Rehav Rubin

Iconography as Cartography: Two Cartographic Icons of the Holy City and its Environs

Abstract The sacredness of to three religions, and its veneration by members of all the different sects and divisions of the Christian world, gave it a special, unique status as a Holy City. This status has drawn the attention of an untold number of Christian authors, who published an enormous number of compositions about it. In many of these both earthly and heavenly Jerusalem were depicted, in many maps, views, and other graphic images. The study of the cartographical evidence related to Jerusalem has hitherto overlooked the Greek material, which includes some interesting specimens. The paper presents two 18th century large icons painted on wood which are preserved in the Monastery of the Holy Cross and in the Monastery of St. George in the Old City of Jerusalem. Both icons contain map-like representations of Jerusalem and its environs, focusing on the depiction of the holy sites. They were made by Greek Orthodox monks in Jerusalem, in the Greek language and for Greek audience, and reflect the geographic and cartographic concept of the Holy City which the Greek Orthodox wished to convey.

Graphic depictions, maps, illustrations of holy sites within the city of Jerusalem and in its environs, as well as panoramic views of the city have been the subject of considerable scholarly works. Yet, to date, most research has focused primarily on Western European works, Catholic and Protestant alike,1 while largely ignoring graphic depictions of Jerusalem produced in Eastern Europe or drawn by members of the Greek Orthodox Church. This, despite the fact that the Greek Orthodox Church was, from the post-Crusader period until the beginning of the modern era, Palestine's primary Christian denomination, and the Greek Orthodox community the country's largest Christian community. In an attempt to rectify what is an unfortunate oversight in

Institute for Neohellenic Research N.H.R.F. Eastern Mediterranean Cartographies Tetradia Ergasias 25/26 (2004) P- 347-378 REHAV RUBIN scholarly study, an effort was made to track down graphic descriptions of Jerusalem and the Holy Land produced by members of the Greek Orthodox Church. The search unearthed a wealth of material, including, manuscripts of illustrated pilgrimage books (proskynetaria),2 printed pilgrimage books,3 maps, plans and sketches incorporated in historical essays,4 and, finally, icons of a patently cartographic nature. The following article considers two large icons painted by Greek Orthodox priests, who lived in 18th century Jerusalem. The first icon incorporates a large number of holy sites in Palestine, with special reference to Jerusalem and its environs; the second, concentrates on Jerusalem and its immediate environment. As both icons present graphic images of geographic space we find it appropriate to study them as maps, using cartographic methods.

AN ICON FROM THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY CROSS

The Monastery of the Holy Cross nestles in a small valley in the heart of modern Jerusalem, and is currently overlooked by the and Israeli Museum. According to Christian tradition, the Monastery marks the spot, where the legendary tree, the tree whose wood was used to make the cross upon which was crucified, grew. The monastery itself is very old, dating back well into the Byzantine era. Surrounded by thick, impregnable walls, it can only be entered through a small, shielded gate. Today, the monastery is the property of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. However, from the Middle Ages and until the 17th century, it belonged to a group of Georgian monks. Indeed, the celebrated 12th century Georgian national poet, Shota Rostaveli was, and remains, the monastery's most famous resident.5 Not too long ago, part of the Monastery's top floor was renovated and turned into a small museum, which is open to visitors. The museum consists of a single large hall and among its many exhibits is a large icon of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The icon, is painted on wooden panels and enclosed in an arch-

348 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

fig. 1: The Icon from the Monastery of the Holy Cross. like, irregular frame. It measures 279 cm along its base, and 172 cm from the base to the tip of the arch. The artist industriously filled every inch of the icon, careful not to leave any empty spaces whatsoever. The icon originally hung elsewhere, in an unknown location, probably, given its shape, on the wall of some vaulted chamber. The icon, which constitutes, in effect, a conceptual map of the Holy Land, depicting a tour of its principal sacred sites, is a unique example of ecclesiastical iconography (fig. 1). The centre of the icon is a large figure of Jesus on the cross, and this is its main feature. However, the whole area of the icon is full of miniatures, each depicting a specific holy site or, alternatively, describing some Christian tradition or sacred incident, which took place at a particular site. This series of

349 REHAV RUBIN sites and traditions gives the icon its map-like contents, which will be discussed below. Each site, or tradition, is identified by a tiny caption in Greek, set alongside the pictogram. The text of the captions is written in yellow, against a red-orange background. Many of the captions are blurred and almost impossible to read. However, thanks to Tsaferis, who painstakingly and successfully deciphered the captions, this no longer presents a problem and most of the sites depicted in the icon can be quite easily identified.6 At the bottom right hand corner of the icon is a cartouche. The cartouche, coloured red and enclosed in a yellow frame, contains a Greek inscription also in yellow. The inscription is seven lines long, though, unfortunately, only the last three lines are in any way legible. These attribute the painting to the protosynkelos Gregory of St. Maura (an island in the Ionian Sea, south of Corfu, known today as Lefkada) and date it, 10 July 1779.7 Father Gregory was the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Cross, during the late 18th century, and his name also appears on another of the Monastery's icons. As the icon has distinctly cartographic features, and seems to be a kind of conceptual map, its general orientation, as well as the relative distances and directions between the sites depicted in the icon, should be reviewed and established.8 In general, the map faces eastwards. The Mediterranean is pictured on the bottom of the icon and the River Jordan on its top. The artist scrupulously maintained this basic eastward orientation throughout the icon, so that north = left; south = right; east = up; west = bottom. Yet, the sites within the icon are placed in a rather schematic manner. The same holds true in respect of the relative distances between the sites. In this respect, rather than offer a realistic cartographic description, the artist not only put those sites, which he considered more important, in a central location, but made them larger and thus they occupied a larger portion of the icon. The following analysis is based upon the detailed study of the icon's numerous graphic details and accompanying Greek captions. In the centre of icon, Jesus is depicted on the Cross. At the

350 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY base of the cross, Mt. Calvary (Golgotha) is depicted, with the skull of Adam at its foot. Below it, the Monastery of the Holy Cross, which is where the icon was painted, is depicted. The figure of Jesus, which is enclosed in a halo, is flanked by Mary on the left, and St. John the Evangelist on the right. Above the scene, is a picture of St. John the Baptist baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan. Finally, directly under tip of the icon's arch, the Holy Spirit, in the form of the dove, is seen descending from a brilliantly shinning sun. These scenes, which describe the most important events in the life of Jesus (the Baptism and the Crucifixion) form the icon's central vertical axis. This axis, which is, without doubt, an ideologically inspired axis, totally dominates the icon's composition, determining the orientation and placement of the other sites within the icon. Finally, by placing the Monastery of the Holy Cross at the base of the axis, the artist effectively turned it into the cornerstone of the entire icon. In order to facilitate the description of the remaining sites in the icon, the icon will be divided into several imaginary horizontal strips. Beginning with the bottom strip, each strip will be described from left to right (fig. 2).

