Growth of Northern Suburb

Growth of Northern Suburb.

Very little change was effected in Jerusalem during the years between Herod and the destruction under Titus. Pilate increased the water-supply by building a conduit 200 furlongs in length; whence the water came, Josephus does not state ("Ant." xviii. 3, § 2). If this conduit was one of those which carried the water from the Pools of Solomon south of Bethlehem, it is probable that Pilate only repaired what already existed (Baedeker, "Palestine and Syria," p. 132). The friction between Jews and Romans increased, especially as a garrison of the latter was permanently stationed in the Antonia. The northern suburb had grown to such an extent that in the year 41 of the common era Agrippa I. repaired its walls, making them broader and higher ("Ant." xix. 7, § 2). Josephus says that the work was stopped by Emperor Claudius, and that the people completed it, probably not in as magnificent a style as had been contemplated ("B. J." v. 4, § 2). According to Schick, this work is represented by the present northern wall ("Z. D. P. V." xvii. 87). Most of the original wall has in course of time been carried off for building purposes; but as late as 1869 about forty or fifty yards were still visible (Merrill, in "P. E. F. S." 1903, p. 159). This new part of the city was over against the Antonia, but was divided from it, as a precaution, by a deep valley. Josephus calls this "Bezetha" ("B. J." v. 5, § 8), which he interprets as "New City," but which in Aramaic ought to be "Bet-Hadta." It is called "Bezeth" in I Macc. vii. 19; "Bezetho" in "Ant." xii. 10, § 2; "Bethzatha" in John v. 2 (R. V., margin; "Bethesda," A. V.; in Palestinian Syriac; see Grätz, "Gesch." iii., note 11).

The beauty of the city was enhanced by several palaces erected toward the south by the royal family of Adiabene: one by Monobaz near the wall running east from Siloam ("B. J." v. 6, § 1); another for Queen Helena ("in the middle of the Acra," "Ant." vi. 6, § 3); and a third built by Grapte, a relative of Izates ("B. J." iv. 9, § 11). A family burial-place was erected by Helena three furlongs north of the city in the form of a triple pyramid ("Ant." xx. 4, § 3). Agrippa II. built an addition to the Hasmonean palace near the Xystus, which, however, gave offense to the priests, as from it all the doings in the Temple courts could be observed. It was also a menace in time of war. They, therefore, erected a wall which effectually shut out the inner court even from the western cloisters, in which a Roman guard was kept ("Ant." xx. 8, § 11). The Antonia was also a constant menace to the Temple itself. In the time of Florus the Jews destroyed the cloisters between the two buildings ("B. J." ii. 15, § 6); but subsequently they were rebuilt.

Jerusalem