HISTORY IN JERUSALEM

Six weeks ago I was in Jerusalem. My business travel has taken me to a lot
of cities. In the last 14 months I have traveled 230,000 miles, roughly 10
times around the world, and have spoken in almost 50 cities, but no other
city is quite so moving, so awe inspiring... at least to an historian. 

Jerusalem is the Holy City, sacred to the three major monotheistic world
religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I had an opportunity to visit
the holiest places of each of these in the city. As this is Passion Week
(or Holy Week) for Christians, I will begin with these locations. 

The Mount of Olives is important to Christians for a number of reasons.
Yesterday, Christians celebrated Palm Sunday. This was to remember the day
that Jesus crossed over this mountain from Bethphage and Bethany, just to
the east. About half way down the mountain, heading west through the Kidron
Valley toward the city, Jesus stopped to pray and weep over the city. This
is now enshrined with a small church shaped like a tear. Through the chapel
window one can see the beautiful Dome of the Rock mosque, sitting upon the
Temple mount, across the valley to the west. In Jesus' day he would have
seen the wall of the Temple proper. Jesus did not weep that he would be
crucified in five days, but looked ahead almost 40 years, to when the
Temple and the city would be destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. All that was
left was the walls, and the Western Wall in particular, but I'll cover that
tomorrow in the Jewish section.

Below the place of tears at nearly the bottom of the valley is the Garden
of Gethsemane (olive press). This too is now surrounded by a church.  In
the Garden are ancient olive trees, which though centuries old and
supported by stone trusses, are probably not the originals :-) All along
the western side of the Mount of Olives are Jewish cemeteries.  It is said
that Jews from around the world will have their remains sent here because
of a Jewish tradition which claims that when the Messiah appears on the
Mount, the dead _there_ will be resurrected. (It is worth noting that
Christians believe that Jesus the Christ (the Messiah) ascended into heaven
from atop the Mount and will return likewise.) 

Looking up from the bottom of the valley to the (now Turkish) walls of the
city, once can see the sealed Golden Gate, on the eastern wall. Some Jews
believe that the Messiah will return to the Temple mount through this gate.
I was told that Muslims sealed this gate and placed a cemetery in front of
it to block this path. 

It was from the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed, that he was
arrested on Thursday night of Passion Week and led through a high part of
the Kidron Valley through the next gate farther north along the wall. This
is called St. Stephen's Gate, where the first Christian was martyred (Acts,
chapter 7) or by it's more modern name, Lion's Gate. According to legend,
Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century dreamed he must build a new
wall around the city (the current Turkish walls) or else be devoured by lions.

Christians trace from this point the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Sorrows) that
Jesus followed during his last hours. The "Stations of the Cross" are
rehearsed by Christian pilgrims through the city, especially during Passion
Week. It is unlikely that all these specific locations were along the actual
footsteps of Jesus, as these streets themselves were not built until a few
centuries ago, and in most places are several dozen feet above where the
city of 2,000 years ago would have been. Nevertheless some of the locations
are authentic.

The first is the Antonia, the Roman fortress (named after Marc Antony)
adjacent to the Temple where Roman soldiers would have been to keep the
peace. Here is located the Ecce Homo Basilica, a beautiful little church.
It is to represent where Pilate condemned Jesus with the Latin words
"Behold the man". While the Antonia is authentic, some historians believe
that Pilate would have actually taken up residence across town at the
somewhat more hospitable old Herodian residence, as his wife was with him
and not used to barracks. My articles follow that logic. 

The end of the Via Dolorosa is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many
believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected...  Calvary, or
Golgotha, the place of the skull. Different Christian churches sponsor
different stations. One where Jesus was nailed to the cross, another,
sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Church where the cross stood. Another,
sponsored by the Roman Catholics where Mary received the dead body of her
son. And a fabulous Russian Orthodox chapel where the tomb lie. The
entrance is low and one must bow to enter. There is a long line and many
deeply reverent supplicants. I reflected that Jesus would have lain here
for only about 40 hours.

The Anglicans, however, believe that the tomb was elsewhere. The "Garden
Tomb" is a competing location just north and outside the (Turkish) city
walls. The Anglicans reason that Jews don't bury inside the city walls,
hence he could not have been buried at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. (I
asked a Greek Orthodox cleric about this at the Church of the HS and he
snorted that of course his location was authentic, in Jesus' time this
location was outside the Jewish city walls, the Turkish walls were
centuries later, and besides, the remains of crucified people had recently
been found inside the precincts.) 

Realistically, the Garden Tomb "looks" right, the hill behind it is shaped
like a skull. Ironically, I could not get in, being Sunday. However, I
found my way around the back way, upon the hill, which is now an Islamic
cemetery. This stands behind the bus station where, 7 days after my visit,
a bus bomb killed 10 and injured 20.

	Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian