Harry Luke

“ According to the Talmud the Jews regarded Acre as being outside the confines of the Holy Land, whose frontier was its outer wall. The town became of importance during the Crusades, and was the favourite seat of the Court of the Latin Kingdom. On the fall of Jerusalem it succeeded that city as the capital and as the headquarters of the Knightly Orders, owing its full name of S. Jean d'Acre to the Knights Hospitallers. It was for several years, until its fall in May, 1291, the last outpost of the Crusaders in Palestine. ”

“ What renders the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of out- standing interest, apart from its sanctity in the eyes of a large portion of mankind, is the fact that it is shared by representatives of most of the Churches of Christendom. Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Armenians, Jacobites, Copts and Abyssinians have their appointed chapels and rights within its walls (formerly also Georgians and Nestorians) , and in it is celebrated almost every known form of Christian liturgy and ritual. ”

“ Roman sites in Palestine, unlike those in Trans-jordania, have been continuously occupied. Successive occupants destroyed the buildings upon them and used the materials for their own purposes. It is probable that there was no period more destructive of Roman buildings than that of the Crusades. At Caesarea the Crusaders built their walls from stones taken from the Roman walls and used Roman columns as bonding stones. Gaza and Ascalon were treated in much the same way, and nothing now is left above ground level of these Roman cities. ”

“ Just as 'Abd al-Melek ibn Marwan in the seventh century both profited by the skill of the craftsmen he found in the country and employed materials from earlier buildings, so also did the Bahrite Mamelukes of Egypt, who ruled in Palestine from 1250 to 1390 a.d., not only benefit by the existence of the large body of practised craftsmen which the country clearly possessed while under Frank rule, but also used, when it proved convenient to do so, materials from Christian buildings for incorporation in their own works. ”

“ Enclosing and overlooking the Haram on the west and south are a series of superb madrasas and other Saracenic buildings of the highest merit {cf. § i above) ; the Suq al-Qattanin (bazaar of- the cotton merchants) , which forms the principal entrance to the Haram area, is the most important of the old vaulted bazaars of Palestine and Syria, and was preserved from imminent destruction in 1919 through the efforts of the Pro- Jerusalem Society. The minaret in the north-western corner of the Haram rises on the remains of the Antonia tower. ”

“ Nazareth is, like Jerusalem, a place of religious and charitable establishments, and the heights around it are crowned by imposing orphanages, hospitals and schools. There are no buildings of great antiquity, unless we except the church of the Melchites, which, it is claimed, is the synagogue where Christ preached (S. Luke, iv., 16 sqq.) ”

“ The oldest part of the Walls is that which is also the enclosing wall of the Haram area ; much of this is Herodian, but is partly concealed by immense masses of debris. The walls received additions at the hands of the Romans and the Byzantines, and were comprehensively restored by Saladin, not a little of whose work survives. The city walls, apart from the Haram section, owe their present form in the main to the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. ”

“ Between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea, at the head of a deep cafion, lies the Orthodox Monastery of S. Sabbas (Mar Saba) , an ancient settlement of ascetics established in the fifth century. Ladies are not admitted within the monas- tery, which stands precipitously on the side of the cafion, but are able to overlook it from a mediaeval tower outside the porch. About 45 monks at present inhabit the monas- tery and lead lives of great austerity. ”

“ A museum of the anti- quities is to be found on the spot, where there is also a guard of the Department of Antiquities. The inscriptions recording decisions of the Senate (or Boule) and the smaller statues have been removed to the Museum in Jerusalem. Other excavations were of a scientific character and the results are not visible. The site as a whole repays a thorough inspection. The circuit of the ramparts is about two miles ; they form a semicircle facing the sea. Numerous columns and capitals, remains of a Byzantine church. Crusaders' buildings, and other antiquities are visible. ”

