other tables in the same
place.
The closed mouth of the well, referred to above as
being in the pavement of the cave, is shown to belong
especially to the tables of the Apostles.
The little doorway of this cave is closed by a wooden gate, as the sainted
who
at the
Arculf,
who
so often visited that cave of the Lord, relates.
The Gate of David and the Place where
XVni.
Judas Iscarioth hanged himself by a Rope.
The Gate
David adjoins a slight

Those going out of the
of
on the west.
Mount Sion next
ing the Gate and
rising of
Mount Sion
city through
it,
leav-
come
their left hand,
to
a stone bridge,i directed for some distance in a straight line

across the valley to the south, raised on arches,^ close to the
middle of which, on the west
side, is
the spot where Judas
by despair, hanged himself by a rope.^

shown here to this day a fig-tree of large
from the top of which, as is said, Judas hung in a
of Iscarioth, driven
There
size,
still
is
halter, as Juvencus,* a versifying presbyter, has

'
'
From
Fountain
'
fig-tree top
in
sung
he snatched a shapeless death.'
some MSS.
through this gate that one leaves Jerusalem for the

city of Samuel, which is called Ramalha, and for Cesarea of Palestine,
2
C. adds,
'
It is
as well as for Gaza.'

'
Compare Bord.
must be
"
in
W4dy
Pil., p. 24,
Ant., Mar., p. 15.
The
spot alluded to
Rababeh.
C. Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus, a Spaniard by birth, the author of
a Historica Evangelica,
upon the Gospels,'

Christian Biog., vol.
'
the
iii.,
an hexameter
'
first
poem on our
Christian epic'
pp. 598
Lord's
life,
based
(See Smith's Diet, of
f-)
20
XIX. The Form of the Great Basilica built on

Mount Sion, and the Situation of t-hat
Mountain.
Mention was made of Mount Sion a little above, and
here a short and succinct notice must be inserted of a
great Basilica constructed there, a drawing of which is
given here
'SiJbe,cf
Tlu,Jj<!rd/s Sofper
Column,
te
Sere the, Holy

SpaiJb ieaeenXidb
orv(he.JpostUs
luDthi-apan
wTdckSbephav
wcbsstaneA
wTvuh
Ove,IiCrBj vfaus ootuwL'
HertiS^lfixTy
di^
It
PLAN OF THE BASILICA ON MOUNT SION, SHOWING THE SITES ON
THE SUMMIT OF THE MOUNTAIN.
shown the rock upon which Stephen, being

Beyond the great
stoned without the city, fell asleep.
church described above, which embraces within its walls
such holy places, there stands another memorable rock, on
Here
is
the west side of that on which, as
This Apostolical Church, as
is
is
said,
Stephen was stoned.^
said above,
stone on a level surface in the higher ground of

^
L.J- other
C.
MSS.
read, 'the
was
built of
Mount
Sion.^
Lord was scourged.'
reads for XIX., 'After this the sainted Arculf writes of that
place where the Lord supped with His disciples, and where the Holy
Spirit descended upon the Apostles on the holy day of Pentecost,
where he says that a great church has been constructed on the top of
Mount Sion, which is called the Apostles' Church. There is seen there
the column where the Lord was scourged, and there is also shown
there the rock on which St. Stephen was stoned
to the west there is
another church, where the Lord was tried in the Pretorium of Pilate.
Now we shall speak of the Mount of Olivet,' chap. 22. As to the traditions connected with the scenes of St. Stephen's martyrdom, burial,
etc., see Abbot Daniel, Appendix I., pp. 83-90.
As to the Church,
see Mii, pp. 36, 37.
;
HOLY PLA CES, WRITTEN BY ADA MNA N.

The Little Field called
XX.
in
Hebrew Akel-
DEMAC.
This small
field,i
Mount
quarter of
which
Sion,
is
situated towards the southern
was often
visited
has a stone boundary-wail, and in
it
by our Arculf it
number
;
a considerable
of pilgrims^ are very carefully interred, while others are

left
unburied very carelessly, merely covered with rags or
skins,
and
so,
lying on the ground, putrefy.
XXI. The Rough and Rocky Ground that extends

FAR and wide, from JERUSALEM TO THE CiTY OF
Samuel, and to Cesarea of Palestine towards
THE West.
From ^lia northwards to the City of Samuel, which is

Armathem/ the ground is rocky and rough, in which,
called
however, there are intervening spaces, thorny valleys also

lying up to the Tanitic region.
country
Another description of
seen from the above-named ^lia and
is
westwards extending to Cesarea of Palestine

there
maybe
yet for
by
Mount Sion
though
for
some narrow, small, rough places,

the most part wider downs are met with, enlivened
at intervals
olive groves scattered over them.
The Mount of
Olivet, its Height,

Character of its Soil.
XXII.
and the
Other kinds of trees than the vine and the olive can, as
Arculf
relates,
while very
'
Mar.,
p.
22
Abbot Daniel,
p.
38
it.
City of
p. 20.
'Peregrinus' in
Todd's
on the Mount of Olivet,
crops of corn and barley are raised on
Compare, Ant.
Jerusalem,
Cf.
rarely be found
fine
'
Adamnan
signifies
'
pilgrim' (Reeves, Glossary).
St. Patrick,' p. 261.
''Armachim,' 'Ramathas,' in some MSS. The present Nebi

Samwil, on the right of the old northerly road from Jaffa to Jerusalem
22
For the character of that soil is shown not to be adapted

Its height, moreover,
for trees, but for gt-ass and flowers.
seems to be equal to that of Mount Sion,i although Mount
Sion seems'small and narrow when compared to the Mount
its geometrical dimensions-^namely,
of Olivet as regards
breadth and length.

mountains,
In the middle, between these two
the Valley
lies
of
Josaphat,
we
of which
spoke above, stretching from north to south.
XXIIL The
Place of the Ascension of the Lord

AND the Church built on it.
On
the whole
Mount
of Olivet there seems to be no spot
higher than that from which the Lord
is
said
to have
ascended into the heavens, where there stands a great
round church, having

covered over above.
roof or vault,
having
lies
in its circuit three vaulted porticoes
The
in its eastern side
covering.
So
interior of the church, without
open to heaven under the open
that in this
air,
an altar protected under a narrow
way
the interior has no vault,^ in
order that from the place where the Divine footprints are
when the Lord was carried up into heaven in a

cloud, the way may be always open and free to the eyes of
those who pray towards heaven.*
For when this basilica, of which I have now made
last seen,^
was building, that place of the footprints
slight mention,
of the Lord, as
we
find
written elsewhere, could not be
The summit of Mount Olivet is 2,693 feet above the sea-level that
Mount Sion 2,550 feet.
^ C, other MSS. read, 'placed over it.'
Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 25.
1
of
' Z,.,
other
MSS.
read, 'last stood.'
C, having given this paragraph in an abbreviated form, adds only,

'In the pavement whence He ascended, His sacred footprints are
seen to have been impressed.' The footprint of Christ is still shown
*
on Mount Olivet,
'
City of Jerusalem,'
p. 40.
HOL Y PLA CES, WRITTEN B Y A DAMNA N.
23
enclosed under the covering^ with the rest of the buildings.
Whatever was
applied, the unaccustomed earth, refusing to
human,
receive anything
cast
back into the face of those
who brought
it.
And, moreover, the mark of the dust that
was trodden by the Lord is so lasting that the impression
of the footsteps
may
be perceived
and although the
faith
of such as gather daily at the spot snatches
away some of
what was trodden by the Lord, yet the area perceives no
loss, and the ground still retains that same appearance of
being marked by the impress of footsteps.
who
Further, as the sainted Arculf,

spot, relates, a brass
on the
flattened
carefully visited this
hollow cylinder of large circumference,
top, has
been placed here,
its
height
being shown by measurement to rdach one's neck. 2

centre of
it
is
an opening of some
uncovered marks of the
feet of the
Lord are plainly and
clearly seen from above, impressed in the dust.
cylinder there
that
is,
in the
any entering by
western side, as
it
In the
through which the
size,
it
In that
were, a door
so
can easily approach the place of
the sacred dust, and through the open hole in the wheel
may
take up in their, outstretched hands some particles of
the sacred dust.
Thus the
narrative of our Arculf as to the footprints of
the Lord quite accords with the writings of others

effect that
by the roof of the house

covering
to
the
they could not be covered in any way, whether

or
by any
special lower
so that they can always be seen
and the marks of the
feet of the
by
all
Lord can be
and closer
that enter,
clearly seen
For these footprints of
depicted in the dust of that place.
the Lord are lighted by the brightness of an
hanging on pulleys above that cylinder
in
immense lamp
the church, and
burning day and night.

Further
'
'
in the
Pavement'
western side of the round church we have

in
MSS.
'
Head'
in
some MSS.
24
mentioned above, twice four windows have been formed

high up with glazed shutters, and
many lamps
burn as
in
these
windows there
placed opposite them, within and close
to them.
These lamps hang
that each
lamp may hang neither higher nor
may be
seen, as
and close
which
to
these lamps
it
is
in chains,
were, fixed to
specially
it is
and are so placed

lower, but
own window, opposite

seen.
The brightness of
its
so great^ that, as their light
is
copiously poured
through the glass from the summit of the Mountain of

Olivet, not only
the part of the mountain nearest the
is
round^ basilica to the west illuminated, but also the lofty
path which
rises
by steps up
the Valley of Josaphat,
is
to the city of Jerusalem
from
clearly illuminated in a wonderful
manner, even on dark nights
while the greater part of the
hand on the opposite side is similarly illuminated by the same brightness.

The effect of
this brilliant and admirable coruscation of the eight great
city that lies nearest at
lamps shining by night from the holy mountain and from

the site of the Lord's ascension, as Arculf related,
is
to
pour into the hearts of the believing onlookers a greater

eagerness^ of the Divine love, and to strike the
mind with
a certain fear along with vast inward compunction.
me about the same round

That on the anniversary of the Lord's Ascension,
This also Arculf related to

church
at mid-day, after the solemnities of the
Mass have been
celebrated in that basilica, a most violent tempest of wind
comes on regularly every year, so that no one can stand or

sit in
that church or in the neighbouring places, but
prostrate in prayer with their faces in the

terrible
The
until that
tempest has passed.
result of this terrific blast
cannot be vaulted over

1
ground
all lie
Compare
St.
Paula, p.
'
that that part of the house
so that above the spot where the
lo.
v., R.,
is
add,
2
'
<
stone' in some
or clearness.'
MSS.
HOLY
PLACES, WRITTEN
footsteps of the
within
Lord are impressed and are
the opening in
cyHnder, the
blast of the
BY ADAMNAN.
the centre of
way always appears open
clearly shown,
the above-named
to heaven.
above-mentioned wind destroyed,
with the Divine
25
in
For the
accordance
whatever materials had been gathered
will,
above
for preparing a vault
it,
if
any human
art
made
the
attempt.
This account of
the sainted Arculf,
of
Mount
this dreadful
who was
Olivet at the very hour of the day of the Lord's
Ascension when that
storm was given to us by
himself present in that Church
drawing of
this
fierce
storm arose;
round church
shown below, however
is
while the form of the

unworthily it may have been drawn
brass cylinder is also shown placed in the middle of the
;
church.
PLAN OF THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION.
This also we learned from the narrative of the sainted

Arculf: That in that round church, besides the usual light
of the eight lamps mentioned above as shining within the
church by night, there are usually added on the night of

the Lord's Ascension almost innumerable other lamps^
which by their terrible and admirable brightness, poured
26
abundantly through the glass of the windows, not only
Mount
illuminate the
wholly on
fire
of Olivet, but
make
it
seem to be
while the whole city and the places in the
neighbourhood are also
lit
up.
The Sepulchre of Lazarus and the Church
XXIV.
BUILT above
AND THE ADJOINING MONASTERY.
it,
Arculf, the visitor of the above-mentioned holy places,

visited a little plain
surrounded by a great
Bethany,
at,
wood
of olives, where there are a great monastery and a
great
basilica built over
Lazarus to
recalled
life
the cave from which the

after
he had
Lord
been dead four
days.
XXV.
Another Church built to the Right of

Bethany.
As
to another
more celebrated church
built
towards the
southern side of Bethany, on that spot of the

Olivet where the Lord
think that
ciples, I
Hence we must
Mount
of
said to have addressed the dis-
we must
write briefly.
carefully inquire
what time or to what

the Lord spoke.^
is
what address and
special individuals of
These three questions,
if
at
His disciples
we
will
open
the writings of the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and
Luke,
will
be clearly answered, for the Evangelists speak of
the character of the address in complete
As
another.
any doubt, or as
read
to the address
Olivet, the disciples
vately, saying. Tell us,

C. reads,
which
and the
Matthew speaking about the Lord
upon the Mount of
He
specially
harmony with one
to the place of that meeting,
when
'And although
no one can have

place,
who
'And as He sat
came to Him pri:
shall these things.be?
and what
three Evangelists describe His address,
then gave to the disciples, yet Matthew writes about

"
And
as
He
will
sat," etc'
it
more

shall
be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of
the age
?'
(St.
Matt. xxiv.
Him, Matthew has kept

tells
27
us
'
As
3).
silence
to the persons
but
who asked
Mark has not, and he

Andrew asked
Peter and James and John and
Him privately' (St. Mark xiii. 3) in reply to whose question

He delivered the address referred to by the three Evangelists
we have mentioned above, of which
shown
in
His words
For many
Mark
come
shall
xiii. 5,
6)
'Take heed
in
and the
lest
the character
is
any man deceive you.
My name, saying, I am
Christ
'
(St.
rest that follows as to the last times
and the consummation of the age, which Matthew records at

great length, down to the place where the same Evangelist
clearly
shows the time of
this
mentions the words of the
lengthened address, as he
Lord
And
it
came
to pass,
finished all these sayings, He said to His

Ye know that after two days is the Passover, and
Son of Man shall be betrayed to be crucified,' etc.
when Jesus had

disciples,
the
Matt. xxvi. I, 2).

