Note 468 — Chapter XI · THE ARABS

Prof. Hayter Lewis, “Holy Places of Jer.,” 1888, p. 78; Sir C. Wilson, “Ord. Survey Notes,” 1865, p. 40; El Muḳaddasi (c. 985 A. D.). The account by Nâṣr-i-Khosrau, in 1047 A. D., is unreliable, or at least confused. He makes the length 420 arsh (about 630 feet), and the breadth 150 arsh (about 225 feet), which is quite impossible if referring to the maḳṣurah or roofed building, which measures about 250 feet north and south by 180 feet east and west. He also speaks of 280 marble columns in the masjid, but the Aḳṣa itself has only 76 columns. No traces of any larger building exist.