The First Strip The Mediterranean, along with a few ships approaching land, is pictured on bottom left hand corner of the icon. Along the shore are a scattering of houses, identified by a caption as the town of Jaffa (Η ΓΙΑΦΦΑ). It seems that Italian or some other Western European language accounts for the unusual spelling of the name Jaffa (usually Ιοππα). Interestingly, a map printed almost 200 years earlier, in the book of Bernhard von Breydenbach, contains an almost identical picture of the town, which is similarly drawn with a pilgrims' ship docked alongside its shore.9 It is possible that the Holy Cross painter, was acquainted with the Breydenbach map, which was fairly well known at the time. On the other hand, the resemblance may be due simply to the fact that pilgrim ships did, as a rule, dock at Jaffa. To the right of the Jaffa, a caravan of camels is seen slowly

351 REHAV RUBIN

I.Jaffa 14. Siloam 2. St. Simon 15. Mount of Olives 3. Monastery of the Holy Cross 16. Bethany 4. Holy Zion 17. Shepherd's Field 5. St. Nicholas 18. Mount Tabor (Transfiguration) 6. The Baptism of the Eunuch 19. St. John on the Jordan 7. St. John's birth place (Ein Karem) 20. Monastery of St. Gerasimos 8. Anastasis (site of the Resurrection) 21.Jericho 9. Mar Elias (St. Elijah) 22. Mount of Temptation 10. Rachel's Tomb 23. Monastery of St. Sabas 11. Church of Nativity 24. River Jordan 12. Nazareth 25. Jesus Baptism 13. Gethsemane and St. Mary's Tomb

fig. 2: Interpretation Scheme of the Icon from the Monastery of the Holy Cross. making its way from the sea to the Monastery of the Holy Cross and heart of the Holy Land. Between the caravan and the Monastery are two buildings. A caption, alongside one of the buildings, identifies it as the Monastery of (Κατααωνάς). The monastery, which still exists today, was built on the traditional site of the house of St. Simon, who was the first to recognize and acknowledge Jesus as the long awaited Messiah (Luke 2, 29). To the right of the Monastery of the Holy Cross is Mount Zion and the Church of the Holy Zion (Αγία Σ ιών). Above Mount Zion is a small pictogram of a church dedicated to St. Nicholas ("Αγιος Νικόλαος). This church should apparently, be identified with the St. Nicholas Church in Beit Jala, where an old Greek Orthodox Church mentioned in several 17th and 18th proskynetaria manuscripts, as well in Victor Guerin's

352 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY description.10 Further to the right, is a figure of Phillipus baptizing the Black Eunuch.11 On the bottom right hand corner of the icon, just right of the cartouche, is a spring and alongside it a large church, marking the birthplace of St. John the Baptist. The church is situated in the village of Ein Karem (Όρεινής), which lies about 7 kms west of Jerusalem.12

The Second Strip A large enclosure surrounded by a wall is depicted on the far left of this section. The accompanying caption identifies it as: "The Garden" (δ κήπος). A second caption, above the enclosure, identifies the site as the burial place of Jesus (ο "Αγιος Τάφος). Part of the enclosure is divided into small squares, which contain three tiny figures, the topmost of which is Jesus rising from his tomb. According to the accompanying caption, the entire scene depicts "The Resurrection of the Messiah" (ή άνάστασις του Χ(ριστο)ϋ). The prophet Elijah and the Monastery of St. Elias stand to the right of the central axis. Slightly further to right, is a dome-like building and directly above it, a Greek caption reads: "Rachel's Tomb" CO Τάφος της Ραχήλ). On the far right, is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Though not graphically explicit, it is quite possible to visualize an imaginary line running directly from the Nativity site, to the site of the Resurrection and so forming the icon's horizontal axis. This proposition is reinforced by the fact that other than the Monastery of the Holy Cross, these two sites, the Nativity and the Resurrection, are the largest in the icon.

The Third Strip On the far left of the third strip is an image of the Annunciation. This seminal event, which took place in Nazareth, is evoked by the figures of St. Mary, and, to her left, the Archangel Gabriel and the Holy Spirit, in the familiar shape of a white dove. Mount Olives ("Ορος των Έλαιών) is situated to the right of the Annunciation scene. The Siloam Pool (Σιλωάμ.) runs along the foot of Mount Olives and to its right. To the left of

353 REHAV RUBIN

Mount Olives are Gethsemane and St. Mary's Tomb. Above this Tomb are two angels bearing St. Mary to Heaven. The stream of Kidron is depicted just below Gethsemane. On the hillside of Gethsemane is a small house hidden between two trees. An accompanying caption identifies the house as the site, where the apostles stood, when Jesus ascended to the Heavens (Acts 1, 11). To the right of the icon's central axis are a large church and monastery, which symbolize Bethany. To their right is the Church of the Shepherds' Field, which lies east of Bethlehem. The site is identified by a picture of an angel, perched on the roof of a church, who is handing a shepherd, accompanied by his flock, a scroll announcing the birth of Jesus.

The Fourth Strip Mount Tabor, where Jesus underwent the transfiguration, lies on the far left of this strip, directly above and slightly to the right of the Annunciation. To the right of Mount Tabor, above the figure of the crucified Jesus, the Monastery of John the Forerunner is depicted.13 This monastery is situated, both in the icon and in reality, along the shores of the River Jordan just east of Jericho. To the right of the central axis and Jesus's Baptism, are two monasteries: of St. Gerasimos, also in the plains of Jericho (modern Dir Hagla), and of St. Sabas, in the heart of Judaean Desert. St. Gerasimos and St. Sabas were two of the most prominent leaders of Judaean Desert monasticism during the Byzantine Era, in the late 5th and the 6th century. St. Sabas was the founder of the Great Laura, the largest and certainly the most important of the desert monasteries in Palestine.14 Indeed, a small figure of the saint himself, can be seen standing inside his Monastery. Between the two monasteries, is a picture of Jesus standing on the summit of Mount Temptation, known today as Quruntul. In accordance with Christian tradition, which contends that there Jesus confronted and vanquished the devil. The scene includes an illustration of the devil, in the form of a small winged dog, tumbling down the right hand side of mountain.