It is thus shown distinctly that
was on the fourth day of the week, when two days
remained to the first day of the Unleavened Bread, which
is called the Passover, that the Lord delivered the length(St.
it
ened address mentioned above,
in
the four above-named disciples.
answer to the question of
On
the place where the
address was given a church was founded in
which
is
held in great honour.
Let
it
suffice to
have thus
of the city of Jerusalem, and
its
far described the
Mount
memory,
holy places
Sion, and the
of Olivet, and the Valley of Josaphat, which
lies
Mount
between
these mountains, in accordance with the accurate narrative
of the sainted Arculf, the visitor of those places.
BOOK
The Situation
I.
II.
Bethlehem.
ofi
Book we
In the beginning of this Second
shall briefly
write a few notes about the situation of the city of Bethlehem,''^
where
which our Saviour thought worthy to be the place
He
should be born of the Holy Virgin.
who
according to the narrative of Arculf
remarkable
visited
is
situated on the narrow ridge of a
rounded
it, is
for situation as for its glorious fame,
been published throughout the churches

it
This
on
all
by
sides
valleys,
-of
on the top of
built right
round the brow of that
overhangs the
nations
the ridge of ground
little
valleys lying around
little
all
round the
a low wall without towers,'
level plain
is
not so
which has
mountain, sur-
stretching from east to west for about a mile

it
city,
mountain, which
on both
sides,
while the. dwellings of the citizens are scattered over the

intervening ground within the wall, along the longer diameter.
n. The Place of the Nativity of the Lord, the

Church of St. Mary.
In the extreme eastern angle of this city
is
a sort of
natural half cave,* the extremity of the interior of w.hich
Manger
the
born babe
while another, contiguous to the
have just mentioned,^

Of
is
of the Lord, in which His mother laid the new-
is
shown
the district of Jerusalem
'
C. reads,
Compare Abbot Daniel,
C. inserts,
that
'about Bethlehem, which
'
where a
little
manger we
to such as enter, as being the

is,
is
Bethlehem,'
K.,
R.
the district of Jerusalem.'
C. omits 'half.'
house has been constructed of stone.'
p. 40.
HOL Y FLA CES, WRITTEN B Y A DAMNAN.

traditional site of
His
real
29
The whole
nativity.
of this
cave of the Manger of the Lord at Bethlehem has been

adorned on the inside with precious marble> in honour of
Saviour,
the
while
the
in
half
above the stone
cave,
chamber, there has been built the Church of
St.
Mary,
above the place where the Lord is said to have been

actually born, which is a grand structure.
III.
The Rock situated beyond the Wall, upon

WHICH THE Water, in which He was first
WASHED AFTER HiS BiRTH, WAS POURED.
Here I think I must briefly mention the rock lying

beyond the wall, upon which the water of the first bathing
of the Lord's body after His birth, was poured from the
top of the wall out of the vessel into which it had been
put.
This water of the sacred bath, poured from the wall,
found a receptacle
rock lying below, which had been
in a
hollowed out by nature like a trench
and
water has
this
own time
been constantly replenished from that day to our

during the course of
full
many
ages, so that the cavity
Saviour miraculously bringing
His
is
shown
of the purest water without any loss or diminution, our
nativity,
about from the day of
of which the prophet sings
water out of the rock
Rock was
this
Christ,'^
;'i
'
:
Who brought
Now that
and the Apostle Paul,
'
^ho, contrary to nature, brought water
or a stream out of the hardest rock in the desert to console
His thirsting people.
Such
is
the power of
wisdom of God, who brought out water

of
Bethlehem and keeps
this
its
own
eyes,
full
of water
xlviii. 21.
and he washed
it.
Isaiah
the
also from that rock
cavity always
our Arculf inspected with his
his face in
God and
Cor. x.
4.
30
Another Church
IV.
David
Arculf,
when
which the Tomb of
in
seen.
is
asked him about the Sepulchre of King
David,! gave us this answer
myself inquired very care-
about the Sepulchre of King David,
fully
buried in the earth, and visited
It lies in
it.
which he was
in
the middle^ of
the pavement of the church, without any overlying orna-
ment, surrounded only by a low fence' of stone, and having

a lamp shining brightly placed over
This church
it.
built outside the wall of the
is
city in
an
adjoining valley, which joins the Hill of Bethlehem on the

north.
The Church within which
V.
is
the Sepulchre
of St. Hieronymus [Jerome].
As we
inquired with like solicitude as to the Sepulchre
of St. Hieronymus,* Arculf told us
Hieronymus,
built in
a valley
saw the Sepulchre
which you inquire, which
as to
beyond that
city ,5
little
is in
of
a church
which
is
con-
terminous with the ridge of the Hill of Bethlehem, mentioned above, and
of St. Hieronymus
of David, and
is
lies
is
to the south of
of similar
it.
This Sepulchre
workmanship
to the
Tomb
unornamented.
The Tombs of the Three Shepherds, around

WHOM, when the Lord was born, the Heavenly
Brightness shone; and their Church.
VI.
Arculf gave us a short account of the tombs of those

shepherds, around
^
Compare Ant. Mar.,
C. reads,
'
'
whom, on
p.
23
Bord.
the
night of
the
south.'
Pyramis here, and p. 3 1, has apparently the meaning of a

See Reeves, p. 452.
'
fence.'
*
Compare
Lord's
Pil., p. 27.
Ant. Mar.,
p. 23.
C.
omits
'little.'
'
square

Nativity, the heavenly brightness shone
the three
I visited,
31
he
said,
tombs of those three shepherds who are buried
church near the Tower of Gader,^ which

the east of Bethlehem,
whom, when
is
in a
about a mile to
the Lord was born,
the brightness of the angelic light^ surrounded at that place,

that
near the
is
been
built,
Tower of the Flock where
The Sepulchre
VII.
The Book
is,
Book of Places
'
the district of Bethlehem, and the
in
relates that
Rachel was buried
about this road, Arculf said
There
leads from .^lia southwards to

six^ miles
from Jerusalem,
the Sepulchre of Rachel

west, that
is,
is
is
Hebron, close to which,

end of
this
common workmanship and
VIII.
Hebron, which
of the Philistines
is
not
houses,
1
is
shown
also
walls.
Some
in
has some poorly built villages,
some lying
'Aden'
'Voice,' B., C.
monument
Arculf
C. reads,
'
8.
five.'
at this spot is constantly
It
is
relates,
traces of the
it
city,
remnants of ruins
fields,
within, others without,
So St. Paula, p.
Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 42.
C. reads,
Sahur.
without orna-
Mambre, was once the metropolis

and inhabited by giants David reigned
is
now surrounded by
it
it
Hebron.
which was long ago destroyed, appear

but
it.^
for seven years, and, as the sainted
it
while
the present day the inscription with her name,
which Jacob, her husband, erected above
in
east,
road on the
There
mentation, surrounded by a stone fence.*
even at
questions
a royal road which
Bethlehem on the
at the
that
in
on one's right hand as one goes to Hebron
a building of
is
is
my
In answer to
close to the road.
district
of Rachel.
of Genesis relates that Rachel was buried in
Ephrata, that
'
that church has
containing the sepulchres of those shepherds.
and farm-
those remains
now known
as Beit
< See p. 30, note 3.

spoken of from a.d. 333.
32
of the destroyed walls, scattered over the surface of the

plain, while a
multitude of people
live in
those villages and
farms.
The Valley of Mambre, and the Sepulchre
IX.
OF THE Four Patriarchs.
To
the east of
looking towards
Ephron the
Hebron is a field with a double cave,

Mambre, which Abraham bought from
Hittite, for a possession of a
In the valley of this
field
Sepulchre of Arba, that
site of the
Abraham, and
whose feet are
double sepulchre.^
the sainted Arculf visited the

is,
of the four patriarchs,
and Jacob, and Adam, the
Isaac,
not, as
is
customary
man,
first
in other parts
of the
world, turned towards the east in burial, but are turned to
The
site
of these
surrounded by a low rectangular^
wall.
Adam,
the south, and their heads to the north.
sepulchres
the
first
is
created, to
whom, when he sinned, immediately after

God the Creator said Dust thou art,
the sin was committed,
and
'
to the dust thou shalt return,'^
from the other
three,
is
separated somewhat
next the northern side of the rectan-
gular stone rampart, buried not in a stone sepulchre cut out
the rock above ground, as other honoured
in
seed
lie,
but buried
in
men
of his
the ground, covered with earth, and
himself, dust, turned into dust, rests waiting the resurrection with all
filled
1
his seed.
And
thus in that sepulchre
the divine sentence uttered to
B., v., R., add,
'
him
which are not seen above the ground, but there
are thought to be twin sepulchres under the ground.'
Haram
the
is ful-
as to himself.*
enclosure at
Hebron
is
A description
of
given by Capt, Conder in P. F. M.,
III., pp. 333-346, and by the late Dean Stanley, 'Jewish Church,' Vol. I.,
Appendix II., pp. 416-437 (London, 1877). Compare Ant. Mar., p. 24
Abbot Daniel, p. 45 'Journey through .Syria and Palestine,' pp. 53 ff.
2
Quadrato appears here to be used for quadrangulo,' the real
;
'
'
'
shape of the enclosure not being square.

*
Because he was buried in the earth,' B., K, R.
'
Gen.
iii.
19.
HOL Y PLACES, WRITTEN B Y ADAMNAN.

And
33
the example of the Sepulchre of the
after
first
parent, the other three Patriarchs also rest in sleep covered
with
common dust, their four
Sepulchres having placed above
them small monuments, cut out and hewn from

stones, in the
form of a
single
and formed according to

the measure of the length and the breadth of each
The
Sepulchre.
basilica,
three adjoining Sepulchres of
Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob are protected by three hard white

stones, placed over them, formed according to the shape of
which we have now written, as has been said above
while
Adam's Sepulchre
over
it,
by a stone placed
but of darker colour and poorer workmanship.
Arculf saw also the poorer and smaller monuments of the
is
also protected
women, namely Sara, and Rebecca, and Lia, buried

the earth.
The sepulchral field of those patriarchs is
three
in
found to be one furlong from the wall of that most ancient
Hebron, towards the
east.
founded before
all
cities,
preceded
foundation
has
it
in its
now been
Thus
far
the
all
This Hebron,
it
is
said,
was
not only of Palestine, but also

the cities of Egypt, although
so miserably destroyed.
let
it
suffice
to
have written
as
the
to
Sepulchres of the Patriarchs.
X.
The Hill and the Oak of Mambre.
mile to the north of
described above,
is
the
Tombs
that have
the very grassy and iiowery
Mambre, looking towards Hebron, which

of
it.
This
little
mountain, which
is
lies
been
hill
of
to the south
Mambre, has
called
a level summit, at the north side of which a great stone
church has been
built, in the right side
the two walls of this great Basilica, the

^
The Oak or Terebinth

Arculf and many
sites.
of
of which between
Oak
Abraham has been shown
others (Jerome,
Itin.
of Mambre,^
in
two different
Sozomen,
Hierosol.,
Eucherius, Benjamin of Tudela, the Abbot Daniel,
p. 43, etc.)
seem
AKCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE
34
wonderful to
relate,
stands rooted in the earth
oak of Abraham, because under
called the
hospitably received the Angels.

relates, that this
also
is
he once
it
Hieronymus elsewhere
had existed from the beginning of
tree
the world to the reign of the
Emperor Constantine
but
had utterly perished, perhaps because

that time, although the whole of that vast tree was not
he did not say that

at
St.
it
to be seen as
still
it
it
had been formerly, yet a spurious trunk
remained rooted
in the
ground, protected under the
men
roof of the church, of the height of two
from
wasted spurious trunk, which has been cut on
all
this
sides
by
axes, small chips are carried to the different provinces of the
memory
world, on account of the veneration and
of that
oak, under which, as has been mentioned above, that famous
and notable
visit
Around
Abraham.
honour of that
But as to
of the Angels was granted to the patriarch
the church, which
place, a few dwellings, of
these, let
it
suffice to
have said
there in
built
is
monks
this
are shown.
let us
go on
to other points.
XI.
The Pine-forest from which Firewood
is
BROUGHT TO JERUSALEM ON CAMELS.

As we
leave Hebronj
we come,
miles, to the north of the city,
and
from the side of the road on the

great size covered with pines.
is
at a distance of three
a wide plain not far
in
hand, to a
left
From
hill
pine forest,
this
of no
wood
carried to Jerusalem on camels for burning in fires
camels,
say, for, as Arculf relates, carts or
on
waggons can
rarely be found throughout all Judaea.

to point to the ruin of er
Rameh, near which
Abraham's House, with a fine

Jews to be the Oak of Mamre.
Balliltet Sebta,
coccifera).
where
is
spring-well.
The
is
This
Beit el Khulil, or
is
still
held by the
Christians point to another
site,
a fine specimen of Sindian (Quercus Pseudo-
HOL Y PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.

XII.
Our
35
JERTCHO.
sainted Arculf saw the site of the city of Jericho,
which Joshua destroyed,
after crossing the Jordan, slaying
king, in the place of which Hieli of Bethel, of the tribe of
its
Ephraim,
built another city,
which our Saviour thought
At
honour with His presence.
to
the time
when
attacked and besieged Jerusalem, this city was
Romans
taken and destroyed on account of the perfidy of

In
habitants.
its
relates,
some
itself
the harlot,2
site,
who
there
still
of
its
ruins, as
have been destroyed
them
whom
in flax
Joshua Ben-Nun
straw
in
the garret.
walls of her house remain, but without a roof
of the city
site
is left
not even having a house of

vines.'
cities
Marvellous to say,
remains only the house of Raab
hid the two spies,
sent across, concealing
The stone
The whole
destroyed
traces are shown.
even after these three successive
on the same
its in-
place a third was built, which also after a
long interval of time was
Arculf
fit
the
Between the
site
without
rest,
human
habitation,
and produces corn and
of this destroyed city and the
Jordan are great palm groves, throughout which are

scattered spots where there are nearly countless houses
river
inhabited by sorry fellows of the race of Channan.*
XIII. Galgal, and the Twelve Stones which the

Children of Israel, after crossing the River
Jordan, took from its Dried Channel.
Arculf, of
whom
Galgal, built on
thfe
crossing the Jordan,

1
MSS.
'
have spoken, saw a large Church
encamped
for the first
time in the land
Oza.'
Compare Bord. Pil., p. 25 Ant. Mar., p.

' Compare Abbot Daniel, p. 31.
Compare Mukad., p. 56, 'The people
=
in
spot where the children of Israel, after
12.
are brown-skinned
swarthy.'
3-2
and
36
In this church too the sainted Arculf noted
of Chanaan.
the twelve stones as to which, after the crossing of the
Jordan, the Lord spoke to Josue
each
for
tribe,
command them
and
Choose twelve men, one

to take from the middle
of the channel of. the Jordan, where the feet of the priests
have stood, twelve very hard stones, which ye shall place

on the site of your camp, where ye shall pitch your tents
These,
this night.
say, Arculf saw, six of
them lying on
the pavement on the right side of the church, and an equal
number on the north side^ all of them unpolished and

common each of them is so large that, as Arculf himself
relates, two strong young men of this time can scarcely
raise it from the earth
while one had by some unknown accident been broken in two parts, and has been
;
artificially
joined again by an iron clamp.
the above-mentioned church
most ancient Jericho on
is built, lies
this side of the
the tribe of Juda, at the
fifth
Galgal,^ where,
to the east of the
Jordan, in the
Tabernacle was fixed here for a longtime; and

as
is
said, the
lot of
milestone from Jericho; the
above-named church was
the above-mentioned twelve stones;
it is
in this place,
built, in
which are
held in marvellous
reverence and honour by the people of that district.
XIV.
The Place where our Lord was baptized

BY JOHN.^
That sacred and honoured place, where the Lord was

baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the
^
Joshua
'"
C. reads,
iv.
'
1-3.
He saw
of the ancient Jericho,

the Tabernacle
still
was
found in Birket
also in Galgal another church on the east side
and
fixed
at the fifth milestone

for a long time.'
Jilujlieh.
The
variously stated by different pilgrims
'not
far,'
from Jericho, where
The name
of Galgal
distance from Jericho
'one
mile,'
Theodorus,
is
is
most
ch. xvi.
Ant. Mar., p. 12; 'a verst' (two-thirds English mile) 'to-
wards the summer sun-rising,' i.e., N.E., Abbot Daniel, p. 32.

