Jerusalem Pilgrimage

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem from Psalm 122:6-8

May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.
For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, "Peace be within you."

Long before there was a city of Jerusalem, humans and herds were sustained by the perpetual natural Gihon spring. This spring sustained the life of humans and herds for countless generations. Evidence of human occupation in the Chalcolithic Period (Copper Age) includes pottery shards found near the Spring and depressions which were used to grind grain or press oil from olives. The Gihon Spring, the only source of water for the city, emerges in the Kidron Valley, across from the Mount of Olives. To protect the access to the Gihon Spring a fortress was built. This Spring Citadel has 23-foot-thick walls comprised of stone blocks up to ten feet wide. This is a large structure for a Chalcolithic site. The older shrine city of Jericho has a mound that is 70 feet high and about 10 acres in size.

Gihon Spring, the only source of water for the city, emerges in the Kidron Valley, across from the Mount of Olives. The Spring emerged in a cave on the eastern slope of the City of David above the Kidron Valley. The water flowed into the valley below, watering the terraced agricultural land on the slope of Zion. This area is called the "King's Garden" in II Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 52:7; and Nehemiah 3:15.

The shafts and most of the tunnels that allow access to the water were natural karstic fissures in the rock that the excavators took advantage of when cutting passages from the city to the spring.

To protect the access to the Gihon Spring a fortress was built. This Spring Citadel has 23-foot-thick walls comprised of stone blocks up to ten feet wide, and represents the largest Chalcolithic fortress discovered thus far in Israel.

Jebus or Yebu (2220-1250 BC)

Jerusalem under the Jebusites

Stepped structure of the ancient Jebusite Wall

View from the area of the Jebusite fortress looking down to the Kidron Valley near the source of the Gihon Springs.

The main water source of the original City of David (Ir David) was the Gihon Spring located at the base of the eastern slope of the city in the Kidron Valley.

A 3,500 year fortress has been found that guarded the entrance to the Gihon Spring.

The Gihon Spring provided water year round by gushing forth several times a day. This water naturally flowed into the Kidron Valley. In the earliest days of Jerusalem’s occupation, reservoirs where built to collect the water from the Gihon Springs. Three systems were eventually designed to use this water: Warren's Shaft, Siloam Channel (Tunnel), an Hezekiah's Tunnel.


Hezekiah's Tunnel

Hezekiah’s Tunnel is the most recent water work, cut during the reign of King Hezekiah at end of 8th century BC. This is described in a paleo-Hebrew inscription, cut into the rock near the exit:

"…breakthrough and this was the account of the breakthrough. While the laborers were still working with their picks, each toward the other, and while there were still three cubits to be broken through, the voice of each was heard calling to the other, because there was a zdh [crack?] in the rock to the south and to the north. And at the moment of the breakthrough, the laborers struck each toward the other, pick against pick. Then the water flowed from the spring to the pool for 1,200 cubits. And the height of the rock above the heads of the laborers was 100 cubits."

II Kings 20:20, we read how Hezekiah "...made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city…" and again in II Chronicles 32:30: "This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David."

Hezekiah’s Tunnel is about 2 feet wide and 5 feet high at the entrance near the Gihon Springs, as seen in this photo. Notice the fresh water still moving through this tunnel as it has for 2,700 years.

This tunnel was discovered by Edward Robinson in 1838 and was cleared by Montague Parker’s team during the years 1909-1911.

Ancient Tombs in Silwan

Looking south into the Kidron Valley from near the south east corner of the Temple Mount. The Arab town of Silwan is on the left (east) of the photo. This is where the tombs of important persons have been found.

The Silwan necropolis is probably the most important ancient cemetery in Israel and is assumed to have been used by the highest-ranking officials residing in Jerusalem. Its tombs were cut between the 9th and 7th centuries BC. The tombs face David's city, the oldest part of Jerusalem.

Remnants of the Monolith of Silwan, a tomb dating to the time of Solomon's Temple. It was once thought to be the burial site of Solomon's Egyptian queen.