354 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

The houses of the village of Jericho lie behind and to the right of the figure of Jesus on the mountain. This section of the icon, which delineates the area between the Monastery of St. Gerasimos and the Monastery of St. Sabas, that is, Judaean Desert, is remarkably accurate in terms of the various sites' direction and location. The reason is probably the importance of this region both in the ideology of the Greek Orthodox monks since Byzantine period and in their daily life. The River Jordan, runs the entire length of the topmost section. In the far left the River Dan, the source of the River Jordan, is depicted. In the middle of the River Jordan, St. John the Baptist is seen baptizing Jesus. The Holy Spirit, in its traditional guise of a white dove, also makes an appearance in this part of the icon. Together, the holy sites depicted in the icon form a map of Palestine's principal pilgrimage sites, through the eyes of the artist, a Greek Orthodox monk from Jerusalem. In fact, the icon includes two such maps: one of the entire country and another focusing on the primary pilgrimage sites around Jerusalem. The first map tracks the traditional pilgrimage route, which was used by Christian pilgrims visiting Palestine. It ran from Jaffa to Jerusalem and from there to the Monasteries of the Judaean Desert. It then went down to Jericho, and Mount Temptation, and to the Jordan River, where Jesus was baptized. The last stops en route were Nazareth and Mount Tabor. This final part of the tour is not described in great detail, and several stations along the way are omitted, including the holy sites along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and Kafr Kana en route between the Sea of Galillee and Nazareth (fig. 3). Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings are depicted in a much more conceptually complex manner. First, and most striking of all, is the fact that the city itself, its walls, gates, churches etc., are all notably absent from the icon. Nor did the artist see fit to include a picture of the Holy Sepulchre as it appeared in his own time. On the other hand, Jerusalem's principal holy sites -Golgotha, the site of the Resurrection, Gethsemane, Mount Olives, Mt. Zion, etc.- are all clearly

355 REHAV RUBIN

^Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchun

Ein Bethany Karem Monastery of Sea of) St. Simon \Galilee) 'place of the Eunuch's Baptism Nazareth

Beit Jala Bethlehem

Mt of Temptation Jericho Jerusalem Monastery ot St. Gerasmios

Bethlehem

•>8

30 km fig. 3: Map of the sites drawn in the Icon from the Monastery of the Holy Cross.

:m CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY represented, though as separate, individual, sites. Just why the artist chose to portray the city in such a manner is far from clear. Secondly, despite the fact that the Church of Holy Zion no longer existed at the time the icon was painted, it is, nevertheless, included, indeed given place of honor, in the icon. The reason for these is probably the importance of this church in Christian tradition as the first church and mother of all churches. Finally, the foreground of the icon contains an almost exact reproduction of the pilgrimage route followed by pilgrims visiting the Monastery of the Holy Cross. This route constituted the standard one-day tour of the holy sites in the western neighborhood of Jerusalem. The pilgrims visited the Monastery of St. Simon, the Monastery of the Holy Cross, and the site of the Black Eunuch's baptism. They then went on to the village of Ein Karem, the traditional spot where Mary met her cousin, Elizabeth, mother of St. John the Baptist, and the birthplace of St. John the Baptist, returning to Jerusalem by evening. This pilgrimage route was popular with both Orthodox and Catholic pilgrims and is mentioned in numerous pilgrim itineraries right up to the end of the 19th century. By emphasizing the sites along this particular route, and by placing the Monastery of the Holy Cross at the heart of the route, the artist, actually the Monastery's abbot, both glorified the monastery and enhanced its status.

AN ICON-MAP OF JERUSALEM AND ITS MONASTERIES, IN THE MONASTERY OF ST. GEORGE, THE OLD CITY, JERUSALEM

When walking along St. Francis Street, in the Old City's Christian Quarter, one comes across two adjacent Greek Orthodox monasteries. The Monastery of the Archangels, also known, on occasion, as St. Michael's, is the larger of the two monasteries. The other, smaller monastery, is St. George of the Hospital.15 In the church of this monastery there is a large icon, enclosed in an arched, wooden frame. The icon's base measures 390 cm long, while from base to the tip of the arch the icon measures 180 cm. Hanging in the north-western corner of the Church, the icon fits

357 REHAV RUBIN precisely into place, filling the entire arched wall. It, thus, seems that the icon was painted in situ and was not moved to its present location from another, previous site (fig. 4). The lower section of the icon contains a three line long dedication: "The Prayer of the Servant of the Lord, Gerasimos of Cyprus, Monk and the Hegoumenos of [the Monastery of] the Archangels, 1735, [painted] by Zosimus of Cyprus".16 Clearly, the person who dedicated the icon was a monk, by the name of Gerasimos, abbot of the neighbouring Monastery of the Archangels. This Gerasimos was, probably, also in charge of the Monastery of St. George. Both he and the icon's painter came from Cyprus (fig. 5). The icon describes the Day of Judgement. At the very top of the icon lie the heavens, dwelling place of the saints and righteous. Directly below is the sky, represented by images of the sun, moon, and stars. On the bottom left hand corner of the icon, is a picture of the Resurrection of the Dead, and alongside it a desert swarming with wild beasts. Bordering the desert is a sea brimming with gruesome monsters busy devouring the dead. Above the sea, on the left hand side of the icon, is the Garden of Eden, pictured as an enclosure overflowing with holy saints. Four rivers exit the enclosure, replenishing, as described in the Book of Genesis (chapter 2, 10-15), the sea. On the bottom right hand side of the icon, the devil and his cohorts are pictured emerging from the jaws of a huge fish. Close by is a pair of scales engaged in the weighing human souls. The scales are flanked by Demons, on the one side, and Angels, on the other. Finally, artist drew a ladder rising from Jerusalem towards the sky and upon it several saints. Intent on climbing to the heavens, the saints are being plagued by the devil's minions, who are doing their best to push the saints off the ladder and send them toppling downwards.17 Doomsday and the Last Judgement Avere fairly popular motives in Greek ecclesiastical iconography of that period and many other examples are known in Greece,18 in the islands,19 and in Cyprus.20 Often they appear as fresco, especially in the narthex of churches, and in that respect our icon is different as

358 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

fig. 4: The Icon from the Monastery of St. George (photograph). it is painted on wood and was drawn within the church. However, its similarity is not only in its general motive but also in many details, especially the design of the huge fish from whose jaws the Demons emerge on a red flame. The fact that many similar scenes are known in Cyprus, might be related to the Cypriote origin of both donator and artist of our icon. The subject of the icon is apocalyptic and not anchored in reality. However, the depiction of the earthly world, from which men are climbing the ladder to heaven, in the centre of the icon, is portrayed in a remarkably realistic view of Jerusalem. This tension between the apocalyptic subject and the realistic depiction is probably unique to the icon from Jerusalem, painted in the city by an artist, who knew its realistic landscape and could not avoid it in his painting.

fig. 5: The dedication of the Icon from the Monastery of St. George (photograph).