^ As to the Holy Places on and near
the Jordan, see Ant. Mar.,
Appendix I., pp. 38-41.
3;
river Jordan, and as Arculf, who went to the place, relates,

he passed backwards and forwards to it' through the river
in that sacred place a
close to
man,
wooden
diminished, up to his breast

the whole of
additional
tallest
when the waters are

but when the river is in
is covered over by the
The
waters.
the cross
site
of that
marking the place where, as has been
was baptized,
man
strong
iixed,
is
a time of great drought,
or, at
flood,
cross of great size
which the water comes up to the neck of the
is
on
this side^ of the
cross,
accordingly,
said above, the
bed of the
can with a sling throw a stone from
From
the other bank on the Arabian side.
above-mentioned
cross,
stone
arches to the bank, across which
Lord
and a
as far as
it
the site of the

carried
on
to the cross
and
bridge
men go
river,
is
descend by a slope to the bank, ascending as they return.^
At the edge
said,
of the river
is
a small square church, built, as
is
on the spot where the garments of the Lord were taken
care of at the time
when He was
baptized.
This
is
raised, so
as to be uninhabitable, on four stone vaults, standing above
the waters which flow below.
Hue
'
'
C. reads,
et illuc
'
per
eundem
on the other
It
is
protected above by
intra vit fluvium.'
side.'
be corrupt. The descent was from the bank

The allusion may,
from the cross to the bank.
however, be to the descent from the upper to the lower bank. Compare
Bede, p. 82. The .translation of C. for the whole passage is 'He told
us also that that sacred, holy, and honourable place, in which the Lord
'
The
text appears to
cross, not
to the
was baptized by John, is always covered by the waters of the river

and in that place a wooden cross has been fixed. The site
of that cross, where the Lord was baptized, is on the other side of the
bed of the river, while at the edge of the river there is a small church,
where, as is said, the garments of the Lord were taken care of This
basilica stands above the waters, so as to be uninhabitable, since the
waters flow under it on both sides, and is supported on four stone
Jordan
vaults and arches.

honour of St. John
On
the higher ground, there
Baptist.'
is
another church in
38
is
supported by
in the lower
ground of the
slacked lime,i and below, as has been said,
This church
vaults and arches.
is
valley through which the river Jordan flows
higher ground, overhanging
it,
monks
a great monastery of
on the brow of the opposite
built
is
while on the
There
hill.
is
also
enclosed within the same wall as the monastery, a church
honour of
in
St.
John
Baptist, built of squared stones.
XV.
The Colour of the Jordan, and the

Dead Sea.
The
colour of the river Jordan appears from Arculf's
narrative to be white on the surface, like milk, and as
enters the Salt Sea
its
it
colour can easily be distinguished
from that of the Dead Sea
for a long distance
along
its
course.!
In great tempests the
Dead Sea
ground by the dashing of
its
had
its
in
abundance along
casts
up
salt
on the
waves, and this can usually be

circuit,
affording a very large
supply, not only to those in the vicinity but also to fardistant nations
sun.
Salt
is
it is
sufficiently dried
by the heat of the
otherwise obtained in a mountain of Sicily
for the stones of that
earth, prove to be naturally
most
name from
salt to the taste, this
Sea
properly called Earth Salt.
given a different
earth
salt,
salt.
however,
From
believed to have derived His simile
is
the Apostles in the Gospel
As
etc.
we were
1
'
'-
'
:
Ye
is
this the
when He
being
usually
Lord
says to
are the salt of the earth,'
found in the mountain of Sicily,

by the sainted Arculf, who spent some days
to this earth salt
told
Coctili creta.'
elsewhere.'
mountain, when turned out of the
'
do not remember having seen the expression
C. W. W.
Travellers speak of the water of the Jordan where
into the Salt Sea as so turgid that
its
it debouches
stream can be plainly traced for
some distance in the clear blue water of

Land of Israel,' p. 249.
Tristram's
'
the sea,
'Mount
Seir,' p.
163
HOLY
in
PLACES, WRITTEN
BY ADAMNAN.
and who proved by sight and

was really the very saltest of salt.
Sicily,
that
it
XVI.
He
The Dead
taste
39
and touch
?>'E.K-^continued.
informed us also as to the
salt
of the
Dead
Sea,
which he said he had similarly made proof of by the same
named above he visited also

we have mentioned above, the
three senses
that lake
extending to Zoar of Arabia,^

the neighbourhood of
in
is
Sodom
the sea-shore of
length of which,
580 furlongs; the breadth

is
150 furlongs.
XVII. The Fountains of the Jordan.

Our Arculf proceeded
also to that place in the province
of Phenicia, where the Jordan seems to emerge from two

neighbouring fountains at the roots of Lebanon, one of
which
and the other Dan, which, mingling

But it
to the compound name Jordan.^
called Jor
is
together, give rise
to be noted that the source of the Jordan
is
is
not in
Sughar by
Zoar ('Zoari' is the form used here) of Arabia (spelt as
the
Crusaders,
of
the
Segor
the
is
Mukaddasi, also Zughar and Sukar)
A.D.) it was 'for
time
Mukaddasi's
(985
In
Shighur.
esh
Tell
present
it was the
commercial prosperity like a miniature Busrah' (p. 3), and
1
question of the identification of this^ site

discussed by Mr. Guy Le Strange in 'Across
of the Arab geo317-320, from a careful examination
The
capital of the district.
with the Zoar of Lot

the Jordan,' pp.
is
translated
See also a paper by Mons. Clermont Ganneau,

Mukaddasi calls
E. F. Quarterly Statement, January, 1886.
10 Ant. Mar.,
Paula,
St.
p.
See
the Dead Sea 'the Lake of Sughar.'
length of the
The
84.
Mukad.,
62,
pp.
Daniel,
p. 47
pp. 10, 27 Abbot
Dead Sea is 49 miles, the greatest breadth 9^ miles.
Philippi) and
2
sources of the Jordan, at Banias (Ca;;area
graphers.
in the P.
The two
Kidy (Dan).
The idea that these streams were called 'Jor'

name given to the
Dan,' and the derivation from this fact of the
of Josephus at
time
the
from
date
river formed by their united stream,
Abbot Daniel
The
Ernoul,
50.
p.
6
Mar.,
Ant.
p.
Compare
least.
three bowflowmg,
as
strangely represents (p. 60) the two streams
half a
about
after
re-uniting
and
Galilee,
shots apart, from the Sea of
Tell el
and
'
verst (a third of a mile).
40
Paneum, but
of
the district of Trachonitis, at a distance
in
20 furlongs^ from
in Trachonitis.^
is
Csesarea
name taken from
Paneas, a
Phiala,
which
Philippi,
is
now
the mountain Paneum, which
which
always
is
full
of water,
whence the Jordan flows through underground channels,

bubbles up also in Paneum, in two divisions, which, as has
been said above, are usually called Jor and Dan.
leaving
some
this, after
form one
interval,
which thence directs
river,
longs, without receiving
Afterwards
Julias.*
any
siderable desert tract,

is
two
lakes, its
lost in
course for 120 fur-
addition,^ as far as the city of
it
is
wandering through a con-
received in the Asphaltic Lake,
Thus having passed victoriously through

course is stayed by a third.
it.
XVI 1 1. The Sea of

The
its
flows through the middle of the lake,
it
called Genezar, whence, after
and
sainted Arculf,
Galilee.
who has been
so often mentioned,
went round the greater part of the Sea of

1
'
199,'
The
Galilee,
Lake of Cinnereth and the Sea of
also called the
On
they flow together so as to
which
is
Tiberias,
L.
belief that the real source of the Jordan
on the road
to Trachonitis, 120 stadia
from
was
a Lake Phiala,
from which the
in
BiniS.s,
water flowed underground to the Cave of Pan in the latter place, is as

old as the time of Josephus, and has been completely given up only in
recent years.
Phiala
is
identified with
the Birket er
Ram,
S.E. of
Binifts.
^
The Jordan
is
joined by the
Nahr Hasbiny,
half a mile below the
and Tell el Kady. The length of

the Lake of Galilee is rather more than
junction of the streams from Baniis

the river from that point to
20 miles.
^ C. reads, 'Tiberias,' and continues, 'Thence it flows to the place
which is called Genezar. The Lake of Galilee is formed from the
Jordan it is called at one time the Sea of Cenereth, at another the
Sea of Tiberias great woods adjoin it.' The identification of (Beth;
little more than a mile north of

the point of the debouchure of the Jordan into the lake, cannot be
saida-) Julias with the ruin et Tell, a
discussed here.
Cf.
'
The
Jaul^n,' p. 246.

and which
itself,
is
by great woods.
closely surrounded
the size of which almost entitles
The lake
name of
to the
it
41
a sea, extends in length to 140 furlongs, and in breadth

stretches
over 40
;i
waters
its
drinking, since they receive
marsh mud or
sides
by a sandy
is
it
in
any other
lake.^
and the Lake of Cinnereth partly from the
book of the Jewish
He
rience of Arculf.
went
all
purer and
is
taken these short particulars as to the source
of the Jordan
third
with
moreover, no finer kinds, either in
fish,
taste or in appearance, can be found in
We have
thick
is
for
surrounded on
shore, wherefore its water
Of
better^ for use.
nothing that
because
turbid,
and good
sweet
are
Captivity, partly from the expe-
relates with perfect certainty that
he
eight* days from that place where the Jordan
emerges from the gorge of the Sea of Galilee to that where

enters the
it
Dead
This most
Sea.
salt sea
the sainted
Arculf very often gazed at from the summit of the Mount

of Olivet, as he himself narrates.
XIX.
SiCHEM
AND THE WELL OF SaMARIA.
Arculf, the sainted priest, passed through the district of
Samaria, and came to the city of that province which

called, in
Hebrew, Sichem, but
is
and Latin custom it is also often

Near that city he saw
improperly.
called Sichar,
however
a church built
beyond
the wall, which
is
four-armed, stretching towards the four
cardinal points, like a cross, a plan of which
In the middle of
is
named Sicima by Greek
is
it
is
drawn below.^
the Fountain of Jacob, which
is
also
' The extreme length of the lake is

12^ miles, its' greatest width
The water of the lake is clear,
(from Mejdel to Khersa) 6f miles.
bright, and sweet to the taste, except in the neighbourhood of the
'
salt-springs,
and where
L.
''
'
"
See Ant. Mar.,
Softer,'
'
p. 6,
St.
Tiberias.'
f.
MSS. read
note
by the drainage of
defiled
is
it
'Recovery of Jerusalem,' pp. 339
'
place.'
Paula,
p.
Bord.
'
Seven,' L.
Pil., p.
8,
note
7.

often called a well, looking towards
its
four divisions,
toil of
His journey,
one day at the sixth hour, when the
woman
of Samaria^
draw
water.
which the Saviour, wearied out with the

sat
upon
came
to that well at
to
As
to this
woman, among other things, said in answer to the

Thou anything to draw with, and
well, the
Lord
mid-day
Lord, neither hast
'
:
JanVa
a
wai
CH
PLAN OF THE CHURCH BUILT ABOVE JACOB
the well
is
deep.'^
relates as to
its
depth
cubit,
is
WELL.
who drank water from
Arculf,
The
twice twenty orgyiae, that
well that I
is,
the well,
saw has a depth of
forty cubits.
An
orgyia, or
the length from extremity to extremity of the
outstretched arms.^
Sichem, or Sichema, was once a priestly city and a city

1
C. reads,
St.
Orgyia
human
John
'
thirsting for the faith of the
iv.
woman
of Samaria.'
II.
(ipywia), a
Greek measure of length, derived from the
body, was the distance from extremity to extremity of the out-
stretched arms, whence the name, from opcyw.

or to 4 cubits,
Antiquities,'
depth of the
s.
It was equal to 6 feet,

and was iJolh of 'he stadium. Smith's Dictionary of
No idea can at present be formed as to the real
v.
well.
'
HOLY PLACES, WRLTTEN BY ADAMNAN.
43
was included in the tribe of Manasseh and

Mount Ephraim, where Joseph's bones were buried.
of refuge;
XX.
it
Arculf,
Little Fountain in the Wilderness.
whom we
have often mentioned, saw
a small clear fountain, from which

said to
in
have drunk
besmeared with
it
is
St.
in a desert
John Baptist
is
protected by a stone covering
lime.
The Locusts and the Wild Honey.
XXI.
same John, the Evangelists write

Now his
food was locusts and wild honey.'^ Our Arculf saw, in that
As
to the
desert where
'
John dwelt, a very small kind of
locusts, the
bodies of which are small and short like the finger of a
hand, and which are easily captured in the grass, as their

flight is short like
the leaps of light frogs
As
they afford food for the poor.^
Arculf gave us
some
trees,
this as his
experience
to the
:
cooked
'
in oil,
wild honey,'
In that desert
saw
with broad round leaves which are of the colour
of milk and have the taste of honey f they are naturally
very
fragile,
in their
and those who wish
to eat
them
first
rub them
This wild honey
hands and then eat them.
is
thus
found in the woods.
XXII.
Our
place,
The Place where the Lord blessed the

Five Loaves and the Two Fishes.
Arculf,
whom we
have often mentioned, came to
where a -grassy and
level
ploughed from the day when on

1
^
it
plain
has
this
never been
the Saviour satisfied five
Matt. iii. 4.
Locusts are eaten by the Arabs, but only by the very poorest.
This interpretation is accepted by many commentators, among
St.
them by Meyer,
The term used is

XIX. 94, and Suidas,
I.e.
sense by Diod. Sic.
specially explained
s.
v.
aicjtig.
in
this
44
thousand
men
with five loaves and two fishes
are to be seen on
it
no buildings
Arculf saw only a few^ columns of
stone lying at the margin of the fountain from which they
day when the Lord refreshed
are said to have drunk on that
This place
them, in their hunger, with such a refection.
on this side of ^ the
is
Tiberias which
is
Sea of
Galilee, looking to the city of
to the south of
it.^
The Sea of Tiberias and Capharnaum.
XXIII.
Those who, coming down from Jerusalem, wish
Capharnaum, proceed,
a straight
in
course,
Cinnereth, which
of Galilee
is
as Arculf relates,
and thence
Blessing, at a point
along
the
also the sea of Tiberias
they pass the
to reach
through Tiberias
Lake
of
and the sea
the above-mentioned
site of
where two ways meet, and proceeding
along the margin of the above-mentioned lake, at no great

distance they
come
to
Capharnaum, on the sea
coast,
upon
the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim. Arculf, who observed

it
from a neighbouring mountain, relates that
and
is
has no wall
confined in a narrow space between the mountain
and the
distance
extending along the sea coast
lake,
for
a long
having the mountain on the north and the lake
on the south,
1
it
C. reads,
'
it
stretches from west to east.*

^
four.'
'
Opposite,' Z., B.,
V.,
R.
Compare Ant. Mar., p. 8, note i St. Paula, p. 14 Abb. Dan., p. 63.

The site referred to by Arculf appears to be that around the 'Ain el
Fuliyeh, half-way between Tiberias and el Mejdel (referred to as 'Ain
'
Recovery of Jerusalem,' p. 359). Tradition at present

brow of the hill between Kurn Hattin and Tiberias as
the spot of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. The spot often referred
to as the Mensa Christi appears to be el 'Oreimeh, a small artificial
square plateau above 'Ain et Tin, close to Kh. Minieh (P. F. M., vol. i.,
Compare
All these places are on the west side of the lake.
p. 369).
Barideh
in
'
points to the
'
City of Jerusalem,' p. 46.

^
The evidence
vague
of Arculf as to the site of
to allow of its being
that are
now
in dispute
Capernaum
is
sufficiently
quoted by the supporters of both the
Kh. Minieh and Tell Hum.
sites
XXIV.
The
its
city of Nazareth, as Arculf
on a mountain.
situated
is
Nazareth and
walled, yet
Churches.
who stayed
like
is,
in
it
relates,
Capharnaum, un-
has large houses built of stone, and also two
it
One
very large churches.

city, is built
It
45
upon two
of these, in the middle of the
on the spot where there once
vaults,
stood the house in which our Lord the Saviour was brought
up.i
Among the mounds
been
said, is
citizens,
is
has
is
a very clear spring, frequented by
all
the
same spring
who draw water from it,
raised in vessels to the church above by means of
wheels.
site
this church,^ which, as
supported upon two mounds and intervening
arches, there
water
below
and from the
The
other church
is
reputed to be built on the
of the house in which the Archangel Gabriel
addressed the Blessed Mary,
whom
This information as to Nazareth we have
at that hour.3
obtained from the sainted Arculf,

nights and as
longer in
it,
came and
he found there alone
many
as he
who stayed
there
two
days, but was prevented from staying
was compelled to hasten onwards by a

Burgundian
soldier of Christ, well acquainted with sites, a

living a solitary
life,
Peter by name,
circuitously to that solitary* place
who
thence returned
where he had formerly
stayed.
The house of the Virgin appears to be the irregularly-shaped

known as The Virgin's Kitchen. P. F. M., vol. i., p. 276.
C. reads, Between the mounds of the two churches.'
' The present buildings in en Nasirah are, of course, of a far later
grotto
''
'
this.
But the Greek Church of St. Gabriel has a spring
of water rising just north of the high altar, with an opening in the floor
to the conduit, which carries the water south to the Virgin's Well, or
period than
the Fountain of the Annunciation, the only well in Nazareth.

