volume one

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES. 203
dation and origin of Jerusalem. The common opinion ig,
tliat Melchisedec, who is called king of Salem in Scriptiu-e,
made his residence there. It was afterwards the capital of the
Jebusees, which procured it the name of the city of Jebus.
It is probable that from the name of Jebus and that of
Salem, which signifies vision, or abode of 'peace, was formed
the name of Jerusalem,* which it bore under the kings of
Judah.
From the highest antiquity Jerusalem yielded in magnificence
to none of the cities of Asia. Jeremiah names it
admirahle city, on account of its beauty ; and David calls it
the most glorious and most illustrious citij of the East. Erom
the nature of its entirely religious legislation, it always
showed an invincible attachment for its laws ; but it was
often a prey to the fanaticism of its enemies as well as that
of its own citizens. Its founders, says Tacitus, having foreseen
that the opposition of their manners to those of other
nadpns would be a source of war, had given their attention
to its fortificatioils, and in the early times of the Eoman
empire it was one of the strongest places in Asia. After
having undergone a great many revolutions, it was at length
completely destroyed by Titus, and in accordance with the
denunciations of the prophets, presented no more than a
horrible confusion of stones. The emperor Adrian afterwards
destroyed even its ruins, and caused another city to
be built, giving it the name of Aelia, so that there should
remain nothing of the ancient Jerusalem. The Christians,
but more particularly the Jews, v^ere banished from it.
Paganism there exalted its idols, and Jupiter and Venus had
altars upon the tomb of Jesus Christ. In the midst of so many
profanations and vicissitudes, the people of the East and the
AVest scarcely preserved the memory of the city of David,
when Constantine restored it its name, recalled the faithful,
and made it a Christian city. Conquered afterwards by the
Persians, and retaken by the G-reeks, it had fallen a bloody
prey into the hands of the Mussulmans, who disputed the
possession of it, and subjected it by turns to the double
scourge of persecution and war.f
* The name of Solyraa was formed from that of Hierosolyma.
t The Mussulmans call Jerusalem El Cods (the holy), Beit-td-
Mocaddes (the holy house), and scraetimes El C/ierif (the noble). A