359 REHAV RUBIN

fig. 6: Map of Jerusalem - the central part of the Icon from St. George (ph ο tograph).

The following analysis will focus upon this section of the icon, i.e. the graphic image of Jerusalem: A caption above the city, identifies it as: "The Holy City of Jerusalem" (Ή Αγία Πόλις "Ιερουσαλήμ). The city itself faces eastwards and is surrounded by a thick wall, which contains seven clearly marked gates: Jaffa Gate, in the west; Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate, to the north; Lion's Gate and the Golden Gate in the East; and Dung Gate and Zion Gate to the south. David's Tower, which, has, since the middle ages, served as the city's Citadel lies next to Jaffa Gate. A small figure representing King David stands on the wall near the Tower (fig. 6). The Temple Mount is located in the top right hand (south­ eastern) corner of the city. Though occupying only small part of the icon, the enclosure's two most important edifices, the al- Aqshä Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, are plainly visible. The al-Aqsha Mosque is pictured as an oblong building, within which lies the figure of Mary Mother of Jesus. Christian lore, from the

360 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

Crusader era, has traditionally associated Mary with the site of this Mosque, and early Christian maps, produced by western Christian pilgrims, also tended to link the two.21 According to this tradition, shaped over time by various sources, Mary was presented at the Temple at the age of three.22 Next to the al- Aqshâ Mosque is the Dome of the Rock, which is crowned by a crescent and drawn in a very realistic manner. The icon's portrayal of the al-Aqshà Mosque in its Christian guise, while totally ignoring its current status as a Mosque, on the one hand, and its remarkably realistic depiction of the Dome of the Rock, emphasizing the fact that the Moslems ruled the city, on the other, produces a clear sense of dissonance and duality. This was not uncommon and other Christian sources engender similar discordant notes. These tensions were rooted in and reflected the permanent conflict experienced by the icon's artist, and Christian authors in general, between the desire to celebrate Christian ideology and emphasise Jerusalem's Christian traditions, while ignoring the city's Moslem government and residents and, conversely, the reality of having to live under Islamic rule and the frustration of knowing that the Temple Mount and its Mosques were the centre of the city's Islamic religious life.23 Illustrated Greek Orthodox pilgrimage manuscripts from the 16th to 18th century exhibit the same kind of tension and duality. Thus, the Mosques on Temple Mount though often described in a very realistic manner, with a crescents on their domes, are, nevertheless identified by anachronistic Christian titles. The al- Aqshä mosque is called "The Holy of Holies" (Τα "Αγια των Αγίων), and the Dome of the Rock is awarded the name: "The Temple" (To Ιερόν).24 The same dualism is present in maps produced by western pilgrims. The persistent anachronistic use of the Crusaders' names, "The Temple of the Lord" (Templum Domini) and "Solomon's Temple" (Templum Salmonis), also attests to this ever-present tension and conflict.25 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is depicted in great detail and extends over most of the city. It is shown in cross section, exposing the church's interior from a southerly view point. A bell tower, in the centre of the church's image, divides it into

361 REHAV RUBIN

1. Golgotha 6. Chapel of the Recovery of the Holy Cross 2. Stone of Unction 7. Main Entrance to the Holy Sepulchre 3. The Anastasis 8. Chapel of St. Abraham 4. Chapel of Colnstantine and Helen 9. Belfry 5. Church of St. James fig. 1. Interpretation Scheme of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Icon from the Monastery of St. George. two wings. Actually, the bell tower is located alongside the Holy Sepulchre's western wing, so that, in truth, it does not appear to command so central position when viewing the church from a frontal vantage point. The left (west) wing of the Church contains Jesus's burial site, represented by a round structure covered by truncated dome (The Rotunda). Inside the Rotunda, and directly above Jesus's burial cave, is a small edifice26 (fig. 7). The Chapel of Constantine and Helen, dedicated to the Byzantine emperor, who founded the Church, and to his mother, who played a key role in its actual construction, lies to the left of the Rotunda. The Chapel belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whose monks still pray there today. Finally, in the forefront of western wing is a picture of Jesus ordaining his

362 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY brother, St. James the Less, who was the first bishop of Jerusalem. This accords with the actual layout of the Church, as the chapel in this spot, i.e. to the left (north) of the Church's entrance, is, indeed, dedicated to St. James. The right wing of the church contains the following elements: the main entrance of the church, built as a double gate during the Crusader era, is accurately drawn, with its right (eastern) half blocked by a solid wall. Above the entrance, the stone of unction can be seen, while in fact, it is found directly opposite the Church's entrance. To the right of this, the Chapel of Golgotha is depicted, identified by the figure of Jesus on the Cross. Above the Golgotha chapel, is the chapel of Abraham, dedicated to the Sacrifice of Isaac. This chapel is actually part of the neighbouring Monastery of Abraham, which abuts the Holy Sepulchre to its east. A third chapel with three crosses is located on the bottom right of the church image. A caption identifies this site as the spot where the holy cross was discovered. This too, accords with the Holy Sepulchre's actual layout, as this chapel is in reality in a cave below the main part of the church.27 On the top of this section, a stone dome is realistically depicted. This graphic pattern, used to depict the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is far from being unique to the St. George icon. It was used in several manuscripts of illustrated proskynetaria.28 Apparently, this graphic pattern was typical of a group of 18th century Jerusalemite painters, who were obviously well- acquainted with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Yet, when depicting the Church, this group preferred to apply traditional, ideologically based, graphic paradigms, while western Catholic artists from the same period, depicted the church according to the common rules of perspective, and created architectonic sketches.29 Aside from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the two Mosques, which are all pictured as large and impressive buildings, the icon also includes thirteen Greek Orthodox monasteries and churches, represented by small pictograms and identified by captions (fig. 8). These buildings, though neglected by scholars, are, still, a significant part of the city's urban

363 REHAV RUBIN

fig. 8: Interpretation Scheme of the Icon from the Monastery of St. George. layout.30 Throughout Jerusalem's Old City, but primarily in the Christian Quarter, one comes across a number of fairly small gates inset in the streets' walls. Above each gate is a small Greek inscription, carved in stone and beyond it a compound, often quite large, which includes a church, living quarters, courtyards, gardens and passageways.31 The size of these monasteries and their considerable number -there are, at present, 20 such monasteries- bear witness to the power of Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and its prime position, past and present, in Jerusalem's Christian community.