“ At Gethsemane the Franciscans of Terra Santa have excavated a basilica of the third or fourth century ; they have also resumed excavation on the site of the synagogue of Capernaum (Tel Hum) , where efforts will be made to rebuild a portion of the fallen masonry.
At Tiberias the Palestine Jewish Exploration Society has been excavating ancient Jewish remains ; and at Ain Duk, near Jericho, the Dominicans of the " Ecole Biblique " of S. Stephen, Jerusalem, have completed the clearance of an ancient synagogue, where, as a result of the war, portions of a mosaic floor had been laid bare. ”

“ ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART IN PALESTINE 6i
have better survived the lapse of centuries, and afford us to-day the fullest, and almost the only evidence for the ancient history of Canaan.
Excavations so far carried out in Palestine, notably at Tel al-Hesy (Lachish) , Tel al-Jezer (Gezer) , Ain Shems (Beth Shemesh) , Ascalon (Askalon) and Tel al-Mutesellim (Megiddo) , have established a chronological framework for these earlier periods on evidence largely derived from the development of the pottery types and their decoration in successive ages. ”

“ S. Jerome considered Marnas (Dagon) to be the worst enemy of Christianity after the Egyptian god Serapis^, and it was not until the beginning of the fifth century that Bishop Porphyry of Gaza was able to secure the destruction of his temple. The Empress Eudocia caused a large cruciform church to be erected on the site, but the pagan tradition lingered ; and for many years the women of Gaza refused to step on the once holy marbles. Again, when Justinian I. closed the pagan schools of Athens in 529, he permitted those of Gaza to continue the teaching of Neoplatonism. ”

“ Because it coincided with the Byzantine renascence under the Comneni, because a judicious adaptation of local conditions introduced certain technical formulae and certain innovations in the art of the West, because the co-operation of Greek craftsmen has been definitely established, it has been thought that Palestine, and Jerusalem in particular, were a fruitful school in which Prankish architects acquired the knowledge which made possible the full development of their art. The study of the surviving monuments indicates that such was not the case. ”

“ Similarly the tomb of Absalom and the Pyramid of Zacharias in the Kidron Valley to the west of Jerusalem may be works of a more remote age than is suggested by the Egyptian and Graeco-Roman character of their surface treatment.
Herod the Great did much to spread the influence of Roman architecture ; and, subsequently, the civilization and arts of Rome were extended by the emperors to the most remote districts of Palestine beyond Jordan and Arabia Felix. ”

“ Moslem Architecture in Palestine. — That Palestine is rich in examples of Moslem architecture is not surprising. That it is not very much richer is because the country has suffered from many wars and many inroads of destructive barbarians. The natural constitution of Palestine and the building aptitudes of its inhabitants favour the productior^ of noble works of architecture ; but the situation of the country on the high road between continents has always endangered their permanence. ”

“ Saladin, in general, readapted all buildings of Moslem origin to their original purposes and adapted Christian buildings to Moslem needs. For example, he turned the palace of the Latin Patriarchs in Jerusalem into a' great khanqa (hostel) , whose entrance, built by him, still stands ; he converted the Church of S. Anne into a school for the teaching of Shafi doctrine. He also repaired the walls of Jerusalem. ”

“ A Byzantine church, which was erected over the well, gave place to a Crusaders' church, on whose ruins a modern Orthodox church is in course of construction.
Nablus itself is long and narrow, and is traversed by two parallel stcqs, containing several mosques which were for- merly Byzantine or Crusaders' churches. The " Great Mosque," in the eastern part of the town, was originally a basilica built by Justinian and rebuilt by the Crusaders in the twelfth century. Its interesting eastern porch is well preserved. Other mosques of Crusading origin are the Jami' al-Khadra and the Jami' al-Nasr ”

“ Hence periods of great prosperity are followed by and are sharply contrasted with periods of great disaster. But newcomers, if they chose, could always profit by the building skill and building traditions of the population, and were able to use materials from the ruined works of former generations. ”

