An early pilgrim named Arculf described the Cave of Gethsemane to a seventh-century writer named Adomnan. Although the name Gethsemane is not used, it is clear that this is the cave referred to:
“Not far above the Church of the Saint Mary on the Mount of Olives there is a cave which faces the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In it are two very deep wells: one goes down to an untold depth below the mountain, and the other is in the floor of the cave. It has a huge shaft sunk deep, which goes down straight. Over these wells there is a permanent covering. This cave also contains four rock tables. One of them, which is just inside the entrance, is that of the Lord Jesus, and sometimes his seat was certainly beside this small table, on the frequent occasions when he used to recline there and have a meal, and the twelve Apostles reclined there with him at the other tables. The sealed mouth of the well which we described beneath the floor of the cave is to seen closer to the tables of the Apostles. According to what the holy Arculf says, this cave has a small entrance which is closed by a wooden door, and he paid it many visits.”
(From Adomnan, De Locis Sanctis 15.1–3, translated by John Wilkinson in Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades [Warminster, England: Aris and Phillips, 1977], p. 99.)