364 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

As western travellers only rarely mentioned these monasteries, their inclusion in the St. George icon, which, moreover, depicts them in such detail, makes the icon a rare and valuable historical source for anyone interested in the history of the Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox monasteries. True, the monasteries pictured in the icon are also described in proskynetaria manuscripts. However, these manuscripts tended to group the monasteries together, with six or eight monasteries drawn on one page and the remainder on a second one, nor did they describe them in any great detail. Chrysantos of Brusa, by contrast, in his printed proskynetarion, not only depicted each monastery individually, but described it in a highly realistic manner.32 In addition to the Greek Orthodox monasteries, the icon contains five other small buildings within the city. The first, a relatively large building, abutting the city's north western outer walls, is identified by a caption as the monastery of St. John the Theologian. The monastery was originally a Georgian monastery. However, in the mid 16th century the Franciscans, having been expelled from Mount Zion, bought the monastery from the Georgian monks, who, by then, had lost much of their power and status.33 Nevertheless, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, owing to its long rivalry with the Franciscan Order, continued to regard and list the monastery as its own property, which explains why the artist included it in the icon. The second important building in this group is a large building just south of David's Tower. Its location, shape and accompanying caption (which states: "St. James son of Zebedee"), all point to it being the Armenian church of St. James. This Armenian church is frequently included in Greek Orthodox records and graphic descriptions. Like the Monastery of John the Theologian, the church's inclusion in the icon, and in other analogous sources, bears witness to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's strong reluctance to relinquish holdings formerly inhabited by Greek Orthodox monks and its insistence upon laying an -at the very least- ideological claim to these properties.34 The three remaining buildings in this group are located in the city's north-eastern neighbourhoods. They include,

:m REHAV RUBIN

Joachim's House, i.e. Mary's birthplace, the Praetorium, and a third building, whose caption is totally illegible. As to Mary's birthplace, it is worth noting that there is an ongoing competition between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as to who exactly owns the particular site where Mary was born, with both the Catholic St. Anne's Convent and the neighbouring Orthodox House of Joachim, by Lion's Gate, claim to being the true site. Likewise, the Catholic Convent of The Sisters of Zion and its neighbour the Greek Orthodox Praetorium Monastery, each insist that it was built upon, and thus commemorates the site of Jesus's prison. The location of the third building suggests that it might be the Greek Monastery known today as Deir al Adas.35 Vincent and Abel identified this particular Church as one of the churches in Crusader Jerusalem's north-east quarter. The church was widely believed to mark the site of "Herod's Palace" or "The House of the Pharisee" (Luke 7, 36), both of which were popular places of pilgrimage in the late Middle Ages, hence, perhaps, their inclusion in the icon.36 The icon also features nine sites outside the city walls. Four of these sites, the Church of Holy Zion, the Monastery of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Monastery of Elijah on the road to Jerusalem, and the Monastery of St. Sabas, lie to the right of the city. Another four sites, St. Mary's Tomb in Gethsemane, the cave in which Baruch fell into a deep slumber,37 the Monastery of the Holy Cross, and the village of Ein Karem, are located to the left of the city.38 Above the city and slightly to its right is a small illustration of Jesus and his disciples on Mount Olives. The holy sites within Jerusalem, all of which are depicted in a remarkably realistic fashion, are distributed throughout the city in a rather schematic manner. However, they do maintain, a striking degree of consistency in terms of their location. The icon's basic orientation is from west to east. Accordingly, Jaffa Gate and David's Tower are positioned on the bottom (in the west) of the icon, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in its centre, with the Dome of the Rock directly above it (in the east). The same orientation was used to locate most of the sites outside the city. Thus, Mount Zion, St. Elias, Bethlehem and St.

366 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

Sabas are placed to the right, that is south of Jerusalem, while Mount Olives is positioned on the top of the icon, i.e. east of the city. An exception to this rule are the sites pictured to the left of the city, which do not, in truth, lie north of Jerusalem. Of these four sites, only Baruch's Cave is located north of the city. Mary's tomb is east of Jerusalem, while Ein Karem and the Monastery of the Holy Cross lie to its west. Finally, the Church symbolizing Ein Karem is placed directly above the Monastery of the Cross, while in reality the Monastery of the Cross is located east of Ein Karem (fig. 9). An analysis of the icon's graphic design yields a number of important and interesting observations and insights. First, graphically, Jerusalem is portrayed in a very similar manner to a picture of the city found in a proskynetarion manuscript owned by the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.39 Both works appear to have employed the same graphic formula and the resemblance between them is particularly striking when it comes to their depiction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This tends to reinforce the hypothesis that the artist from the St. George monastery had close links with the illuminators and copyists of proskynetaria manuscripts. In fact, it seems that this resemblance is an evidence for the existence of a school of Greek Orthodox artists, priests and monks, members of the Holy Sepulchre brethren, who not only painted religious icons, but also composed, illuminated and copied proskynetaria manuscripts. Secondly, the way in which Jerusalem is represented in the icon sends the viewer a clear ideological message. Almost all the buildings in the city are Greek Orthodox Churches or Monasteries. The Franciscan monastery and Armenian church, are included in the icon solely on the basis of Greek Orthodox claims of ownership, and, what is more, are depicted in their earlier Greek phase. Consequently, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate appears to occupy, indeed, own the entire city. By creating this impression the artist successfully promoted the primacy of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. Likewise, the holy sites depicted outside the city walls are all associated with the

367 REHAV RUBIN

Herod's Gate

Damascus Gate

Zion Gate

1. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre - The Rotunda 16. The Pretorium (prison of Jesus) 2. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre - The Catholicon 17. Monastery of St. Basilios 3. Dome of the Rock 18. Monastery of St. Ctherine 4. Al-Aqsa 19. Monastery of the Theodors 5. King David's Palace 20. Monastery of St. John the Theologian 6. Monastery of St. Georgios {near the Jewish Quarter) 21. St. Mary's birthplace 7. Monastery of St. John 22. Deirel -Adas 8. Monastery of St. Thecla 23. Church of St. James 9. Church of St. Pelagia 24. Gethsemane and St. Mary's Tomb 10. Monastery of StNicholas 11. Monastery of St. Demetrios 12. Monastery of St.Georgios 13. Monastery of the Archangels 14. Monastery of St Euthymios 15. Monastery of the Lady

fig. 9: Map of the sites drawn in the Icon from the Monastery of St. George.

