On its highest hill stood a vision of marble and gold--a
fortress in gemstone--the Temple. Behind it towered Roman Antonia.
Westward the Tyropean Bridge spanned a deep, populous ravine. The high
broad street upon which the giant causeway terminated was marked by
the solemn cenotaphs of Mariamne and Phaselis and ended against the
Tower of Hippicus--a vast and unflinching citadel of stone. Under the
shadow of this pile was the high place of the Herods; in sight was a
second Herodian palace. South was the open space of the great markets;
near the southernmost segment of the outer wall was the semicircular
Hippodrome. Cut off from its neighbor by ancient walls were Ophlas,
overlooking Tophet and under the shadow of the Temple; Mount Zion
which the Lord had established, Akra of the valley, Moriah, the Holy
Hill, and Coenopolis or Bezetha which Agrippa I had walled. About the
immense outer fortifications crawled the shadowy valleys of Tophet, of
Brook Kedron and of Hinnom. Thickly scattered like fallen patches of
skies the pools of Siloam, Gihon, Shiloh, En-Rogel, the Great Pool,
the Serpent's Pool and the Dragon's Well reflected the color of the
mountain heavens. Between them wandered the blue threads of certain
aqueducts that supplied them. Everywhere rose the shafts of monuments
and memorials, old as the pride of Absalom, new as the folly of the
Herods; everywhere the aggressive paganism of Rome and Greece, which
would have paganized this monotheistic race out of very rancor against
its uprightness, violated with insolent beauty the hieratic severity
of the city's face.
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