1
'
Holy,' B., V.
46
XXV. Mount
Mount Tabor
Tabor.
from the Lake of
Galilee, three miles
is in
Cinnereth, marvellously round on every
side,
looking from
we have
just
named.
northern side over the lake
its
It is
very grassy and flowery, having an ample plain

pleasant summit, and
is
surrounded by
In the middle of this level surface
For
cells.
not drawn up to a narrow peak, but
is
its
a very large wood.
a great monastery of
is
monks, with a large number of their
on
is
summit
its
spread over a level
surface of twenty-four^ furlongs in length, while
its
height
thirty furlongs.^
is
On
this
higher plain are also three very celebrated
churches^ of no small construction, according to the number

of those tabernacles of which Peter spoke to the Lord on
holy mountain, while he rejoiced
^that
but yet was terrified
vision,
that
we should be here
three tabernacles, one for

for Elias.'*
The
by
in
saying
it,
the heavenly
'
:
It is
good
Thou wilt, let us make here

Thee and one for Moses and one
if
buildings of the monasteries and the three
churches mentioned above, with the
cells of the
monks, are
Twenty-three,' C, B., Bern.
'
Jebel et
little less
Tor is a conical mountain with a flat summit, which is a

than a quarter of a mile long and one-eighth of a mile wide,
1843 feet above the sea-level, 1500 feet above the Plain of Esdraelon
at the foot.
The southern
face
is
almost bare, but the northern
is
clothed to the top with a forest of oak and terebinth, mingled with
The Land and the Book.'

There are still to be traced on the summit the foundations of three
churches which the markings of the stones show to have been built
in Crusading times.
See P. F. M., vol. i.. pp. 388-391. The idea
that Mount Tabor was the scene of the Transfiguration still strangely
syringa.
'
survives in spite of
all
proof to the contrary.
earlier date than the Crusades, as

still
earlier references
Bordeaux Pilgrim,
Olives.
in Ant.
p. 25,
shown by
Mar., p.
It
dates from a
this passage,
St.
Paula,
p.
places the Transfiguration on the
St.
Matt.
much
and by the
The
14.
Mount of
xvii. 4.
HOLY PLA CES, WRITTEN BY ADA MNA N.

surrounded by a stone
all
47
There the sainted Arculf
wall.^
spent one night on the top of that holy mountain, for
Burgundian
Peter, the
Christian,
those places, would not allow
him
longer, but hurried

It
him
who was
â/3w^,
and
in
name
of that famous
and
longiiu,
Latin with the aspirate Thabor, the
letter o
be written
to
in
Greek with
The proper orthography
being long.
guide in
on.2
should here be noted that the
mountain ought
his
to stay in one hospice
of the word
is
found
Greek books.^
in
XXVI.
Damascus.
Damascus, according to the account of Arculf, who

stayed some days in
it,
is
a great royal city, situated in a
wide plain, surrounded by an ample circuit of walls, and
by frequent towers. Without the walls there

number of olive groves round about, while four
further fortified
are a large
great rivers flow through
The king
it,
bringing great joy to the
city.
of the Saracens has seized the government,
and
reigns in that city, and a large church has been built there
honour of
in
in that
same
St.
city,
John
There has also been
Baptist.
built,
a church of unbelieving Saracens which
they frequent.
XXVIL Tyre.
Our
who
Arculf,
visited so
many
districts, also
entered
Tyre, the metropolis of the province of Phenicia, which in
Hebrew and Syriac is called Tsor, and which is said in

Greek and Latin and barbarous histories to have had no
1
This wall
may be
that built
by Josephus round the top of the
mountain.
^
C.
adds,
'
For
this Peter, leaving his parents
and
his country,
now an exile for a long time for the Lord's sake.'

' The Greek form is ea/3wp, but it is also represented by
(Josephus),
and
'
kTa[ivf>wv (Polybius).
was
'Ira/Svpioj^
48
approach from the land.

But some say that afterwards
mounds were thrown up by Nabuchodonosor, King of the
Chaldeans, and that a place was prepared for darts and
battering-rams in the assault, so that the island became
This city was beautiful and very
part of the level plain. i

noble, and
not unworthily rendered in Latin
it is
and the
for the island
narrowness.
'
narrow,'
have the same characteristic
city
the land of Chanaan, where
It is situated in
woman
the Chananite or Tyrophenician
lived,
who
is
men-
site of
Tyre
tioned in the Gospel.

It is to
and the
be noted that the account of the

of
site
Mount Thabor,^ given by the
sainted Arculf,
complete accordance with what we have excerpted

above from the commentaries of St. Hieronymus. Also what
in
is
we have above
stated as to the site and form of
Mount
Thabor, according to the narrative of the sainted Arculf,
no way
from what
differs
St.
Hieronymus narrates
in
as to the
and the marvellous roundness of that mountain.

From Mount Thabor to Damascus is a seven^ days' journey.*
situation
XXVIII.
Alexandria, and the River Nile and
its
Crocodiles.
That great
was formerly
city,
city,
which was once the metropolis of Egypt,
called in
deriving
its
famous among
all
name
Hebrew
No.^
It is a
of Alexandria, a
nations, from
king of Macedonia, from
whom
its
it
very populous
name known and
founder Alexander, the
received both the magni-
was by Alexander the Great (who took Tyre after a seven

B.C. 332) that the island was united to the mainland by
an artificial mole. The siege by Nebuchadnezzar, which lasted for
nineteen years, was probably ended by capitulation on honourable
1
It
months' siege,
terms.
3
Some MSS.,
The No' of
'
'two,'
'
four,'
'
the Old Testament
andria (as Jerome supposed).
'
And
eight.'
is
Thabor,' only in L.
" C. ends here.

undoubtedly Thebes, not Alex-

tude of a city and
its
name.
As to
its situation,
us an account, which differs in no
49
Arculf gave
way from what we have
learned in the course of our previous reading.
Going down from Jerusalem and beginning his voyage

at Joppa, he had a journey of forty days to Alexandria,
of which Nahum the prophet speaks briefly, when he sa^s
'
Water round about
its walls.' 1
it,
whose
For on the south
riches are the sea, waters are
it is
surrounded by the mouths
of the river Nile, while on the north,^ as the outline of

position clearly shows, it
is
city lies like
and the
situated upon' the Nile
so that on this side and on that
it is
its
sea,
surrounded by water. The
an enclosure between Egypt and the Great Sea,
without a [natural] haven,
difficult to
approach from without.
more difficult than others, in form like the human

body, more capacious at the head and the roads, but narrower
in the straits, in which it receives the movements of the sea
and ships, by which some aids to breathing are given to the
When one has escaped the narrows and mouths of
port.
the port, a stretch of sea is spread out before one, far and
Its port is
wide, like the form of the rest of the body.

side of the port there
is
a small island,
high tower, which the Greeks and the
common
called,
Nahum
"
MSS.
from
its
use,
On
the right
on which
is
a very
Latins have
Pharus/ because
it is
seen
in
by
(See former note.)

surrounded by the Mareotic Lake thus, as the
' Perhaps ' between.'
outline,' etc.
* The long, narrow island of Pharus, stretching to the north of
Alexandria, and connected with it by the Mole (called from its length
'Heptastadium'), had at its eastern end the -lighthouse from which it
took
its
world.
cessor.
feet in
iii.
8,
read,
of No.
'it is
name, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient

It was begun by Ptolemy Soter, and completed by his sucIt consisted of several stories, and is said to have been 400
height it was a square structure of white marble on its top
;
were burned for the direction of mariners, as the entrance to the

magnificent harbour, between Pharus and the headland of Lochias,
was dangerous and rocky. See Smith's Dictionaries of the Bible and
fires
of Geography, and Kitto's Cyclopaedia,
s.
v.
'
Alexandria.^
so
voyagers at a great distance,
in
order that, before they
approach the port, they may, specially during the night,

recognise the proximity of land by the light of the flames,
may
that they
not be deceived by the darkness and
upon rocks or
Men
entrance.
fail
fall
recognise the boundaries of the
to
are accordingly
employed there by
whom
torches and other masses of wood which have been collected

are set on
fire
to serve as a guide to the landj
narrow entrance of the
straits,
the
showing the
bosom of the waves, and
the windings of the entrance, lest the slender keel should
graze the rocks and
the very entrance strike upon the
in
rocks that are hidden by the waves.
Accordingly a ship
ought to be somewhat deflected from the straight course, to

prevent
its
stones.
For the approach
running into danger from striking on hidden
right side, but the port
island also,
the port
in
is
Round
the
have been regularly
laid
wider on the
beams of immense
size
narrower on the
left.
down, to prevent the foundations of the island from yielding
and being loosened

by the injury. So that the middle channel, among rugged
rocks and broken masses of earth, is beyond doubt always
to the constant collision of the rising sea,
unquiet, and
it is
dangerous
for ships to enter
through the
roughness of the passage.
The
quite
port extends in size over thirty furlongs, and

safe
mentioned
even
straits
waves of the
the
in
greatest
storms,
as
it
is
above-
the
and the obstacle of the island repel the
sea, the
bosom
of the port being so defended
by them as to be removed from the reach of tempests and

at peace
Nor
from breakers by which the entrance
is
made
rough.
are the safety and the size of the port undeservedly
so great, since there

ful for
must be borne
the use of the whole
city.i
innumerable population of those

1
'
into
it
whatever
is
districts give rise to
World,' V.
need-
For the needs of the
much
HOLY PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNA^.

commerce
very
whole
for the use of the
fruitful,
and, besides abounding in
trades of the earth,
it
in
rain,
and the
district is
other gifts and
all
supplies corn for the whole world, and
other necessary merchandise.
wanting
city,
51
The region
is
beyond doubt
but the irrigation of the Nile supplies
spontaneous showers, so that the
fields
are tempered at
once by the rain of heaven and by the fruitfulness of the

earth
and
for
and the situation
is
thus convenient both for sailors
husbandmen. These
those sow
sail,
round on their voyages, those
till
these are borne
the land, sowing without
need of ploughing, travelling without waggons.
You
see
by watercourses, and houses throughout the land raised as it were upon walls, on the banks of
the navigable rivers, standing on the edge of each bank of
The river is navigable, they say, up to the
the river Nile.
a country intersected
city of
further
Elephanti
by the
a ship
is
cataracts, that
prevented from proceeding
is,
flowing hills of water, not
from want of depth, but from the
fall
of the whole river
downward rush of the waters.

The narrative of the sainted Arculf about
and
the
of Alexandria and the Nile
is
the situation
proved not to
differ
from
what we have learned from our reading in the books of

We have, indeed, abbreviated some excerpts from
others.
these writings and inserted
them
in this description, as to
the havenlessness of this city or the difficulty of
its
haven,
and the tower built on it, as to the terminal

position of Alexandria between the sea and the mouths of
Hence it happens beyond doubt that
the river Nile, etc.
which is as it were choked between
city,
of
the
the site
as to the island
these two limits, extends from west to east very far along a
narrow stretch of ground, as the narrative of Arculf shows ;i

he relates that he began to enter the city at the third hour
' Alexandria is stated by Pliny to be four miles in length, nearly a
mile in breadth, and fifteen miles in circumference.
42
52
month
of the day in the
on account of the
of October, and
length of the city could hardly reach the other end of

length before evening.
It is
surrounded by a long
its
circuit
of walls, fortified by frequent towers, constructed along the
margin of the
river
and the curving shore of the
Further, as one coming from
Egypt
sea.
enters the city of
Alexandria, one meets on the north^ side a large church, in
which Mark the Evangelist
is
buried
his
shown before the altar in the eastern end of

church, and a monument of him has been
sepulchre
is
this four-sided
built
above
it
of marble.
So much,
then, about Alexandria, which, as
we have
said
No before it was so much enlarged by

Alexander the Great, and which, as we further said above,
adjoins what is called the Canopean mouth of the river
above, was called
Nile, separating Asia
On
from Egypt and also Lybia.
account of the inundation of Egypt by the river Nile, they
mounds along
construct raised
its
banks, which,
they
if
should be broken by the negligence of the watchmen or by

too great an irruption of water,
flooded
fields,
by no means
irrigate the
but spoil them and lay them waste.
On
this
account a considerable number of the inhabitants of the

plains of Egypt, according to the narrative of the sainted
Arculf,
who often
sailed over that river in
Egypt,
live
above
the water in houses supported on transverse beams.
Arculf relates that crocodiles Hve in the river Nile, quadrupeds of no great
one of them,
'
if it
size,
very voracious, and so strong that
can find a horse or an ass or an ox eating
grass on the river bank, suddenly rushes out and attacks

it,
or even seizing one foot of the animal with
drags
it
its
jaws,
under the water, and completely devours the entire
animal.
1
Some
MSS
add, 'near at hand.'
BOOK
53
III.
The City of Constantinople.
I.
Arculf, who has been mentioned so often, on his return

from Alexandria, stayed for some days in the island of
Crete, and sailed thence to Constantinople, where he spent
some months. This city is, beyond doubt, the metropolis
Roman
of the
Empire.
It is
the sea except on the north
surrounded by the waves of

the sea breaking out from the
Great Sea for forty miles,^ while from the wall of Constantinople
it still
no small
up to the mouths
further stretches sixty miles^
of the river Danube.
This imperial city
is
surrounded by
circuit of walls, twelve miles in length
promontory by the
Carthage,
walls
sea-side, having,
built
along
like
f it is a
Alexandria or
the sea coast,
additionally
strengthened by frequent towers, after the fashion of Tyre

within the city walls
it
has numerous houses, very
which are of marvellous
size;
As
which
to
its
The Foundation of that
Rome.
City.
foundation the citizens relate this tradition,
they have received
from their
ancestors
Emperor Constantine, having gathered together an

1
Others,
'
The
and
its
'
of
these are of stone, and are
built after the fashion of the dwelling-houses of
II.
many
sixty.'
Others,
'
The
infinite
forty.'
walls built by the younger Theodosius to surround the capital
suburbs
made
eleven English miles,
the circumference of the city between ten
and
54
multitude of men, and collected from
all
sides infinite
supplies, so that all other cities were almost stripped bare,
began to build a city to bear

that
is,
Cilicia, across
in
his
name on
the Asian side
the sea which, in these districts,
separates Asia from E~urope.
But one night, while the innumerable forces of workmen were sleeping in their tents
over the vast length of the camp,
all
the different kinds
of tools used by the artificers of the different works were
suddenly removed, no one knew how.
With dawn, many
workmen, troubled and downcast, brought before the

Emperor Constantine himself a complaint as to the sudden
of the
occult removal of the tools
inquired of them
camp ?'
Then next
stracted from the
work -tools.'
and the King consequently
Did you hear of other things being ab-
'
'
Nothing,' they say,
the
'
but
all
King commands them
'
the
Go
quickly to the sea coasts of the neighbouring districts on
both sides [of the
you chance
straits]
to find
and search them
your tools
in
any place
carefully,
and
if
in the country,
watch over them there meanwhile, and do not bring them

back here, but let some of you return to me, so that I may
have accurate information as to the finding of the tools.'
On
hearing
directions,
this,
workmen
the
follow out the King's
and going away did as he ordered, searching the
boundaries of the territories next the sea on both sides.
And
behold, on the European side, across the sea, they
found the tools gathered together
between two
are
On making
seas.
sent back to
the
King, and
announce the finding of the

learning
this,
the
a heap in one place
in
the discovery,
on their
some of them
arrival
they
tools in such a place.
King immediately orders trumpeters
On
to
pass through the camp, blowing their trumpets and ordering

the force to move its camp, saying
Let us remove from
'
this place to build a city
to us
;'
on the spot divinely pointed out

and at the same time he had ships made ready.
HOLY
PLACES, WRITTEN
and crossed over with
him by
purpose.^
their
55
whole force to the spot where
his
the tools were found, as he

to
BY ADAMNAN.
knew
There he
at
shown
that the place thus
removal was that designed by God

once founded a
city,
which
name being compounded
for the
is
called
own
name and the Greek word for city, so that the founder's
name is retained in the former part of the compound.
Constantinople, the
Let
this description of the situation
of his
and the foundation
of that royal city suffice.
III.
The Church
in
IS
But we must not be

round church
which the Cross of the Lord

PRESERVED.
silent as to that
in that city, built of stone
most celebrated
and of marvellous
According to the narrative of the sainted Arculf,

who visited it for no short time, it rises from the bottom of
its foundations in three walls, being built in triple form to a
size.
great height, and
it is
finished in a very round simple crown-
ing vault of great beauty.

arches, with a wide space
This
is
supported on great
between each of the above-men-
tioned walls, suited and convenient either for dwelling or

for
praying to
God
in.
In the northern part of the interior
shown a very large and very beautiful ambry,

kept a wooden chest, which is similarly
in which is
covered over with wooden work in which is shut up that
wooden Cross of Salvation on which our Saviour hung for
of the house
is
the salvation of the
human
the sainted Arculf relates,
is
race.
This notable chest, as
raised with
its
treasure of such
preciousness upon a golden^ altar, on three consecutive days

after the lapse of a year.
^
This altar also
is
in the
Constantine seems to have claimed Divine guidance in the selection

new capital, and in fixing its boundaries but the
of the site of his
legends attached to these facts are of comparatively late origin.