368 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and serve to underline its central status. The Churches in Bethlehem, Mary's Tomb and the Monastery of the Holy Cross, all underscore the point that the Greek Orthodox Church's owned the major holy sites in the Jerusalem's immediate vicinity. The St. Elias monastery lies on the way between Jerusalen and Bethlehem, and has an important role in the procession between the two cities held on Christmas Eve. St. Sabas monastery is the most important among the monasteries in Judaean Desert. St. Sabas himself was one of the famous fathers of the Desert monasticism in the Byzantine era, and is perhaps one of the most important saints, admired all over the Orthodox world, who was active in Palestine, i.e. in the realm of Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

DISCUSSION

Detailed landscape images, particularly of churches and holy sites, are fairly common in Christian ecclesiastical art in general, and Greek icons from the period discussed, in particular. The Monastery of the Holy Cross, for instance, owns several such icons, including the icon "Lot and Abraham," which includes a definite topographical setting. In addition, there are several examples of church icons, which contain distinctly cartographic features, including the icon of St. Barnabas of Cyprus and an icon found in the Monastery in Mount Athos. The bottom half of the St. Barnabas icon contains a map of Cyprus;40 while the entire background of the Iviron icon is, in fact, a map.41 Though their reasons were different, it is fairly obvious, why the artists of these two icons decided to incorporate a map in their respective works of art. In the case of the icon of St. Barnabas, the map, framed and thus divided from the rest of the icon, was included in order to substantiate and underline the strong relations between the Saint and his country, and thus to support the establishment of Cypriot identity. On the other hand, the Iviron icon describes the wanderings of a sacred object, and therefore the map was

369 REHAV RUBIN plainly considered a natural and obvious background to this tale, exhibiting the geographic scenery of those wanderings. However, the two Jerusalem icons described above differ from other map-like icons, in that their cartographic features are not decorative elements or topographical illustrations confined to the icon's background or pushed to its margins. In both cases, the map forms the heart of, and is, in fact, a fundamental, key part of the icon. Hence, the two icons present a unique and extraordinary phenomenon in the history of cartography. The two icons, produced by 18th century Greek Orthodox priests and monks living Jerusalem, present an interesting example of traditional Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical art. Both icons exhibit similar graphic features, evidence of the existence of a group of artists, all members of Jerusalem's 18th century, or earlier, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. This group, which possessed a common and easily identified graphic style, produced not only icons, but also, as noted, proskynetaria manuscripts. The graphic resemblance between the two icons and other examples of Greek Orthodox ecclesiastical art, is particularly striking. The remarkable similarity between the St. George icon and the proskynetarion manuscript from Munich has already been noted, as has the marked resemblance between the depiction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in this icon and several other Greek Orthodox proskynetaria manuscripts. In addition, the two icons appear to have employed the same artistic conventions. In both, a small pictogram of a structure, in the centre of which lies a church, signals the presence of a monastery. All the monasteries, with the sole exception of the Monastery of St. Sabas, are depicted in such a manner. The St. Sabas monastery is, however, also pictured in a similar way in both icons. The Monastery is viewed from an north-easterly vantage-point. On the left hand side of the building is Justinian's Tower, and within it a figure of St. Sabas himself. In neither icon are there any ropes to be seen, connecting the external tower to the monastery, which was a popular,

370 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY conventional way of depicting and identifying the Monastery in many maps and books of western travellers. The close resemblance between the two icons is also evident in their secondary graphic details. For example, Satan, in the shape of a winged dog, makes an eye-catching appearance in both the St. George and the Holy Cross icons. In the latter case, he shown being cowed by Jesus on Mount Temptation (Quruntul). There are several examples of this particular graphic convention in other Greek Orthodox illustrations, not yet mentioned, such as the Mount Temptation in Chrysantos' proskynetarion.42 Accordingly, there is little doubt this was the customary way of depicting the Devil in 18lh century Greek Orthodox art. As noted, the two icons resemble each other not only graphically, but also in terms of content. For example, both icons award a place of honor to the Church of Holy Zion, regardless of the fact that by the 18th century the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate owned neither the site, building nor church. Holy Zion was included in the icon, on account of its immense ideological and religious significance, as "The Mother of all Churches," and the church of St. James, the first bishop of Jerusalem. The Monasteries of Judaean Desert and River Jordan are also prominently displayed in both icons and for much the same reason. The icon of the Holy Cross spotlights the St. Sabas Monastery, St. Gerasimos Monastery and the Place of the Baptismal, while the St. George icon highlights the monasteries of St. Sabas and of St. Elias. They do so despite the fact that by the 18th century the Desert Monasteries' days of glory were far behind them. However, the founding fathers of the desert monasticism, especially St. Chariton, St. Euthymius, St. Theodosius, St. Gerasimos and, most famously, St. Sabas, were all greatly revered by the Greek Orthodox Church. Popular and celebrated throughout the Orthodox world, they were, and are, the most important saints to have emerged from Palestine and were regarded, just like the various holy sites, as part of the Jerusalemite Patriarchate's spiritual assets.

371 REHAV RUBIN

The same holds true for the manner in which the icons depict the Monastery of the Holy Cross, Mary's Tomb and the Greek monasteries of the Old City. The St. George icon, which contains only Greek Orthodox monasteries, leaves the viewer with the impression that the Greek Orthodox monasteries were the only monasteries in town. Thus, the icon successfully conveys the artist's deliberate, ideological decision to trumpet Greek Orthodox content rather than describe Jerusalem and its entire population in a realistic manner. The only site in the icon not owned, not even in the distant past, by the Greek Orthodox Church, is the birth place of John the Baptist (modern day Ein Karem). The rival Franciscan Order was the dominant Christian Order in Ein Karem for several centuries, and it was only towards the end of the 19th century that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate built a church in the village.43 The site was, nevertheless included in the icon, as well as in other Greek Orthodox pilgrimage books, owing to its overwhelming religious significance, the importance of the various sacred traditions associated with it, and the fact that it was an integral part of the local pilgrimage route. In sum, a content analysis of the two icons reveals the artists' attitude towards those sites, which they believed were of primary religious significance. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the majority of these sites belonged to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. By highlighting these sites the artists sought to emphasise the Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's commanding position in the region and reinforce its the status as the foremost Christian Church in Palestine. Despite their close resemblance, there is, nevertheless, one fundamental difference between the two icons: the way each of them depicted the City of Jerusalem. The St. George icon contains a fairly realistic map of Jerusalem, though admittedly set in the middle of a fantastic, apocalyptic scene. By contrast, the Holy Cross icon, while including the city's most important holy sites, including those of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, as well as some of the sites found in its immediate surroundings, does not offer a picture of the city itself. In other

:Γ2 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY words, Jerusalem, as a concrete physical presence, with its walls and buildings, is entirely absent from the icon.

