and crowds of pilgrims visited the localities celebrated by the
evangelists. Splendid churches were erected on the ruins of pagan
temples, and every spot pointed out as the scene of the memorable
events in the life of Christ and his apostles was marked by a chapel
or house of prayer. Jerusalem and the Holy Land became the resort of
numerous bodies of clergy, who resided in the churches and monasteries
which the piety of the wealthy had founded for them.

2. At the end of the fourth century, the gigantic Roman Empire was
broken up into two, the Eastern, the capital of which was
Constantinople, and the Western, the capital of which was Rome. It was
to the former of these that Syria and Palestine were attached. Before
the end of the fifth century the Western Empire had been destroyed by
the eruption of the German races, and the beginnings of a new European
civilization were rising from its ruins. Meanwhile, the Eastern
remained entire, till about the year 630, when the Arabs, burning with
the spirit of conquest infused into them by the religion of Mohammed,
poured into its provinces. Egypt, Syria, and Palestine were annexed as
dependencies to the great Arabic Empire of the caliphs. The religion
of Mohammed became dominant in the Holy Land, the temples and chapels
were converted into mosques.

3. Numbers of pilgrims still continued each year to visit Palestine.
In return for a certain tribute, the earlier caliphs permitted the
Christians of Jerusalem to have a patriarch, and to carry on their own
form of worship. Of all the caliphs, the celebrated Haroun al-Rashid,
best known to us in the stories of the "Arabian Nights," was the most
tolerant, and under him the Christians enjoyed perfect peace.

4. Great cruelties were practised by the Fatimite caliphs, who