^
same
'
Under a
brazen,' Bern.
56
round church, being two cubits long and one broad.

three successive days only throughout the year
Cross raised and placed on the
altar,
that
is,
when the Emperor
the Supper of the Lord,'
church and, approaching the
enter the
is
On
the Lord's
on [the day
of]
and the armies
altar,
after that
sacred chest has been opened, kiss the Cross of Salvation.

First of all the
Emperor
of the world kisses
it
with bent
then one going up after another in the order of rank
face,
or age,
next day, that
the people, approach
it
in
reverence.
and
all
the third day, that
it
day
of] the Paschal Sabbath,^ the bishop
after
him approach
the
women
in order,
and
all
is,
on [the
the clergy
with fear and trembling and
honour, kissing the Cross of Victory, which, is placed
all
When
its chest.
of
the above-mentioned order and
On
kiss
all
the
on the sixth day of the week before
is,
Easter, the Queen, the matrons,
with
Then on
Cross with honour.
the
kiss
all
in
these sacred and joyful kissings of the
Sacred Cross are finished, that venerable chest
is
closed,
borne back to
its
ambry.
and with
But
honoured treasure
its
this also
is
should be carefully noted that there are not
two but three short pieces of wood in the Cross, that is,
the cross-beam and the long one which is cut and divided
into
two equal parts
while from these threefold venerated
beams when the chest
is
a wonderful fragrance, as
collected in
gladdening
it,
if all
wonderfully
all in
that church,
opened, there arises an odour of
who
full
sorts of flowers
had been
of sweetness, satiating and
the open space before the inner walls of
stand
still
as they enter at that
moment
from the knots of those threefold beams a sweet-smell-
for
ing liquid
distills,
like pressed-out
oil,
which causes
all
i.e., Maundy Thursday.

on the Saturday before Easter. The practice of calling the
Lord's Day the Sabbath was unknown for nearly a thousand years
'
'
In Ccena Domini,'
2 I.e.,
after this date.

men
of whatever race,
who have assembled and
57
enter the
church, to perceive the above-mentioned fragrance of so

great sweetness.
drop of
health,
be
it
This hquid
laid
on the
is
such that
if
even a
little
they easily recover their
sick,
whatever be the trouble or disease they have been
afflicted with.
But as to these
IV.
let this suffice.
St.
George the Confessor.
Arculf, the sainted
man, who gave us
as to the Cross of the Lord, which he
all
these details
saw with
his
own
eyes and kissed, gave us also an account of a Confessor
named
George,^ which he learned in the city of Constanti-
nople from some well-informed citizens,
tomed
to narrate
it
in this
form
who were
accus-
In a house in the city of Diospolis there stands the
marble column of George the Confessor, to which, during

This chapter has a special historical interest, as the earliest account
George known to have been circulated in Britain and it is
worthy of notice that it was in the northern part of England, where
this narrative is known to have obtained special favour, that we first
^
of
St.
George holding any special position (a place being assigned

Anglo-Saxon ritual of Durham, which is probably of the
early part of the ninth century, and a Passion of St. George' having
been written by Îfric, Archbishop of York, a.d. 1020-1051), While
there has been much controversy as to whether there ever was an
find St.
to
him
in the
'
historical
person corresponding to the legendary
was, as to which of the countless Georges he was,
saint,
it
and,
may
if
there
probably be
now accepted
that there really was a George, prior in time to the

Arian intruding Bishop of Alexandria, known as George of Cappadocia
(whom Gibbon identified with the George in question), and that he was
connected
in
some way with Diospolis or Lydda.
For a
list
of the
authorities to be consulted, as well as for a statement of the facts, see
an
article
Diet,
by the Rev. G. T. Stokes, on 'Georgius-Martyr'
of Christian Biog., vol.
remarks of Professor Bright

of Cappadocia,' p. 640.
ii.,
pp. 645-648,
in closing
and
a previous
in Smith's
specially the wise
article
on
'
Georgius
58
a time of persecution, he
and on which
his likeness
was bound while he was scourged,

impressed
is
loosed from his chains and lived for

scourging.
he was, however,
many
years after the
happened one day that a hard-hearted and un-
It
mounted on horseback, having entered that
believing fellow,
house and seen the marble column, asked those who were
there,'Whose
is
this
They reply, 'This

who was bound to
this, that
object,
likenessengravedonthemarblecolumn?'
is
the likeness of George the Confessor,
this
most rough
and instigated by the
assailant penetrating the
devil, struck
if
it
were a
ball of
in
Its
mass
in
with his lance
The
lance of that
a marvellous manner, as
snow, perforated the exterior of
its
iron point sticking fast
the interior and could not be drawn out

shaft,
hearing
enraged at the insensible
at the likeness of the sainted Confessor.
stone column, and
On
column and scourged.'
fellow, greatly
by any means.
however, striking the marble likeness of
sainted Confessor,
was broken on the
also of that wretched fellow, on
The
outside.
the
horse
which he was mounted,
moment on the pavement

The wretched man himself too, falling
dead under hini

house.
"that
was retained
at that
ground at the same time, put out
his
column, and his
it
fingers, entering
fell
of the
to the
hands to the marble

as
were
if it
On
flour or
clay, stuck fast
impressed in that column.
the miserable
man, who could not draw back the ten
fingers of his
two hands, as they stuck
seeing
fast together in the
marble likeness of the sainted Confessor, invokes

tence the
name
of the Eternal
God and
in peni-
of His Confessor,
and prays with tears to be released from that bond.

merciful God,
but that he
who does not wish
may
be converted and
penitence, and not only released

visible
bond of marble, but
from the invisible bonds of
The
the death of a sinner

live,
accepted his tearful
him from
that present
also mercifully set
sin,
this,
saved by
faith.
Mm
free
HOLY
PLACES, WRITTEN
clearly
shown
been held with God,
whom
Hence
since
it
his
is
made
made
he confessed amid tortures,
in the
made
weak
the
same course
is
im-
fingers of that fellow,
of nature were impenetrating,
powerfully penetrating, which at

the marble that even that hard
back,
nature,
penetrable by penitence.^ which also
the equally impenetrating lance of his adversary
penetrating, and
which
59
what honour George has
in
which, in the course of
bust,
penetrable, was
BY ADAMNAN.
were so fastened
first
man
in
could not draw them
but which, when in the same
moment he was
so
terrified and thus softened into penitence, he drew back by

Marvellous to say, the marks of his
the pity of God.
twice five fingers appear down to the present day inserted
up
to the roots in the
marble column
Arculf inserted in their place his
own
and the sainted
ten fingers, which
up to the roots. Further, the blood of that

fellow's horse, the haunch of which, as it fell dead on the
pavement, was broken in two, cannot be washed out or
similarly entered
removed by any means, but that horse's blood remains indelible on the pavement of the house down to our times.
The sainted Arculf told us another narrative as to which
there
is
no doubt, about the same George tht Confessor,
which he had learned from some eye-witnesses of sufficient

trustworthiness, in the above-mentioned city of Constantinople,
who were
in the habit of telling incidents
with that sainted Confessor

Diospolis on
layman, entering the city of
horseback at a time
were gathering there from

to
that house,
in
column with the
which
as
its front,
if
of
the
sainted
and entering
he were speaking
'To
of George himself:
when many thousands

for an expedition, came
the above-mentioned
impression
George imprinted on
to the likeness
sides
all
is
connected
began to say
the presence
George the Confessor,
thee,
Others read
it,
in
marble
Confessor
'
power.'
6o
commend myself and my
horse, in order that
we may both
be preserved by the virtue of thy prayers from

of war and disease and water, and
to this
city after
God
merciful
may
return in safety
the close of the expedition
accordance with the offering of our poverty,
make
my
horse which
if
a
in
I will offer in
greatly love, and will
over to thee in the sight of thy likeness.'
it
and
grant thee our prosperous return,
will
return to thee this
dangers
all
Speedily
finishing these few words, the fellow left the house and,
comrades, joined
with
his
and
entered
on
the
dangers of war and
safety to
in
the
Diospolis,
having
and
scattered
Christ-worshipper,
horse,
After
expedition.
perished,
in
varied
of wretched
he returns
by the favour of God to George

mounted on the same beloved
purchased deliverance
misfortunes by that committal, and

that house
army
the
many
among many thousands
who were
fellows
multitude of
the
from
all
grievous
he joyfully enters
which was preserved the likeness of that
him gold to the value of

and addresses the sainted George as if he were
sainted Confessor, bringing with

his horse,
present
'
Sainted Confessor,
who has brought me back

constancy and prayer.
give thanks to Eternal
in safety^
Wherefore
God
through thy exalted
bring to thee twenty
solidi 2 of gold, the price of my horse which I at the first

committed to thee and which thou hast preserved down to
the present day.'
Saying
this,
he lays down the above-
described weight of gold at the feet of the sainted likeness

of the Confessor, loving his horse
more than the
gold,
and
then leaving the house, after kneeling down, mounting his

beast he urges
at
^
it
to go forward, but
it
could not be
moved
all.
V. reads,
'
through so
many and
so great dangers by the
power
of thy prayer.'
^
The
weighed
solidus or aureus, from the time of Constantine the Great,

^^^ lb.
(Smith's Diet, of Antiq.,
j.
v.
Aurum).

Seeing
house
the
this,
fellow
and brings
and re-enters the
dismounts
another ten
saying
solidi,
art
among
me
the dangers in the expedition, but
hard and greedy
he lays the ten

sainted Confessor
'
:
With
see thou
this,
These
also
give thee in addition, so
my
horse for the
these words he returns, and again mount-
ing his horse, urges

if
my
above the twenty, saying to the
that thou mayest be appeased and release

journey.'
to
Saying
in the sale of the horse.'
solidi
Sainted
'
Confessor, a gentle guardian hast thou been for

horse,
6i
it
forward, but
fixed in the spot, nor could
it
remained standing as
move even one
it
more? After mounting and dismounting
foot.
What
four several times,
entering the house with ten solidi and returning to his im-
movable
all
horse, he kept running hither
his urging
he could not move
but by
mass of
his horse, until a
Then
sixty solidi was gathered there.
and thither
he repeats
at length
the above-mentioned speech about the gentle humanity of

the sainted Confessor and the safe guardianship in the
expedition, and he also mentions in similar terms the hardsaid,
and
house he at
last
ness and even the greediness in the sale, as

after four several times returning to the
is
addressed the sainted George in this manner

Confessor,
now
see clearly
what thy
weight of gold, the whole sixty

I
offer to thee as a gift,
solidi,
and also
my
will
'
:
Sainted
All this
is.
which thou
desirest,
horse
which
itself
promised to make over to thee before, on account of the exnow I make it over to thee, although bound with
pedition
;
invisible bonds,
which
will
however, as
believe,
released through the honour thou hast with God.'

finished this speech, he goes out from the house
be soon
Having
and
finds
the horse released on that very moment, and he brings it

with him into the house and makes it over to the sainted
Confessor in the sight of that likeness, and departs joyfully

praising Christ.
62
Hence
it is
to the Lord,
what
whether
it
written in the
is
deemed
it,
plainly gathered that whatever
or changed in
is
consecrated
man
or animal, according to
book of
Leviticus, cannot be re-
be
any way
for if
'
any one shall change
both that which was changed, and that for which
changed, shall be consecrated to the Lord,'' and
it
it
was
shall
not be redeemed.
v. The Picture of
who
-Arculf,
Mary.
St.
has been so often mentioned, gave us an ac-
curate account, obtained from
some well-informed witnesses
in the city of Constantinople, as to the bust of the holy
mother of the Lord

to
hang on the
In that metropolitan city there used
wall of a house a picture of Blessed Mary,
depicted on a small
wooden
tablet, as to
was, learned from one
who answered him,
that it was the

That unbelieving Jew,
likeness of Saint Mary, ever virgin.
hearing
this, at
in great
privy
which a certain
and hard-hearted man, on inquiring whose the picture
stolid
the instigation of the devil, took that picture
wrath from the wall, and rushed to a neighbouring

there, to dishonour Christ, bor.n of
and
Mary, he cast
the picture of His mother through a hole

lay below,
and having dishonoured
his power,
he departed.^
how he
lived, or
not known.
Now
of what sort
But, after
man
it
what he did afterwards, or

the end of his life was, is
the wretch's
common
upon the filth that

by every means in
departure, another
people, a Christian,
who was
very zealous in religious matters, coming in and
knowing
fortunate
of the
what had happened, searched

and rescued
it,
it
and washed
^
Lev. xxvii.
'^
The
from the
it
for the
human
filth
image of Saint Mary,
amidst which he found
clean with the purest water, and taking
lo, 33.
original cannot be literally translated in this sentence.
it
HOLY
home
PLACES, WRITTEN BY ADAMNAN.
with him, treated
with great honour.
it
wood of
to say, there always distils from the
Mary
Blessed
a true boiling
he saw with his
own
oil,
honour of Mary the mother of Jesus, of
My
Marvellous
that picture of
which, as Arculf used to say,
This marvellous
eyes.
63
oil
proves the
whom
the Father
The same
Son of God Himself, 'The Lord Thy
God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above
says,
'
In
holy
oil,
have
anointed Him.'i
Psalmist says to the
Thy
fellows.'^
This narrative, which we have written about the situation
and the foundation of Constantinople, and also about that

in which the wood of salvation is preserved,
round church
etc.,
we learned
priest,
who remained
Arculf;
greatest of the
an island
in the
Great Sea towards the
sounds so loudly, like thunder,
by the
Sicily,
terrific
the
far
feast to that
Vulcan
twelve^ miles from Sicily, in which
ground of
saintep
Afterwards he sailed thence to Rome.
VL Mount
is
in
Roman Empire, from the Paschal
of the Lord's birth.
There
mouth of the
that city, by
carefully from the
though so
tremor, but
far
it
all
away,
east,
Mount
Vulcan,* which
day and
night, that the
is
is
thought to be shaken
seems to sound more loudly on
the sixth day of the week, and the Sabbath
it
appears
This
always to burn by night, and to smoke by day.
writing
mountain
as
I
was
he
that
about
told
me
Arculf
;
saw
day;
with his
it
its
own
eyes, burning
by
night, but
smoking by
thunder-like sound he heard with his
own
ears,
while he was staying in Sicily for some days.

