The intermediate space
has for a long time been nothing more than an undulating plain, at
present covered by the houses of modern Jerusalem. In ancient times it
was traversed by a depression in the ground, since filled up, which
ran almost parallel with the Kedron, and joined it near the Pool of
Siloam.**** The ancient city of the Jebusites stood on the summit of the
headland which rises between these two valleys, the town of Jebus itself
being at the extremity, while the Millo lay farther to the north on the
hill of Sion, behind a ravine which ran down at right angles into the
valley of the Hedron.

* Now, possibly, the "Fountain of the Virgin," but its
identity is not certain.

** These are the springs which feed the group of reservoirs
now known as the Pool of Siloam. The name "Siloam" occurs
only in Neh. iii. 15, but is undoubtedly more ancient.

*** En-Rogel, the "Traveller's Well," is now called the
"Well of Job."

**** This valley, which is not mentioned by name in the Old
Testament, was called, in the time of Josephus, the
Tyropoon, or Cheesemakers'Quarter. Its true position, which
had been only suspected up to the middle of the present
century, was determined with certainty by means of the
excavations carried out by the English and Germans. The
bottom of the valley was found at a depth of from forty to
sixty feet below the present surface.

An unfortified suburb had gradually grown up on the lower ground to the
west, and was connected by a stairway cut in the rock* with the upper
city. This latter was surrounded by ramparts with turrets, like those
of the Canaanitish citadels which we constantly find depicted on the
Egyptian monuments. Its natural advantages and efficient garrison had so
far enabled it to repel all the attacks of its enemies.

* This is the Ophel of the Hebrew text.

When David appeared with his troops, the inhabitants ridiculed his
presumption, and were good enough to warn him of the hopelessness of his
enterprise: a garrison composed of the halt and the blind, without an
able-bodied man amongst them, would, they declared, be able successfully
to resist him. The king, stung by their mockery, made a promise to his
"mighty men" that the first of them to scale the walls should be made
chief and captain of his host. We often find that impregnable cities
owe their downfall to negligence on the part of their de