Ophel

The gold medallion shown below is one of the prize finds of the "Ophel treasure" recovered during the 2013 excavations of Dr. Eilat Mazar in this area between the City of David (Zion) and the Temple Mount (Moriah). This area shows signs of human occupation from at least 3,500 BC.

Ophel (Hebrew עֹ֫פֶל) refers to a high place, an elevated site, or a fortified mound. The root of the word ophel is OP and pertains to a complex of interrelated ideas: seeing (optic); armed guards (opiltes); a walled town (oppida), and a sun shrine served by a caste of priests known in the ancient world as O'piru. Variants of O'piru include Ha'piru, Ha'biru (Hebrew) and 'Apiru.

Acra

The Acra was the Seleucid stronghold built in 186 BC against the south wall of Solomon’s Temple Mount on the Ophel. It was used between the years of 186-141 BC as a military post to control the city's population and to monitor activities at the Temple.

The Western Wall ("The Wailing Wall")

The portion of the Western Wall inside the black box is the portion that remains from the Temple Mount retaining walls built by Herod. The seven courses of stones inside the black box are all Herodian blocks.

Looking east at another cornerstone on the southwest corner of the Wall. The pavement and steps are original Herodian pavement placed here in the first century.

This is a Turkish wall and tower built by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman. Notice the outcropping of the bedrock under the tower.

Mount Moriah (Temple Mount)

Looking across the pavement built over Mount Moriah to create a level surface. This is the site of the ancient Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock stands where Herod's Temple formerly stood.

David purchased a threshing floor from the Jebusite Araunah. It would have been located at a high elevation so that the wind could carry the chaff. It is believed it may have been on Mount Moriah.

Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Spirits covers the exposed bedrock of Mount Moriah that some believe to be the bedrock that was inside the Holy of Holies.


Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives

Old olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

Sunset looking back at Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The cross on the grey dome over Calvary in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Front facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Tomb of the Virgin Mary

View looking down the steps to the Tomb of the Virgin Mary

The Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary was built over the burial site believed to be that of the Virgin Mary. The location of the Tomb of Mary is across the Kidron Valley from St Stephen’s Gate in the Old City walls of Jerusalem, just before Gethsemane, at the foot of Mount of Olives.

Floods in 1972 enabled excavations by the archaeologist Bellarmino Bagatti, who concluded that the place where Mary had been buried was clearly located in a cemetery used during the first century. The large crypt containing the empty tomb in the Church is all that remains of an early 5th-century church, making it one of the oldest nearly complete religious building in Jerusalem.


Related reading: Does Political Zionism Align with the Bible?; The City of Jerusalem by Col. C. R. Conder (1909)

Was Constantine a Saka Ruler?

Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea on the piety of Emperor Constantine

In this manner that spirit who is the hater of good, actuated by envy at the blessing enjoyed by the Church, continued to raise against her the stormy troubles of intestine discord, in the midst of a period of peace and joy. Meanwhile, however, the divinely-favored emperor did not slight the duties befitting him, but exhibited in his whole conduct a direct contrast to those atrocities of which the cruel tyrants had been lately guilty, and thus triumphed over every enemy that opposed him. For in the first place, the tyrants, being themselves alienated from the true God, had enforced by every compulsion the worship of false deities: Constantine convinced mankind by actions as well as words, that these had but an imaginary existence, and exhorted them to acknowledge the only true God. They had derided his Christ with words of blasphemy: he assumed that as his safeguard against which they directed their blasphemies, and gloried in the symbol of the Saviour's passion. They had persecuted and driven from house and home the servants of Christ: he recalled them every one, and restored them to their native homes. (Eusebius’ 4th century AD Life of Constantine, Book III)


Ancient Constantinople

The ancient city of Byzantium, later renamed “Constantinople,” was built around 657 BC on the European side of the Strait of Bosporus, the only entrance to the Black Sea. It was on the highest land of the deep inlet called “The Golden Horn” at the entrance to the Bosporus. The earliest evidence of human settlement first in this area dates to about 6600 BC and lasted for 1000 years before it was inundated by the rising sea level. Archaeological discoveries include Neolithic wattle and daub buildings with simple stone footings. The ancient residents placed mussel shells below their houses to provide permeability. Other artifacts include stone grain presses, spoons, needles and axes.