CONCLUSION This article examined two Greek Orthodox map-like icons, which depict many of the holy sites in the Holy Land, as well as in Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings. Both icons, dating from the 18th century, were painted by members of Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. Graphically, as well as in terms of content, the iconography of the two icons reflect the values and beliefs of Jerusalem's 18th century Greek Orthodox clergy. Both exhibit a marked tendency to depict the holy sites of Jerusalem and Palestine as the exclusive property of the Greek Orthodox Church. Although almost nothing has been published before on such icons, it can be said that there is a fundamental difference between the graphic design of these icons and that of western pilgrim maps. Western illustrated maps, such as those produced by De Angelis, Francisco Quaresmius, De Pierre and others, maintain a classic cartographic perspective, even when their purpose is to describe holy sites. Accordingly, their maps form an easily identifiable and realistic image of the city of Jerusalem. By contrast, the maps in these Greek Orthodox icons, and the illustrations in the proskynetaria, which are deserving of further scholarly study, are always drawn in a traditional iconographie style. Both icons contain cartographic elements, yet still preserve its traditional iconographie character. The above analysis presented an unknown genre of graphic descriptions of Jerusalem, one, which, so far, has been neglected by scholars. It is hoped that this maiden, nascent effort will encourage others to search for and uncover additional graphic sources of this type, and inspire a more comprehensive and detailed discussion of this fascinating subject.

Rehav Rubin Hebrew University of Jerusalem

373 REHAV RUBIN

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

An early version of this article was presented at the 18th International Conference on the History of Cartography, Athens, July 1999· I especially wish to thank Archimandrite Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Mother Superior of the monastery of St. George, for their invaluable assistance and enduring patience and good will.

NOTES

1. K. NEBENZAHL, Maps of the Holy Land (New York: Abbeville Press, 1986). E. LAOR, Maps of the Holy Land: A Cartobibliography of Printed Maps 1475-1800 (New York & Amsterdam: A.R. Liss & Meridian Pub. Co., 1986); R. RUBIN, Image and Reality, Jerusalem in Maps and Views (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1999)· 2. Pilgrim books, in Greek: proskynetarion (proskynetaria -in plural), were fairly common. Initially, they were produced in manuscript form and only later as printed books. See S. N. KADAS, OC "Αγιοι Τόποι, Εικονογραφημένα Προσχυνητάρια 17ου- 18ου αι. [The Holy Places, Illustrated Proskynetaria, 17th- 18th century], (Athens: Ekdoseis Kapon, 1998). 3. For printed proskynetaria see ARCHIMANDRITE SIMEON, Προσχυνητάριον της 'Αγίας Πόλεως 'Ιερουσαλήμ και πάσης Παλαιστίνης... (Wien, 1749); SERAPHIM PissiDios, Προσχυνητάριον της 'Αγίας Πόλεως 'Ιερουσαλήμ χαι πάσης Παλαιστίνης... (Leipzig, 1758); CHRYSANTHOS OF BRUSA, Προσχυνητάριον της 'Αγίας Πόλεως 'Ιερουσαλήμ και πάσης Παλαιστίνης ... Χρύσανθου του εχ Προύσης (Wien, 1787, second edition 1807); BENJAMIN IOANNIDES, Βενιαμίν Τωαννίόης, Του Προσχυνητα- ρίου της 'Αγίας Γης... (Jerusalem, 1867). 4. See, for example, the map of Jerusalem and plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre contained in Chrysantos exhaustive book on the holy sites of Jerusalem and its environs. Chrysantos was Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarch. CHRYSANTOS NOTARAS, Historia et Descriptio Terrae Sanctae Urbisque Sanctae Hierosalem Ι 'Ιστορία χαι Περιγραφή της 'Αγίας Γης χαι της 'Αγίας Πόλεως 'Ιερουσαλήμ ... (Venice, 1728). 5. V. TsAFERis, The Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Jerusalem, 1987). 6. V. TSAFERIS, 29-33- 7. Προτοσυγχέλου χυρ(ίου) Γρηγορίου του εξ 'Αγίας Μαύρας (1770, 'Ιουλίου 10). 8. See Tony Campbell's comprehensive definition of the term map: "a. It must attempt to convey, in a graphic form, information about the real

374 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY world or some part of it; b. It would be concerned -however inaccurately or schematically- with direction and relative distance of one place or feature from another." T. CAMPBELL, The Earliest Printed Maps 1472-1500 (London: 1987), 17. 9. BERNHARD VON BREYDENBACH, Peregrinano in Terrain Sanctam (Mainz: E. Reuwich, i486). 10. For references to St. Nicholas Church in Beit Jala, see KADAS (note 2), in manuscripts from Mt. Athos. In some other manuscripts this church is connected to St Georgios Church in the near by village of al-Hader, and in the manuscript from St. Petersburg the church of St. Georgios is located by mistake in Beit Jala. Guerin, one of the famous 19th century scholars, who surveyed Palestine in details, notes that there are two Greek Orthodox Churches in Beit Jala. The older of two, which is dedicated to Saint Nicholas, is quite small and unornamented. V. GUERIN, Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (Paris: L'Imprimerie impériale, 1868), 1:113. 11. Acts, 8, 26-40. Early Byzantine sources claim that the Black Enuch was baptised in Ein Dirweh, next to Halhul, south of Jerusalem. However, later (especially in the late Middle Ages), Ein Hanniya, about 5 km west of Jerusalem, was identified as the baptism site, and mentioned and described by pilgrims from the period. See GUERIN, 3:291-5. 12. J. SALLER, Discoveries at St. John's Ain Karim, 1941-1942 (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1946). 13· The Greek tradition prefers the title Forerunner, Πρόδρομος, to the western usual title Baptist. 14. D. J. CHITTY, The Desert a City (Oxford: Blackwell, 1966). J. PATRICH, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1995). Y. HIRSCHFELD, The Judean Desert Monasteries in the Byzantine Period, (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992). 15. St. George is one of the East's -and especially the Greek Orthodox Church's-, most popular and holy saints. The name "St. George of the Hospital" is used in order to distinguish this particular monastery from another Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. George, located in the southern part of the city, near the Jewish quarter, as well as from other churches, like the nearby Coptic Church, dedicated to this ever-popular Saint. 16. Δέησις τοΰ Soù'Kou του Θεοΰ Γερασίμου μονάχου Κυπρίου και ηγουμένου τοΰ Αρχαγγέλου αψλε ' (=1735) χειρ, Ζωσίμου Κυπρίου, 1735. 17. Graphically, the image of saints climbing a ladder is drawn after the biblical Jacob's Ladder. Ideologically, it is based on John Climacus of Sinai. In his writings, Climacus, a famous 7th century monk, compared man's path to perfection to climbing the steps of a ladder. JOHN CLIMACUS, The