“ The shrine as it now stands constitutes a most precious and remarkable record of history and of human effort. In it is to be found the handiwork not only of many generations of men but also of many races ; of Greeks and Armenians, of Arabs, Persians and Turks, and even of Franks.
The present purpose is not, however, to describe but to direct attention. Those who desire a fuller knovv^ledge will refer to the many already published descriptions of this famous shrine, and, above all, will examine the shrine itself.
There are in Palestine no other monuments of the Omay- yad period ”

“ Internally the enclosing octagon wall was covered, as it still is, with marble slabs in the Byzantine manner. The dome, the drum on which it rests and the supporting arches were decorated with glass mosaics of Byzantine character. Mosaics also covered the^ outside of the building, except the lower half of the octagon wall, which then, as now, was clothed in marble. Within the shrine the mosaic method of decoration has survived in the main, with the important exception of the dome. But externally a decoration of glazed tiles has taken the place of the mosaics. ”

“ The site dominates the approaches to Palestine by the Jordan and Esdraelon from the direction of Damascus, and is aptly called the key to Palestine. Trial sections have disclosed stratifications leading back to the earliest phases of settlement in the Bronze Age. Systematic clearing from the top has recovered the plans of superposed mediaeval and Byzantine cities, with monastic buildings of the later date and a great rotunda of the earlier date. The excavations promise results of great interest. ”

“ The excavations which have taken place in Palestine reveal a standard of material civilization throughout the period covered by Old Testament history, which is low when compared with the standard of the sublime literature to which that period gave birth.
Greek and Roman Periods. — Research has not yet given us a consecutive chronological account of the monuments, or the remains of monuments, that have survived. They may, however, be said to include the rock tombs to be seen in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, Beit Jibrin and else- where. ”

“ In 634 Gaza was occupied by the Khalif 'Omar, and became important to Moslems, partly because the Prophet's great-grandfather Hashim (a direct ancestor in the male line of the King of the Hejaz) is buried there, partly because it is the birthplace of Ibn Idris al-Shafi, the founder of the Shafi rite or school of Sunnite Islam {cf. ”

“ The many hostels and colleges built in Jerusalem during the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries show that in those centuries Jerusalem was a city affording oppor- tunities for study to large numbers of people, who doubtless came from all over the Moslem world to visit the holy sites and to gain learning. ”

“ The Mame- lukes much admired the Frank buildings. They themselves were great builders, and they were sometimes tempted to destroy a building they admired (but perhaps had no use for as it stood) in order to make use of the parts they liked best or could most conveniently adapt for their own pur- poses. After Bibars had captured and destroyed Jaffa, he sent the wood and the marble of the buildings to Cairo for the construction of his mosque there ; Sultan Mohammed al-Nasr ibn Qala'un similarly treated a doorway of the Cathedral of Acre ”

“ Arab Period. — The Arabian conquerors of Syria and Palestine struck their coins in the first decades of the Hejra after the Byzantine model, with Greek and Arabic legends. After the famous reform of the coinage by 'Abd al-Melek (77 A.H., 696 A.D.) , the legends became entirely Arabic and contained the Mohammedan confession of faith, but the coins still kept their Byzantine standard-weight. ”

“ On the coast south of Haifa lies the Crusaders' castle of Athlit, a stronghold of the Knights Templar under the names of Chateau Pelerin and Petra Incisa. It was the very last possession of the Crusaders in Palestine, being captured by Melek al-Ashraf on the 14th August, 1 29 1, after Acre had already fallen. The Depart- ment of Antiquities has recently undertaken certain work of clearing and preservation in the castle, and has exposed the remains of a polygonal church. ”

“ Nor are there in Palestine any architectural remains to reflect the splendid days of the earlier 'Abbasid Khalifs. Towards the end of the ninth century these Khalifs ceased to possess any real power in Palestine. The power passed successively to the Tulunid, Ikhshidid and Fatimite dynas- ties of Egypt. Nothing is left of their works. ”