Graves have been discovered with fetal-position burials and typical R1b timber graves. The Neolithic discoveries were unearthed in Pendik, a section of modern Istanbul, and at Yenikapi, both on the European side of the Bosporus. The Yenikapı excavations led to the recovery of 35 thousand artifacts covering all periods from the Neolithic Period to the time of the Ottomon Empire. Additionally, the sea filling layers between the remains of the ancient Port of Theodosius and the Neolithic layer have provided a better understanding of the changes undergone by the Sea of Marmara in the last 10 thousand years.

Byzantium was a small city but it played an important role in history. The town was at the frontier between the Greek and the Persian empires, and in 478 BC the Greeks drove the Persians out of the city. The city came to play an important role in the spread of Christianity after 324 AD when Constantine the Great made it the capitol of his empire.


Constantine the Great

Constantine was born in Niš (pronounced Nish) on 27 February 273 AD. Nis is a very ancient city in southern Serbia. Its location made it a gateway between the East and the West. In ancient times, Nis was populated by Saka peoples. The Hindu text Matsya Purana claims that the Saka (called “Scythians” by the Greeks) ruled the ancient world for 7000 years. Another text, Mahabharata, designates “Sakadvipa” as the “land of the Sakas” in northern India. Assyrian documents speak of the Saka presence between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the time of Sargon (722-705 B.C.)

Scythians archers

The Beja, Kushite metal workers who inhabit the Red Sea Hills and the central desert of Egypt, are also called the Medjay. In Serbian Medja means border. Medjiana is the name of Constantine’s majestic palace outside Nis. Medijana means “on the border.” Constantine's name Medjiana for his estate signified his intention to attend to affairs of state at the border of his two realms: East and West. He often resided there and built various residences on his estate; one of them was probably built for his mother Helena.

Nis was named after the Nišava River, which flows through the city and which was named Navissos by the Celtic masters of the city in the 3rd century BC. The Nišava belongs to the Black Sea basin and its catchment area is in Bulgaria and in Serbia. The Nišava was a navigable river in ancient times. The Nišava Valley is part of the natural ancient road which connected Europe and Asia: the road follows the valleys of the Morava, the Nišava and the Marica and continued to ancient Byzantium (modern Istanbul).

Constantius’s two wives were Helena (the mother of Constantine) and Theodora. Theodora was the second wife and she was taken to forge a political alliance. Constantine’s two wives were Minerva and Fausta. Constantine married Fausta, his second wife, in 307, again for political reason. She was the daughter of Emperor Maximianus who insisted that Constantine marry Fausta. Unlike Helena, Fausta was not a Christian. She was reported to have been unfaithful to Constantine and falsely accused Minerva’s son Crispus of sexually molesting her. It is believed that Constantine arranged for her death in 326, shortly after he ordered the execution of his son Crispus. In the case of the first wives, there is no record of divorces, so it is possible that these rulers maintained two wives in separate households. This would be consistent with the marriage pattern of the Horite Saka rulers who settled in Southern Serbia.

Constantine, the first publically Christian emperor, came to power in 312 AD, upon the death of his father. He united the empire when he defeated Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis in 324 AD. Following the destruction of his naval forces Licinius evacuated the garrison of Byzantium. Constantine understood the strategic importance of the city of Byzantium and established the capital of his empire there in 324 AD. The next year (325) Emperor Constantine convened the First Council of Nicaea which resolved the controversy over the nature of the Son of God and his relationship to God the Father.