'
Psalm
Ixxxix. 20.
Psalm
xlv. 7.
'
Fourteen,' G.
island of Volcano, the ancient Hiera, also known as Vulcani

Insula, from its volcanic phenomena, is the southernmost of the Lipari
Islands the old jEoliae, or Vulcaniae, Insulas, to the north of Sicily.
*
The
twelve geographical miles from Sicily. See Smith's Dictionary

of Greek and Roman Geography, .r. v. ôlise Insute.
It is
ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE HOLY PLACES.
64
VII. Epilogue.
Therefore
beseech those
who
shall
read these short
books, to pray for the divine clemency, on behalf of the

sainted priest Arculf,
who most
willingly dictated to us
these facts of his experience of the holy places which he

visited,
which
have,
in
scribed, although placed
however unworthy words, dein
midst of laborious and
the
nearly insupportable ecclesiastical cares, which
me
the whole day from
all sides.
Therefore
come upon
charge the
reader of these experiences that he neglect not to pray to

Christ, the
Judge of the ages,
writer of them.
for
me, a miserable sinner, the
A LITTLE BOOK CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES,

WHICH BEDE COMPOSED BY ABBREVIATING THE
WORKS OF FORMER WRITERS.
HAVE BRIEFLY DESCRIBED BOTH THE BOUNDS AND THE SITES OF
THE PLACES, WHICH THE SACRED PAGE MAKES MORE MEMORABLE,
I, BEDE, FOLLOWING THE GUIDANCE OF
LATER AS WELL AS OF
OLDER WRITERS, EXAMINING WHAT THE CHART Of THE MASTERS
I
TELLS.
GRANT, JESUS, THAT WE MAY EVER TEND TO THAT FATHERLAND,

WHICH THY PERFECT VISION BLESSES FOR EVERMORE.
THE VENERABLE BEDE COiNCERNING

THE HOLY PLACES.
Note. -The
references in the
margin are
corresponding
the
to
passages in Arculfs Narrative.
I. The Situation of Jerusalem.
The
which
situation of the city of Jerusalem,
almost circular in form,
rises
small extent, within which
is Arcaif,
p. 2.
with a circuit of walls of no
Mount
has also embraced
it
Sion, which
was once reckoned only
hanging the
city in the south like a citadel, the larger part
of the
its
vicinity, over-
under the mountain, upon the
lying
city
in
level
summit of a lower hill. After the Passion of the Lord, it

was destroyed by the Emperor Titus, but it was restored
and greatly enlarged by .Êlius Hadrian, after whom it is
also
now
Lord
Whence
called .^lia.
suffered
happens
it
that, while the
and was buried beyond the gates of the
now
the sites of His Passion and Resurrection are
city,
seen
within the walls.
In the great circuit of the walls there are
shown eighty-four
towers,
and six gates
David, to the west of Mount Sion
Valley of the Fuller
third, the
the Gate of Benjamin

little
gate
by which
of Josaphat
is
sixth, the
fifth,
Gate of
Or
'
St.
a portlet
first,
the Gate of
Stephen
that
is,
fourth,
p. 3-
the descent by steps to the Valley

are, howmore frequently used
Gate Thecuitis.^ There
ever, three of these gates that are

1
second, the Gate of the
of the Tekoites,' see Arculf, p.
2,
note
i, vi.
52
THE VENERABLE BEDE
68
one on the west, another on the north, a third on the east,

Mount Sion over-
while on the south the northern brow of
hangs the
towers
city,
and the part of the walls with
proved to have no gates, that
is
named Gate of David
interposed
from the above-
Mount Sion which

The situaprecipitous.
as far as that face of
looks eastward, where the rock

tion of the city
p. 4-
is,
its
brow of Mount Sion,
is
itself,
is
beginning from the northern
so disposed on a slight declivity
sloping to the lower ground of the northern and eastern

walls, that rain falling there does not settle, but rushes
through the eastern gates, carrying with
like rivers
the
filth
of the streets,
till it
joins the torrent of
down
it
Cedron
all
in
the Valley of Josaphat.

II.
The Church of Constantine and of Golgotha,

THE Church of the Resurrection and the
Sepulchre of the Lord, the Stone that was
ROLLED to the MOUTH OF THE TOMB, THE CHURCH
OF St. Mary, the Cup of the Lord and the
Sponge, THE Altar of Abraham, the Soldier's
Spear.
Such, then, as have entered the city from the
p. lo.
north to survey the holy places, must
first,
in
accordance
with the arrangements of the streets, turn to the Church

of Constantine, which
is
built in a magnificent
called the
Martyrium.
This was
and royal manner by the Emperor
Constantine, because on that spot the Cross of our Lord
was found by Helena,

is
his
mother.
To
the west of this
seen the Church of Golgotha, in which also the rock
appears which once bore the very Cross to which the body
of the
great
Lord was
size,
now
bearing a silver cross of
above which hangs a great circular chandelier of
brass with lamps.

is
nailed,
Below the
site of
the Cross of the Lord
a crypt cut out in the rock, in which sacrifice
is
wont to
CONCERNING THE HOLY PLACES.

be offered upon an altar
for
honoured dead persons, whose
bodies meanwhile are placed in the court.
church
of
this
the
'Ava<7Ta<ri<;,
again,
that
round
the
is
69
To
the west
church of
pp 5,6-
of the Resurrection of the Lord,
is,
surrounded with three walls, supported on twelve columns,
having a broad pathway
between each wall and the
left
next, containing three altars in three spaces in the middle

that
wall,
is,
has twice four gates, that

line
through the three
north-east,^
is
the
and the west.
to the south, the north,

is
entrances, running in a straight
walls, four of
and four to the south-east.
Tomb of the Lord,
them looking
to the
In the middle of this
cut out in the rock, of round form,
man
of such height that a
It
standing within
it
can touch the
top with his hand, with an entrance on the east at which

that great stone was placed
marks of the
iron tools.
the interior
On
the outside
shows the
still
it
completely
is
covered with marble up to the highest point of the

the very highest point, which
golden cross of large

this
Tomb
is
size.
is
roof, while
adorned with gold, bears a
In the northern part of
rock, seven feet in length, raised three
lamps burn here day and
nigh,t,
eight above on the right side.
mouth of
the
Tomb,
twelve
four below^ the Sepulchre,
The
stone which was
Tomb has been broken
pp.
s, 9.
in two,
smaller part standing as a square altar before the

the
same
palms above the
pavement, having an entrance on the southern side
placed at the
p- s-
the Sepulchre of the Lord, cut out in the
the
mouth of
while the larger part stands in the eastern side
of the church under the linen cloths, also forming a four-
sided altar.
is
The
colour of the
Tomb
and of the Sepulchre
white mixed with red.
The
four-sided
Church of the Mother of God
adjoins this church on
its
right side.
In the court
which joins the Martyrium and Golgotha

1
See page
6,
note
i.
also
is
p- 9-
p-
".
i^-
a recess (expdra),
Others,
'
within.'
THE VENERABLE BEDE
70
which the Cup of the Lord
in
kept
is
in a shrine,
be touched and kissed through an opening

is
a silver
quart;!
cup, with a handle on each

jt
jp,
Altar to sacrifice his son,
some size, on
by the people. The
a wooden cross in the
its
shaft having been broken in
held in reverence by the whole
have caused each of these
an
laid
soldier's spear is inserted in
it is
built
a wooden table of
is
portico of the Martyrium,
two
It
holding a French
Also on the spot where Abraham
which the alms of the poor are

p. 12-
and may-
the cover.
the Sponge, which afforded drink to the
jg
Lord.
p. II.
side,
in
depicted in a drawing, so that you
city.
have spoken of to be
may more
clearly realize
the description.^
IIL
The Temple, the Oratory of the Saracens,

THE Pool of Bethesda, the Fountain of Siloa,
THE Church built upon Mount Sion, the Place
OF the Stoning of St. Stephen, the Middle of
the World.
we have mentioned lie beyond
whence a swelling of the ground, lessening
All these sacred places
Mount
pp. 4.
5-
Sion,
towards the north, stretches.
In the lower part of
the city, where the temple was close to the wall on the east,
and was connected with the

crossing of any,
is
now
city itself
by
a bridge for the
a square building, apparently capable
of holding three thousand men, which the Saracens frequent

for prayer
it
is
rudely built, raised on boards and great
beams above the remains of

are to be seen there.
ruins.
A few cisterns
for
water
In the neighbourhood of the temple
is
the Pool of Bethsaida,^ like a twin lake, the one being often
'
See page
'
The
2 -pîs drawing is given in Pa.

ii, note 4.
questions connected with the Pool of Bethesda are discussed
at length by Sir Charles Wilson, in Appendix IIL of the translation
of the Bordeaux Pilgrim, pp. 45 ff., where, however, this reference

See also 'City of Jerusalem,' Note, pp. 65 ff.
omitted.
is

filled
with winter showers, while the other
From
with red water.
that face of
eastwards, where the rock
is
is
71
discoloured
Mount Sion which
looks
precipitous, there rushes out
within the walls and in the roots of the
hill, the Fountain of

which flows southwards with an alternating access of
Siloa,
waters, that
not in a perpetual flow, but boiling up at
is,
certain hours
and days, and coming through the hollows of
the earth and the caves of hardest rock with a great noise.
In the higher part of
monks surround
Mount
many
Sion,
cells
of
p. 20.
a large church, built, as they affirm, by the
Apostles on the spot where they received the Holy
and where
Mary
St.
died
Spirit,
this is also the venerable site
of the Supper of the Lord.
There
is also,
standing
in the
middle of the church, a marble column,- to which the Lord
was bound when
He was
The form
scourged.
of this church
is drawn below.i
shown a rock, above which the sainted p. 20.
proto-martyr Stephen was stoned without the city while in
said to be as
is
There
is
the middle of Jerusalem, on the spot where a dead
man came
to
life
again
when
p. 16, 17-
the Cross of the Lord was
placed on him, stands a lofty column, which throws no
shadow
this
is
at the
summer
solstice,
whence
the middle of the earth, as
it is
thought that
said in history
is
'
But
God, our King, before the ages has wrought salvation in

Influenced by this opinion, Victhje midst of the earth.'
torinus also, one of the chief
men
of the Church of Pettau,^
writing about Golgotha, begins thus

'
There
is
in their
a spot we hold the midst

own tongue the Jews call
the world
of
all
it
Golgotha.'
M., Pc, give a drawing of the church.

This is the only authority for attributing these, or any other,
extant verses to St. Victorinus, Bishop of Pattau, in Upper Pannonia,
1
martyred under Diocletian

iv., p.
128.
(?).
See Smith's
'
Diet, of Christian Biog.,'
THE VENERABLE BEDE
72
The Napkin of the Head of the Lord, and

ANOTHER LARGER LiNEN CLOTH WOVEN BY St. MARY.
IV.
After the Resurrection of the Lord, the napkin
pp. I2-I5-
by a Jew, who
soon after became a true Christian and retained it by him till
his death, and who meanwhile became rich.
When dying,
pp. II, 12, 13. he asks his sons, which of them wished to receive
that had been about His head was stolen
the napkin of the Lord, which to possess the rest of his
The
father's wealth.
until the elder
son comes to poverty
therefore retained
came
it
wealth
straightway the former decreases

while with faith his
wealth increases, and his faithful descendants,
brother's
wards
elder chose the earthly treasure, the
And
younger the napkin.
it
it
even to the
generation.
fifth
After-
into the possession of impious persons,
so greatly increased
that
whose
occasioned great
it
quarrels for a long time; the Christian Jews claiming to
be the heirs of Christ, while unbelieving Jews claimed to
be the heirs of their fathers

Mauvias.i the
until, after
King of the Saracens
called on to act as judge.
to Christ to judge
in
long contention,
our
Lighting a great
who was worthy
own
time,
fire,
was
he prays
to possess this napkin
He had deigned to wear about His head for their

salvation.
He then cast it into the fire, when it was
which
snatched suddenly and flew upwards, and remained for

a very long time at a great height, flying in the air as
play,
sides,
and
it
at last, while all
were gazing on
descended lightly and deposited
it
itself in
if
at
from both
the
bosom
of one of the Christians, being saluted and kissed immediately
by the whole people with the greatest reverence. It

is eight feet in length.
Another linen cloth of
p. i6.
'
note
In other MSS.,
I,
'
Majuuias,'
'
Mauuras,'
'
Moawieh.'
See
p.
14,

much
larger size,
to have been
is
venerated in the church, which
woven by
St.
said
is
Mary, having the likenesses of
the twelve Apostles and of the Lord Himself, one side
being red and the other green.
The Places round Jerusalem, the Valley of
V.
JosAPHAT, HIS Sepulchre and those of others,

THE Church in which St. Mary was buried.
Round Jerusalem
mountainous. Hence
ground
is
ground
the
is
rough and
p. 22.
to the north, as far as Arimathia, the
rocky and rough, though not quite continuously,
while thorny valleys
lie
towards the Tanitic region
while
towards Cesarea of Palestine from MWa., although some

narrow, small, rough spots
part, the
ground
is
are found, yet, for the
most
a level plain, with olive groves scattered
These places are seventy-five miles distant from

while the length of the Land of Promise from
other,
each
Dan to Bersabee extends over 160 miles, from Joppa to
over
it.
Bethlehem being forty-six
Next
the wall of the
the east
is
miles.
Temple
or of Jerusalem on
p.
.22.
Gehennon, or the Valley of Josaphat, stretching
from north to south, through which the torrent of Cedron runs,

This valley
at least when it receives water from the rains.
is
a small plain, watered, and wooded, and
and once had
in
it
a grove^ sacred to Baal.
full
of delights,
In this
p. is.
his sepulchre; on
is the Tower of King Josaphat, containing
out of the rock of
its right hand is a separate building hewn
Mount
Olivet, containing
two rock-hewn sepulchres, being
those of the aged Simeon and of Joseph, the spouse of St.

17Mary. In this same valley is the round Church of p.
St.
two by a stone vaulting, having four

altar to
the upper part, and in the lower portion one
Mary, divided
altars in
in
Others,
'
and
spot.'
THE VENERABLE BEDE
74
the east, and on
Mary
is
its
right
hand an empty tomb, in which St.

some time but by whom,"
said to have rested for
and when, the body was taken away
who
unknown.
is
Those
enter this see on the right, inserted in the wall, the
He
rock on which the Lord prayed on the night in which
was betrayed, the marks of His knees being impressed

in soft
as
if
wax.
The place where Judas was hanged, and
VI.
ACHELDEMAC.
Those going out by the Gate of David
p. ig.
find a
bridge^ stretching southwards across the valley, at the middle
of which, on the west side, Judas
For here stands a
himself
is
said to have
very great age, alluding to which Juvencus says

'
From
fig-tree top
Further on
p. =1.
is
hanged
great size and of
fig tree of
he snatched a shapeless death.'
Acheldemac, on the south of Mount
Sion, where strangers^ and other persons of no note are
still
buried, while others putrefy there unburied.
Vn.
The Mount of Olivet, and the. Church

BUILT THERE, WHERE THE LORD ASCENDED INTO
THE Heavens THE Tomb of Lazarus, and a
THIRD Church.
The Mount
pp. 21, 22.
in length
olives,
is
is
a mile distant from
equal to
the ground
fertile in
of Olives, which
Mount Sion in height, but excels, it

and breadth. With the exception of vines and
Jerusalem,
is
almost destitute of
trees,
corn and barley, and the quality of the
but
it
is
soil is suit-
able for grass and flowers, not for trees.
On its summit,
where the Lord ascended to heaven, is a round church
of large size, having in its circuit three vaulted porticoes
1
Others,
'
fountain.'
Or
'
pilgrims'
see p. 2i, note
2.

For the
covered over above.
interior of the
75
house
22-24.
pp.
could not be vaulted over or covered, on account of the
passage (Ascension) of the Lord's body from that spot

has an altar towards the
in the centre of
east,
lies
if
protected by a narrow roof;
He
And
ascended.
although
away by the believing, they none

same appearance of their
marked by impressed footsteps. Around these
is
daily carried
the less remain and
own, as
it
are seen the last footprints of the Lord,
it
under the open heaven, where

the earth
retain the
still
a hollow brass cylinder as high as one's neck,i with an
entrance from the west, while
lamp
great
is
hung above
it
In the western
by pulleys, burning the whole night and day.

side of that church are eight windows and the same number
of lamps hung by ropes opposite to them their light is shed
through the glass as far as Jerusalem, and is said to smite
;
the hearts of the beholders with a certain eagerness and

On the day of the Ascension of the Lord
compunction.
each year, after Mass
performed, a storm of strong wind
is
comes down regularly and lays prostrate on the ground all

On that night so many lamps are
that are in the church.
lighted there, that the mountain and the places at its foot
appear not only to be illuminated but even to be on fire.
We
have thought
it
right to give a
drawing of
this
church
below.^
The Tomb
of Lazarus
is
pointed out by a church >?
26, 27.
and by a large monastery, in a certain plain

Now
-of Bethany, surrounded by a great wood of olives.
There
Bethany is fifteen furlongs distant from Jerusalem.
built there,
is
same mountain, towards the

Bethany, where the Lord spoke to His
also a third church on the
southern side of
disciples before the Passion about the
head and
'
Others,
The drawing
'
is
Day
neck,' or only
'
wanting in almost
of Judgment.
head.'
all
MSS.
THE VENERABLE BEDS
76
The Situation of Bethlehem, the Church

UPON the Place where the Lord was born, the
Sepulchres of David and Hieronymus and the
Three Shepherds, and also that of Rachel.
VIII.
Bethlehem, which
pp. 28, 29.
Jerusalem,
on
all
sides
lies six miles^
southwards from
situated on a narrow ridge, which
is
by
valleys,
and
is
is
surrounded
a mile long from west to east,
a low wall without towers being built right round the level
summit.
In the eastern corner of this
half cave, the exterior of which
is
a sort of natural
said to have been the
is
place of the Nativity of the Lord, while the interior
the
is
Manger
of the Lord.
called
is
This cave, the interior of which
wholly covered over with precious marble, has, above the
exact spot where the Lord

p. 29-
large
Church of
close to the wall,
still
of the Lord was
St.
is
said to have been born, the
Mary.
rock, hollowed out
preserves the water in which the
first
thrown from the wall
washed, which
;
and
this
it
water,
caught as
if
it
exhausted either by accident or intentionally,

restored to
its full
To
p. 30.
extent even while you look at
was
should be
is
always
it.
the north of Bethlehem, in the neighbouring
Sepulchre of David
valley, the
Body
it
is
covered over in the middle
of a church by a low stone, with a lamp placed above

while to the south, in a neighbouring valley, there
church the Sepulchre of
in
In this
have
given
Jerusalem.
p. 31-
is,
Hieronymus.
in a
by Arculf, a Bishop of the

But Esdras writes clearly, that David was buried
followed the account

Gauls.
St.
it
is
Farther to the east in the
of the flock, a mile from the city,
the tombs of the shepherds
Nativity
of.
1
the Lord.
The
real distance
is
Tower
of Ader, that
a church containing
who were informed
of the
royal road leads from Êlia to

is five
English miles.

Chebron, leaving Bethlehem to the
the Sepulchre of Rachel,
still
77
and to the west
east,
signed with the inscription
of her name.
IX.
The Situation of Hebron, Mambre, and the

Tomb of the Patriarchs and of Adam, the
Pine Wood.
Hebron
along a plain, twenty-two
situated
is
miles from .^lia.
furlong to the east,
it
pp. 32. 33-
has a double
cave in a valley, where the Sepulchres of the Patriarchs are
surrounded by a rectangular
heads turned to the
them covered with one stone hewn
north, each of
Basilica, the stone
darker and of
wall, their
in the case of
being white
commoner workmanship
like a
the Patriarchs,
Adam's, who
in
lies
not far from them towards the north end of that wall.
Poorer and smaller monuments of their three wives are also

seen.
The hill of Mambre, a mile to the north of p. 33these tombs,
at
very grassy and flowery, having a level plain
is
the summit,
in the
northern part of which
is
the oak of
Abraham, surrounded by a church, its trunk being the height

of two men. Those coming from Hebron north- p.34.
wards, have on their left hand a mountain of small extent
covered with pines, three miles from Hebron, whence pine
wood
is
carts or
carried to Jerusalem on camels
waggons are
for in all
Judea
rare.
Places, Galgal and- the

Fountain of Heliseus, the Great Plain.
X. Jericho and
Jericho
is
its
Holy
nineteen^ miles to the east of ^lia, and

levelled to the
p. 35-
ground three times, only the
it has been
house of Raab remains, as a sign of her faith for its walls
The site of the
are still standing, though without a roof.
the Jordan,
it
and
Between
vines.
and
city produces corn
as
'
O.,
Pc, have
'
14,000 feet
;'
Pa.,
'
18 miles.'
THE VENERABLE BEDE
78
which
with open
spaces
to be taken
from the Jordan
just within the walls
now
there are great palm
it,
which are inhabited by
left,
The twelve
Chananeans.
p- 36-
miles from
five or six
is
groves,
stones which Josua ordered
lie in
a church at Galgal built
they are so large that one of them can
by two men while one of them has

been broken by some unknown accident, but has been joined
scarcely be lifted
together again by an iron band. Close to Jerichxj
is
a copious
fountain of drinking-water, good for irrigating purposes,
which was once
sterile
and unhealthy
healed by Heliseus the prophet,
surrounded by a plain seventy furlongs
is
twenty
varieties of palmsi
it.
It
and
in length,
and most excellent breeds
There the opobalsamum
of bees.
name
salt into
breadth, in which are marvellously fair gardens,
in
many
with
was
for drinking, but
when he cast
is
produced, which
we
thus with an affix because the husbandmen, with
sharp stones, cut slender channels through the bark, in
which the balsam

distilling slowly
bedewed
fully
so
that
the sap, after
tears
and a cavern
is
called in
in beauti-
Greek
oV??,
Here, they say, the cyprus and the myrobalanus^
Ope.
1
generated,
is
through those caverns, collects
Apples,' Pb.
'
2 It is
impossible to identify exactly the trees referred
to.
(i)
The
name Opobalsamum,
is
given to the sap extracted from the Balsam tree,

not derived from ottij, a hole, but from oTrog, juice, the milky juice
flowing from a plant, either naturally or by incision.
word
The Hebrew
derived from the root, meaning 'fissure^

referring to the practice of drawing it from the tree in this way.
But
balsam,
for the
much
tsori, is
the real Balsam tree,
and whether the tree

was obtained was also the Balsam
tree of Jericho.
(2) The Cyprus tree (the camphire of Cant. i. 14,
iv. 13) probably derives its name from the Hebrew Kaphar, to cover
ox paint.
It is the Arabic Henna, a red stain much used for the nails
it is
from
being
disputed what
vi-hich
the
made from
Myrobalanus
may be
the
is
Balm
its
is
of Gilead
Lawsonia Inermis. (3) The

it or the Balsam tree
variously named Elceagnus angustifolia and
dry leaves.
It is
variously identified.
Zackum
tree,
Balanites ^gyptiaca, the
oil
the
Either
obtained from which
is
highly esteemed
CONCERNING THE HOLY

The
grow.
more
is
some other
water, as in
especially,
is
PLACETS.
79
fountains, but here
cold in summer, tepid in winter
the air
milder, so that in the depth of winter linen clothing
worn.
The
city itself
built in a plain,
is
by an extensive mountain, bare

the
of the country
soil
inhabitants.
is
barren,
and
is
of anything fruitful
and therefore
is
overhung
it is
for
without
wide extent of country stretches from
the district of the city of Scythopolis to that of

the Asphaltic region.
Opposite
this,
Sodom and
a mountain extends
above the Jordan, from the city of Julias to Zoar,^ which

conterminous with Arabia Petrsea, where there is a
mountain called Ferreus. Between these two mountains
stretches a plain, which the ancients called the Great,' or
is
'
Hebrew,
in
'
Aulon,' 230 furlongs in length, 120 in breadth,
extending from the village of Gennabara to the Asphaltic

Lake. The Jordan intersects it, with banks verdant from
the watering of the river, the trees upon
much more
barren
fruitful
for all the land
its
beyond the bank of the
The Jordan and the Sea of
XI.
river
is
dry.
Galilee.
commonly supposed to rise in the pp. 39. 40.

Phenicia, at the roots of Mount Lebanon, where
The Jordan
province of
banks being
than elsewhere, where they are more
is
Cesarea Philippi,
Paneum, that
is,
we
Paneum, that
learn that
is,
'
is
situated.
For
this reason
the grotto,' through which the
was constructed and adorned with admirable

Agrippa. There is, however, in the district
King
by
beauty
of Trachonitis a fountain resembling a disc,^ whence it has
Jordan
flows,
received the
name of
Phiala
it is
fifteen miles
from Caesarea,
by the Arabs as a cure for wounds. It grows near Jericho. This may
not improbably be the Myrobalanus, while the Balsam tree may be
the Cistus Creticus.Ahhot Daniel, p. 8, note 4.
1
See
'
p. 39,
Rota.'
rota.' C.
'
note
The
W. W.
i.
reference
is
apparently to the sun's disc, often called
8o
THE VENERABLE BEDE
and
so constantly
is
never diminishes.
full
of water, that
never overflows and
Into this Philip, the tetrarch of the region,
up
cast straws, which the river cast
in Phiala,
is
begins to be visible as a river

intersects
its
marshes
miles without
Julias
Paneum, where
it
it
directs
it
is
account
Dead
many
Now
breadth
in
since
it
because
places,
Sea, and there loses
Genezar, that
the water
it
is
all
sides
is
marsh mud or turbid,

by a sandy shore. It
on
the east
and Hippo, on the west by Tiberias, which
is
by
healthy
the kinds of fish are better as regards
its
taste
and appearance than
hot waters
Dead
sweet and good for drinking,
is
surrounded on
from
any other
in
lake.
The Dead
Sea, and its Nature, and that of

THE Neighbouring District.
XII.
The Dead Sea extends
p. 39-
Zoar of Arabia, 150
Sodom
for
it is
in
580^ furlongs in length to
breadth to the neighbourhood of
most certain that
after the
and Gomorrha and the neighbouring

what were once wells of
p. 41-
ing towards
p. 38.
Mount
it
Olivet
It is
salt.
from
afar,
'
Twelve,' Pc.
burning of Sodom
cities, it
flowed in from
seen also by those look-
from the watch-tower of
because the colliding movement of
the waves casts out the most salt

1
famous
its
140 furlongs in length,
receives nothing thick with

it is
Lake
enters the
the Sea of Galilee,
is,
surrounded also by agreeable towns,
Julias
it
white colour, like milk, and on this
surrounded by great woods
40
city called
recognised for a long distance in the
is
Sea.
pp. 40. 41.
the
It is of a
.waters.
p. 38-
course for fifteen^
flows through the middle of the
it
of Genezar, whence, after passing

Asphaltic, that
its
any addition, to the
receiving
afterwards
thence
it
but that
soon entering the lake,
flows through subterranean channels to
it
Whence
Paneum.
in
follows that the source of the Jordan
is
it
'
salt,
which
is
dried
Five hundred and
eight,'
by the
Ph.

sun,
and used by many nations.
is
further said to be
a mountain of Sicily, where stones turned out of the
salt, in
ground supply a true

is
There
8i
known as Earth
salt,
Salt.
most useful
The Sea
is
for all purposes,
called
which
'Dead because
'
it
does not contain any kind of living creatures, whether
fish
or such birds as are
and
camels
met with beside water, while
bulls
on it.^ Finally, if the Jordan has been swollen

and has carried down fishes in its flood, they
die immediately and float above the oily waters.
They say
by
float
rain
lamp
that a lighted
floats
above
it
unchanged,"^ and does not
sink so as to put out the light, while
if
a vessel has been
submerged by any device it can scarcely be caused to

remain in the depths, and all living creatures even if
submerged and vehemently beaten down, at once rise to the
surface
while finally, they say that Vespasian ordered
men
not swim, to have their hands bound and then
who could
thrown into the deep, and they floated above

The water is barren' and bitter, and darker than
be
to
it.
other waters, and produces a sort of parched feeling.

certain that lumps of bitumen
float in
water, which they collect in boats.
adhere to them so that

tools, yielding
it
body.
The
The bitumen
cannot be cut
district
still
is
and
for healing the
apples grow there, which excite
among
for
said to
even by iron
retains the appearance
(of the Cities of the Plain)
punishment
oft"
only to menstruous blood or urine.
useful for caulking joints in ships
It is
a black liquid on the
It
is
human
of the
very beautiful
spectators a desire
to eat them, but when plucked, they burst and are reduced
to ashes, and give rise to smoke as if they were still burning.
1
Also
in
Pb. reads,
'
summer an immoderate amount
while bitumen floats on
it
of vapour
resembling gold and a camel
in appearance.'
reads, ' unchanged, so that the light can neither be

because if a vessel,' etc.
submerged,
sprinkled nor be
* Probably
unprofitable,' useless for drinking.
2
The same MS.

'
THE VENERABLE BEDS
82
steams up over the plains, while the unhealthy drought and

the dryness of the
corrupt the air and destroy
soil unite to
the inhabitants with deplorable diseases.
The Place where the Lord was
XIII.
At
pp. 36-38.
the place where the Lord was baptized, a
cross stands, as high as one's neck, which
by the
Baptized.
rising of the water
as far distant from
it
is
wooden
often hidden
the further or eastern
bank
is
as one can sling a stone, while the
nearer bank has on the top of a
the great monastery of
hill
the Blessed John Baptist, the church of which
celebrated,
is
from which people are wont to pass down to that cross
by a bridge
of the river
At
on arches, and pray.
raised
is
the edge
a square church built on four stone vaults,
covered over above with slacked lime,^ where the garments
worn by the Lord when He was baptized, are said to be

This, men do not usually enter, but the^ waves
preserved.
surround and penetrate it. From the point where the
Jordan issues from the ravine of the Sea of Galilee to that
where
it
enters the
Dead
Sea,
is
eight^ days' journey.
The Locusts and the Wild Honey, and the
XIV.
Fountain of John the Baptist.

p. 43-
locust,
There seems
to
have been a very small kind of
which John the Baptist fed upon, and which
found, with a thin short
body
like the finger of a
easily taken in the grass,
is
poor,
when cooked
in
oil.
and
is
is still
hand, which
used for food by the
In the same desert there are trees
with broad round leaves of the colour of milk and the

taste of honey,
hands
the
1
^
which being naturally
and eaten.
This
See p. 38, note i.