375 REHAV RUBIN

Ladder of Divine Ascent, translation and notes by C. Luibheid and N. Rüssel (New York: Paulist Press, 1982). 18. For example: in the church in the village of Millies, in the monasteries of St. Nicholas Anapafsas, Rousanos and Varlaam in Meteora, and in other sites. 19- A similar example of this fish motif can be seen in a 18th century fresco, in the church of Lindos in Rhodes. 20. A. STYLIANOU and J. STYLIANOU, The Painted Churches of Cyprus, Treasures of Byzantine Art (London: Trigraph for the A. G. Leventis Foundation, 1985); A. PAPAGEORGIOU, The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (Nicosia, 1999), 34-5. 21. See the Jerusalem pilgrims' maps of De-Angelis and of De Pierre in R. RUBIN, "The De-Angelis Map of Jerusalem (1578) and its Copies," Cathedra 52 (1989): 100-11 (in Hebrew); R. RUBIN & M. LEVY, 'Appendix': "The Legend of the De-Angelis Map," Cathedra 52 (1989): 112-9 (in Hebrew); R. RUBIN, "The De-Pierre map of Jerusalem 1728," in Y. Ben-Artsi, I. Bartal and E. Reiner (eds.), Studies in Geography and History in Honor of Yehoshua Ben Arieh (Jerusalem, 1999), 1-28 (in Hebrew). 22. See for example: John of Würzburg, 120 in J. WILKINSON, Jerusalem Pilgrims 1099-1185 (London 1988), 245-6. Other traditions also connected St. Mary to the Temple Mount, and identified there the "School of St. Mary" etc. See Theodorich, 14 (WILKINSON, 289). 23. R. RUBIN, "Ideology and landscape in early printed maps of Jerusalem," in A. R. H. Baker and G. Biger (eds.), Ideology and the Landscape in Historical Perspective, Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 15-30. 24. See KADAS (note 2). 25. See note 21. 26. M. BIDDLE, The Tomb of Christ (Stroud: Sutton, 1999). 27. About the secondary chapells in and near the Church of Holy Sepulchre see G. WILLIAMS, The Holy City (London: J. W. Parker, 1849) 2:129-276; V. C. CORBO, // Santo Sepulchre de Gerusalemme (Jerusalem: Franciscan Print. Press, 1981-1982). 28. See KADAS (note 2), esp. the manuscripts from his private collection, no. 121 from Athens, and the manuscript from Sophia. 29. See for example the works of Amico in BERNARDINO AMICO, Trattato delle Piante et Immagini de Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa (In Firenza: appresso Pietro Cecconcelli, 1620). BERNARDINO AMICO, Plans of the Sacred Edifices of the Holy Land, translated by T. Bellon and E. Hoade, preface and notes by B. Bagatti (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1953)·

376 CARTOGRAPHIC ICONS OF THE HOLLY CITY

30. R. RUBIN, "Greek Orthodox Monasteries in the Old City of Jerusalem," Eretz Israel, Vol. 17 (A. J. Brawer Memorial Volume, 1984), 109-16 (in Hebrew). 31. E. A. MOORE, The Ancient Churches of Old Jerusalem (Beirut: Khayats, I96I). 32. See KADAS (note 2), and in the Proskynetarion of Chrisanthos of Brusa (above note 3)· 33- H. VINCENT & F. M. ABEL, Jerusalem Nouvelle (Paris, 1922), 2.3:524. 34. The Armenians, it is worth noting, strongly object to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate's claim. They deny that the church was ever owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and insist that it belonged to the Armenian Church from the very beginning. See WILLIAMS (above note 27), 559 (note 33), VINCENT & ABEL, (above note 33), 4:999-1000. 35. C. SCHICK, 'Deir al Adas', in "Report from Her Baurath Shick," PEFQSt. 1896, 122-8. 36. VINCENT & ABEL (above note 33), 4:992-3, 996. Other pilgrims' maps also set these two traditions in the city's north east quarter. Of particular relevance to the present discussion is the Greek Orthodox pilgrimage map, from the same period, printed in Chrysanthos' book (above note 4). 37. The origins of this tradition lie in a biblical legend, which was incorporated into Christian tradition as early as the Byzantine era. The legend tells how King Zedekai'ah's Eunuch, the Negro E'bed-Mel'ech, saved the prophet Jeremiah from prison (Jeremiah 38). Grateful, Jeremiah hid E'bed Mel'ech in a vineyard during the Babylonian conquest. Safely concealed in the vineyard E'bed-Mel'ech fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, after 66 years, he discovered, to his amazement, that the figs in his basket was as fresh as the day he picked them. According to the same apocryphal tradition, the vineyard in question was known as "Agrippas' Villa" a name clearly dating from the Second Temple era. As this tradition evolved, E'bed Mel'ech was exchanged with Jeremiah's pupil Baruch, son of Neri'ah, and by the late Middle Ages the vineyard metamorphosed into a cave, known as Baruch's Cave. In the 6th century, Theodosius mentioned this tradition, placing the events described about a mile from Mount Olives. By the 18th century, these events were thought to have taken place in a cave in a large quarry, north-east of Damascuss Gate, traditionaly known as the Court of the Guard. The cave is known, alternately, as Jeremiah's Cave and Baruch's Cave, the two being often interchanged; O. LIMOR, Western Pilgrimages to the Holy Land in the Byzantine Period Qerusalem, 1998) (in Hebrew), 181 (note 49); F. M. ABEL, "Dier Senneh ou le Domaine d'Agrippa", Revue Biblique 44 (1935): 6I-68. 38. The inscription on the icon is "Ορεινή, which means a hilly place. This is the traditional Greek Orthodox name for Ein Karem, based on Luke 1, 39.

377 REHAV RUBIN

39. See KADAS (note 2). 40. C. HADJICHRISTODOULOU, "Maps and the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus in the Post-Byzantine Period," a poster presented at: the 18th International Conference on the History of Cartography, Athens July 1999·

41. TH. PASARAS, "'Ιστόρηση της Θαυματουργής "Ελευσης της Εικόνας της Πανα­ γίας Πορτα'ί'τισσας στη Μονή 'Ιβήρων τοΰ Αγίου "Ορους," Δέκατο Πέμπτο Συμπόσιο Βυζαντινής καί Μεταβυζαντινής 'Αρχαιολογίας καί Τέχνης (Αθήνα: Χριστιανική Αρχαι­ ολογική Εταιρεία, 1995), 54-5 [Athens 1995]; TH. PASARAS, "'Ιστόρηση τής Θαυ­ ματουργής "Ελευσης τής Εικόνας τής Παναγίας Πορτα'ί'τισσας στή Μονή Ιβήρων," Deltion tis Christianikis Archeologikis Eterias 420 (1998): 385-98; T. STEPPAN, "Überlegungen zur Ikone der Panhagia Portaitissa im loster Iwiron am Berg Athos," Sinnbild und Abbild, zur Funktion des Bildes, Kunstgeschichte Studien Innsbruck, Neue Folge Band 1, Veröffentlichungen der Universtät Innsbruck 198 (Innsbruck, 1994), 23-48.

42. See above note 3· 43- SALLER (above note 12), 14-7.

378