The following
is the statement of the Bordeaux Pilgrim: “From thence (the
Palace of David) as you go out of the wall of Sion walking towards the
gate of Neapolis, on the right side below in the valley are walls where
the house or Prætorium of Pontius Pilate was: here our Lord
was tried before His Passion. On the left hand is the little hill
(monticulus) of Golgotha, where the Lord was crucified.
About a stone’s throw from thence is a vault (crypta)
wherein His body was laid, and rose again on the third day. There
by command of the Emperor Constantine has now been built a Basilica,
that is to say, a Church of wondrous beauty, having at the side
reservoirs (exceptoria) from which water is raised, and a bath
behind in which infants are washed (baptized).” Neapolis
was the name given by Vespasian to the ancient city of Shechem, now
Nâbulus: the “porta Neapolitana” therefore was
in the North wall of Sion.