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dicates they were built at the same
time - probably by Walid 1 in lhe
early eighth century. They
were rectangular and bad
long rooms opening off a
central courtya r d.
Foundations for the
exterior walls were
sunk lo depths of 9
m. (nearly 30 ft.),
and a
great
amount of
fill
was
dumped into the
cell-like bo les. On
top of the leveled
fill, a fl oor was la id
with flat, white
paving stones of
equal size. Large
stones,
finely
dressed, were used
in wall
construc~
ti o n - among
them many Hero–
dian stones in sec–
the Haram· esh Sharif became a gar–
bage dump and a burial ground .
When the Crusaders ruled
Je rusalem in tbe twelfth
and thirteenth centuries,
this part of the city was
"withou t the gate.''
In the sixteenth
ondary usage.
The palace walls
are preserved up
to a heigbt of 2
MOSAIC from a guest room in the palace of Omayyad Caliph Hisham
lbn Abdul Malik (A.D. 724-743) depicts a we/1-cared- for guest
symbolized by the /ion.
Garo
century, Suleiman
the
Magnificent
(J
520-1566), con–
sidered the great–
est sultan of the
Turkisb Ottoman
Empire, built the
walls of the
present Old City
of J erusalem. He
included within
the walls much of
this area so uth
and west of the
T emple Mount for
no apparent rea–
son. Neither writ–
ten record s no r
excavations have
produced any in-
meters in sorne places. The positions
of many windows and doors are
consequent ly known. The main gate
on the eastem side was 5 m. (over
16
ft.) wide, while the one on the
no rth side was about 2.5 m. wide.
An elaborate plumbing system ,
kitchen facilities and staircases were
a lso uncovered.
The pottery, ornamental archi–
tectural fragments, glass, coins and
pieces of frescoes are also of typical
Arabic design. So far, no figures of
men or animals have been found,
th is in accordance with the Islamic
injunction against ido! worship. ln–
stead , geometric and floral designs
were executed - with great skill and
beauty - another similarity with the
Herodian period.
Not all Omayyad palaces were
free from depictions of the animal
world. Fo r example, Hisbam's pal–
ace in J ericho (built from 724-743)
has a beautiful fresco of a lion at–
tacking three gazelles. The Rock–
e feller Museum in J erusalem has an
exhibit of elaborate stone carvings,
16
consisting of geometric, floral, ani–
ma l and human figures that date to
the same period. This is one mo re
reason for supposing the excavated
buildings in Jerusalem were places
officially serving the needs of pil–
grims and worshippers who carne to
the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa
Mosque.
These structures were leveled by a
major earthquake in 747 and were
never rebuilt. Their des truction
coincided with the end of the
Omayyad Calipha te. Tbe succeed–
ing Abbasid dynasty took the eartb–
quake as a sign of God's rejection of
the Omayyad extravagance on Jeru–
salem. Also, Jerusalem's imporiance
declined when the capital of the
new Caliphate moved from Damas–
cus east to Baghdad.
The ruin s of J e ru sa lem 's
Omayyad buildings were pillaged
by succeeding builders for their ex–
cellent stones. Sorne meager shelters
were erected on the sites of these
once magnificent edifices. As time
passed, the area south and west of
dication of struc-
•ures in the Haram area in the
Turkish period.
Much Left t o Be
Understood
Throughout her long and tragic
histo ry, J erusalem has been a focal
po int in the lives and beliefs of
many different peoples. The roots of
her varied pas t are only beginning
to be exposed by excavation. In
each period. there a re many ques–
tions tha t remain unanswered. But
with mo re digging, research and pa–
tience, many of the answers will be
found.
To understand any city tbat has
been continuously inhabited over
the centuries is a difficult, yet re–
warding task. This is especially true
in Jerusalem's case - because she is
Jerusalem. Poetically, she represents
the world. Her long history of strife
and wars is typical of every nation's
experi ence. lo the same way, when
peace finally comes to Jerusalem's
streets, it will spread from there to
the streets of the whole world.
o
PLAIN TRUTH May 1974