Constantine’s father was Constantius I (ruled 293-306 AD), who according to Eusebius's Life of Constantine, was himself a Christian, though he pretended to be a pagan while he ruled under Diocletian who was notorious for his persecution of Christians. His father’s faith was a great influence on Constantine’s conversion, according to Eusebius, who wrote:

Because of the wicked magical enchantments so diligently practiced by the tyrant [Maxentius, who was in control of Rome], Constantine was convinced that he needed more powerful aid than his military forces could give him, so he sought the help of God. He believed arms and soldiery less important than the help of the power of the invincible and unshakeable God. So he considered which god he could rely on for protection and help. It occurred to him that, of the many emperors who had preceded him, those who had put their hope in a multitude of gods and served them with sacrifices and offerings had been deceived by flattering predictions and oracles promising prosperity and come to a bad end, without one of their gods warning them of the impending wrath of heaven. On the other hand, the one who alone had condemned their error, honoring the one Supreme God throughout his whole life [i.e. his father], had found him to be the Savior and Protector of his empire. Reflecting on this…, he decided it would be great folly to join in the idle worship of those who were no gods, and to err from the truth after such convincing evidence. For this reason he felt bound to honor his father’s God alone.

Constantine’s mother was Helena. She took a deep interest in the holy places in Jerusalem and lived for a time in Palestine. She claimed to find the True Cross. Christians were granted freedom of religion after the Edict of Milan was signed by Constantine (Emperor of the West) and fellow “Serbian” Licinius (who controlled the Balkins) in February 313 AD. The next month, Licinius married Constantine's half-sister Constantia. The armies of both Constantine and Licinius fought under Christian banners. Constantine’s military standard consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross to symbolize Christ’s crucifixion. Below is a coin of Constantine (c. AD 337) showing a depiction of his banner or labarum with the Chi-Rho symbol above and spearing a serpent below.

The spearing of the cosmic serpent (evil) is a theme of the ancient Kushites also. Here Horus, overshadowed by the sun, is seated on barge. Anubis, the jackal-headed totem of Horus, spears the great serpent.

Constantine's Christian labarum was made after his vision and subsequent dream. These also are described by Eusebius.


Constantine’s vision

Accordingly Constantine called on him with earnest prayer to reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most extraordinary sign appeared to him from heaven – something which it might have been hard to believe had the story been told by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to believe it, especially since other testimonies have established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the sign of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, “By this symbol you will conquer.” He was struck with amazement by the sight, and his whole army witnessed the miracle.


Constantine’s dream

He said that he was unsure what this apparition could mean, but that while he continued to ponder, night suddenly came on. In his sleep, the Christ of God appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to make a likeness of that sign which he had seen in the heavens, and to use it as a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies.


Constantine's Reign

Constantine’s father, Constantius I, died in AD 306 during a stay in York. York was the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior. His son Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor by the troops based in the fortress at York. There is a statue of Constantine in the center of York. Constantine ruled from 306-337 AD.

Byzantium became the capitol of Constantine’s empire. He intended that it be the “New Rome.” Economically revitalized, Constantinople became the cultural and economic center of the east. Emperor Constantine began the construction of a series of defensive stone walls around the city in 324 AD. Constantine's wall was reinforced with towers at regular distances, and was completed under his son Constantius II who ruled from 337–361 AD. These ramparts are considered the last great fortification system of antiquity. Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the founding of Constantinople as the capitol of the New Roman Empire. The city was protected by relics, and the figures of Roman deities were replaced or Christianized. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple that had been dedicated to Aphrodite.

Constantinople was one of the original patriarchal sees of the Church. The others were in Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, and Jerusalem. The five cities are called the “Pentarchy” in Church history and there was a conciliar and collegial relationship among these early patriarchs. Constantinople continued to be an important city of the Byzantine Empire until it was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Related reading: Archaeological Sites in Turkey; Solar Imagery of the Proto-Gospel; Who Were the Kushites?; Meroe on the Orontes; Ha'biru, Ha'piru, 'Apiru or Hebrew?