But on all sides they surround,'
'
3
'
Fifteen,' Ffi.
is
Pc;
'
fragile, are
what
is
rubbed
called
'
in
wild
enter or descend thence,' O.

honey.'
In
Baptist
is
the same place
the fountain
shown, the water being clear
John
protected by
of St.
it is
83
a stone covering besmeared with lime.
XV.
The Fountain
Near the
Neapolis,
is
of Jacob near Sichem.
Sichem, which
city of
form of a cross,
in the middle^ of
now
is
a four-armed church, that
is,
which
is
called
one
pp. 41. 4=
built in the
the Fountain of
Jacob, forty cubits in height, which the Lord honoured by

asking water from it from the woman of Samaria.
and Capharnaum and Nazareth

AND THE Holy Places there.
Tiberias
XVI.
The
place where the Lord blessed the bread and
the fish
is
p. 43-
on this side of the Sea of Galilee, to the north of
the city of Tiberias
a grassy level plain which has never
since lêen ploughed, and which has no buildings on it,

showing only a fountain from which they drank. Those
who come from ^lia
to
Capharnaum pass through
p. 44-
Tiberias, and thence along the Sea of Galilee and the place
where the bread was blessed not far from which is Capharnaum, on the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim, having no
and
wall, situated in a narrow space between the mountain
:
the lake above the sea shore, extending for a long distance
eastwards, having the mountain on the north, and the lake
on the south. Nazareth has no walls, but great p. 4sbuildings and two large churches. One in the middle of the
there was the
city is founded on two vaults, where once
His infancyin
nourished
was
Lord
the
which
house in
with
mounds,
on
two
raised
This church, as has been said, is
arches interposed, having
^
down below among
Tobler omits as unintelligible

See p. 42-
of the fingers.'
'
these
mounds
stretching from the side to the end
63
THE VENERABLE BEDS

a very clear fountain, from which
all
draw
the citizens
water in vessels by means of pulleys.
There
their
another
is
came
church, where the house was in which the angel
to
Mary.
Mount Tabor and the Three Churches
XVII.
ON
Mount Tabor, in
p. 46-
rises
up to the north
Sea of Genezareth
the middle of the plain of Galilee,
completely round, very grassy and
flowery, 30 furlongs in height.
Its
summit forms a very
pleasant level surface of 23^ furlongs, where
monastery surrounded by a large wood,

churches, according to what Peter said,
three tabernacles.'
from the
at a^ distance of three miles
it is
IT.
The
place
is
'
a large
is
having
three
Let us make here
surrounded by a
wall,
and
has great buildings.
XVIII.
Damascus
p. 47-
ample
The Situation of Damascus.

is
circuit of walls,
situated in a wide plain, with an
and
is
by frequent towers
While the Christians
fortified
four great rivers flow through
it.
frequent the Church of St. John Baptist, the king of the
Saracens with his people has built and consecrated another.

There are a very large number of olive groves round the
city outside the walls.
From Tabor
to
Damascus
is
seven
days' journey.
XIX. The Situation of Alexandria, the Church

IN WHICH Mark the Evangelist rests, and the
Nile.
Alexandria is a long city from west to east,

surrounded on the south by the mouths of the Nile, on the
pp. 48-51-
'
Several
MSS. here mention
the tribe of Manasseh.
'
24,' pi,_
85
north by the Egyptian Sea/ having a harbour more
than others,
at the
in
form Hke the human body
head and the roads, but narrower
and
receives the sea
ships in
difficult
more capacious
in the straits,
where
it
movement, by which some aids
to breathing are given to the port.
When
one has escaped
the narrows and the mouths of the harbour, a stretch of sea
spreads out far and wide like the rest of the
On
the right side of the port
stands Pharus, that
is
human
form.
a small island, on which
a very large tower, which burns
is,
during the night with the flames of torches,
lest
sailors
fall upon rocks, or

boundary of the entrance, because it
But the
is always unquiet, with waves always breaking.
harbour is always calm it is thirty furlongs in extent.
Those entering the city from the Egyptian side pp- si, sâre met on the right hand by a Church, in which rests the
should be deceived in the darkness and

fail
to recognise the
blessed
His body
Evangelist Mark.
is
buried
in
the
eastern end of that church before the altar, a square marble
monument being placed above the spot.

Around the Nile the Egyptians are in
the habit
p- s^-
making frequent ramparts on account of the irruption of

the waters, which, should they be broken by the careless-
of
ness of the guardians, instead of irrigating, ruin the underAnd because the Egyptians inhabit the
lying ground.
they build their houses upon the banks of the

waters, supporting them on transverse beams.
plains,
XX. Constantinople, and the
Basilica in that
City which contains the Cross of the Lord.

surrounded on all sides except p- 53miles from it
the north by the Great Sea, extending sixty
the wall of the
to the wall of the city, and forty miles from
by
surrounded
is
it
city to the mouths of the Danube
Constantinople
is
Most MSS.,
'
By
the Mareotic Lake.'
THE VENERABLE BEDE

a circuit of walls twelve miles in length, with angles corre-
At
spending to the sea-board.
p. 54-
had fixed
to build
Europe
but
Constantine
first
by the sea which separates Asia
it^
one night
all
the tools were taken
firom
away,
for them,
and they were found by those sent to look
on
the European side, where the city
now
understood to be God's
should be built there.
In this city
pp. 55-57-
will that
it
is
for
a church of marvellous
is
ship, called St. Sophia, constructed
was thus
it
workman-
from the foundation on
a round plan and vaulted, surrounded by three walls, and
supported by great columns and raised on arches, the
which has
terior of
in its northern
ingly beautiful ambry, in which
is
in-
end a large and exceeda
wooden
chest covered
with a wooden covering, which contains three parts of the

Cross of the Lord,
viz.,
the long
beam
cut into two parts
and the cross beam of that Holy Cross. This is brought

out to be adored by the people on only three days of the
year, that
Day
is,
on [the day
of] the
Supper of the Lord, on the
and on [the day of] the Holy Sabbath,^

chest is laid opened on the golden altar (it is
of Preparation
when the
first
in height and one in breadth) with the Holy

The Emperor first approaches and adores and
the Holy Cross, then all ranks of the laity in order
two cubits
Cross.
kisses
on the next day the Empress and

virgins
and
all
chest
is
ambry.
do the same
all
the matrons and
while on the third day the Bishops
ranks of the clergy do the same
and so the
again closed and carried back to the above-named
But as long
as
it
remains open upon the
a marvellous odour pervades the whole church
the knots of the holy

oil,
of which
all his
sickness.
liquid like
it
heals
1
'
In Cilicia
That
'
in
is
if
for
from
there flows a sweet-smelling
any sick person touch a
particle,
some MSS.
on
Saturday before Easter.
^
wood
altar,
to say,
Maundy Thursday, Good
Friday, and the
XXI.
87
Epilogue.
In this account of the holy places,
have, as far as
could, followed trustworthy histories, and especially that of

Arculf, a Bishop of Gaul, which the presbyter
one most learned
books
in
in
the Scriptures, has written in three
the Latin language.
tioned, leaving his
Adamnan,
own
The
prelate
have men-
country, from his desire after the
holy places, went to the land of promise, and there stayed

some months in Jerusalem, using an aged monk, Peter
and as interpreter, and visited

in his course all the places he had so vividly longed to see,
not to speak of Alexandria, Damascus, Constantinople, and
But when he wished to revisit his native country,
Sicily.
the ship in which he sailed was, after many wanderings,
brought by a contrary wind to our island of Britain, and
by name, equally
as guide
many dangers he came

man of whom we have spoken, Adamnan,
at length after
to the venerable
to
whom
he gave
an account of his journey and of what he saw, and whom

he thus taught to become the writer of a most excellent
history.
From
this
we have
culled
some
parts
and com-
pared them with the books of the ancients, and we transmit

them to thee to read, entreating through all that thou be
temper the labour of the present age, not by the

ease of a lascivious body, but by zeal in reading and in
careful to
prayer.
APPENDIX.
TRANSLATION OF PORTIONS OF ARCULF'S NARRATIVE,'
FROM PROFESSOR WILLIS' 'HOLY SEPULCHRE.'
'
[IVi'/hams' 'Holy City,' vol. it.: London, 1849.]
Of THE Church of the Sepulchre of the Lord.

(Pages
Concerning
'
5,
cap.
i.,
last sentence,
these things
we
and
cap.
ii.)
diligently interrogated the
holy Arculfus, and especially about the Sepulchre of the

Lord, and the church constructed above
delineated the form for
great church,
sides, arising
passage
all
from
between
me upon
of stone, of
its
of which he
This
tablet.
wondrous rotundity on
foundation
in three walls,
and
each wall
it,
waxen
the
all
has a broad
next.
In
three
ingeniously constructed places of the middle wall three

altars are disposed,
one looking to the south, another to
the north, and the third towards the west
and
lofty
church
is
sustained
wondrous magnitude, and
it
south-east,
City,'
ii.
by twelve
this
round
columns
of
in the
intermediate spaces
these, four are turned to the
and the other four
to the north-east.'
'
Holy
259.
(Pages
'
Of
and
has eight doors or entrances
formed by three walls erected

between the passages.
6-9,
capp.
iii.,
iv.)
In the centre of this circular church
is
situated a round
cabin {teguriimi), cut out of a single piece of rock, within
APPENDIX.
which there
is
vaulted roof
of a
man
is
men
The
and pray.
to stand
about a foot and ahalf above the head
of no short stature.
chamber
is
space for nine
to the east.
is
The entrance of this little

The whole of its exterior surface
covered with choice marble, and the highest part of
its
outer roof, ornamented with gold, sustains a golden cross

of no small magnitude.
The Sepulchre
the north part of the chamber, and
rock as
is
of the Lord
cut out of the
but the pavement of the chamber
it,
the place of sepulture
for there
is
is
is
in
same
lower than
an altitude of about
three palms from the pavement to the lateral edge of the
... By the Sepulchre, properly so called, is

meant that place in the north part of the monumental
chamber, in which the body, wrapped in linen clothes, was
sepulchre.
deposited, the length of which Arculfus measured with his
own hand
as seven feet.
Which
sepulchre
is
not, as
some
erroneously imagine, hollowed out into a double form
shape of the body), having a projection
in the
solid rock,
is
between and separating the legs and
simple and plain from the head to the
couch affording room
manner of a
in the
left
for
one
man
cave, having
its
thighs, but
feet,
and
lying on his back.
opening
at the side,
opposite the south part of the monumental chamber.
low roof
is artificially
wrought above
it.
{i.e.,
from the
is
It is
and
The
In this sepulchre
twelve lamps, according to the number of the twelve holy

Apostles, burn day and night continually, of which four are
placed below in the inner part of that sepulchral couch,

and the other eight above, over the margin on the right
side.
This chamber of the Lord's monument, not
being covered within by any ornaments, exhibits to this

day the marks of the workmen's tools by which it was
The
excavated.
sepulchre
'Holy
is
colour of the rock of the
monument and
not uniform, but a mixture of red and white.'
City,'
ii.
1/4, I7S-
APPENDIX.
90
Of THE Church of
(Page
'
The quadrangular church
the Lord,
is
of
v.)
Holy Mary, the Mother of
joined on the right side to that round church
described above, and which

rection,
cap.
9,
Mary.
St.
because
it is
is
called Anastasis, or Resur-
constructed on the place of the Lord's
resurrection.'
Of the Church of Calvary.

(Pages
9, 10,
cap.
vi.)
'Another church, of great magnitude,

towards the east in that place which
In
its
rota
is
is
constructed
called Golgotha.
upper parts there hangs by ropes a certain brazen
with lamps, beneath which
great
silver
cross
is
same place where formerly the wooden

on which the Saviour of mankind suffered, was fixed
infixed in the very

cros.s,
and stood.
'
In the same church there
is
a cave cut out of the rock
beneath the place of the Lord's
cross, where the sacrifice

upon an altar for the souls of certain honoured
persons, whose bodies, meanwhile, lying in the street, are
is
offered
placed before the door of the said Golgothan Church, until

the holy mysteries for the defunct are finished,
Of the
Basilica of Constantine.
(Pages
'
To
lo,
n, capp.
this church, constructed
vii., viii.)
upon a quadrangular plan
in
the place of Calvary, there adjoins on the eastern side that
neighbouring stone
basilica, erected
by the royal Constantine,

was located, as they say,
with great magnificence
Martyrium, which
where the cross of
called also the

in .the place
our Lord, with the other two crosses of the thieves, con-
APPENDIX.
91
cealed under the earth, was found by the gift of the Lord,
two hundred and thirty-three years. Between these

two churches occurs that famous place where Abraham the
after
Patriarch erected an altar for the sacrifice of Isaac

where now there stands a small wooden table upon which
.
people offer alms for the poor.

tasis,'
that
is,
Between the Anasthe above-described church, and the Basilica
of Constantine
is
'
a small court, extending as far as the
Golgothan Church,
stantly burning
in
which court lamps are kept con-
day and
night.'
Of the other Exedra

(Pages
in
the Church of Calvary.
II, 12, cap. ix.)
'Between the Golgothan Church and the Martyrium

is
a certain " Exedra," or apse, in which
is
the cup.
This
Arculfus goes on to describe as the cup of the Last Supper,'
and also to
'Holy
state that he
City,'
ii,,
saw the sponge and the

'
'
259-261.
the end.
BILLING
AND
SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
'
lance.'
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-^.;,.

President' White Library,

Cornell University Library

3 1924 028 534 240

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

the United States on the use of the

Palestine pilgrims' ^ext ocietg.

DESCRIPTION OF SYRIA AND PALESTINE.

THE ITINERARY OF BERNARD THE WISE.

Pale0tim pilgrims' ^ext

REV. JAMES ROSE MACPHERSON, B.D.

ADAM STREET, ADELPHL

ARCULF'S NARRATIVE ABOUT THE

THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM, THE GATES OF THE

THE STONE THAT WAS ROLLED TO THE MOUTH OF THE

THE CHURCH WITHIN WHICH IS THE SEPULCHRE

AND THE TWELVE STONES WHICH THE

NAZARETH AND ITS CHURCHES

THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE THE FOUNDATION OF THAT CITY

THE VENERABLE BEDE CONCERNING

The numbers in parentheses show the corresponding chapters of Arculfus.)

THE SITUATION OF JERUSALEM. - 67

THE NAPKIN OF THE HEAD OF THE LORD, AND

THE JORDAN AND THE SEA OF

THE DEAD SEA AND ITS NATURE, AND

Xn. (xV., XVI.)

CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE

of Arculfus, the pilgrim of

work is a narrative, beyond the very

bur we have no information at

as to the see over which

that his bishopric

France, and, although this might be a mere supposition

grounded on the references

in the record itself,

was undertaken about the year

ing to the calculation of Dr. Tobler (Society de I'Orient

must have occupied some

nine months in the city of Jerusalem (possibly during that

may have made

shorter visits to the south or

the north of Palestine), and he gives us an account of the

the south, Bethlehem,

Hebron, Jericho, Galgal, and

Sichem, Mount Tabor,

Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the sources of the Jordan.

After -extending his travels as

Tyre and Damascus,

Alexandria, taking forty days to accomplish the voyage.

passed to Crete, spending some days there,

and thence to Constantinople, where he stayed

from Easter to Christmas.

and proceeded to Rome.

however, his good fortune ceased, as the ship in which he

find Arculf 'at length, after

Monastery of Hy, who, according

and acquainted with the Holy

cast on one of the western points

dangers,' at lona, the guest of

and heard him more willingly

writing whatever he testified to be worthy of mention of

that he himself caused to be at once committed to

narrative, represents himself as sedulously asking Arculf to