This photograph of the Old City of Jerusalem shows the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock in the background and the Western Wall Plaza in the center of the picture. The Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall) is the western side of the Temple Mount. Because the Temple Mount complex is sacred to Muslims, and religious Jews do not want to inadvertently walk on the space where the (Jewish) Holy of Holies was located in the Second Temple period, the Western Wall Plaza became Judaism's most holy site and place of prayer.
Jerusalem: area and population through the ages
This slide, fairly self-explanatory, shows the size and population of Jerusalem between 1,000 BCE and 565 CE. One can see the gradual rise in the city's population and geographical scope, as well as the topographical trajectory of its development: First from the southeast corner (next to the water), then up the slope to the north, then to the hills to the west, and from there again to the north.
This view of the eastern slope of the City of David shows the steps leading down to the Gihon Spring (at the bottom of the photo, in the triangular shadow beneath the double window), 8th-7th century BCE walls and a Jebusite wall (immediately below the modern terrace walls that are to the right of the diagonal path), a tower in the eastern wall of the city that was built in the time of Nehemiah (at the crest of the hill, above the terrace walls, casting a triangular shadow), and the modern walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, which were built in the 16th century CE (at the top of the photograph).
This topographical map of Jerusalem shows the present Old City of Jerusalem in dark blue (the walls of which were built by the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century CE) and the Temple Mount in the southeastern corner of the Old City. The City of David is outlined in light blue, at the south (and lower) end of the Hill of Ophel. During Solomon's reign the city was expanded northward (up the hill), and the Temple was built at the highest point on the hill (the red square within Solomon's city).
This photograph shows the modern entrance steps that lead down to the Gihon spring, which was the water source for the city of Jerusalem in antiquity. When Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came to besiege Jerusalem in 701 BCE, the Judahite king Hezekiah had a tunnel built that would reroute the water so that it was within the city walls and therefore inaccessible to the besieging troops. The steps and the arch seen in the photograph were probably built in the medieval period.
This photograph shows the modern entrance to the Gihon Spring (the steps leading down in the background), from the inside of the tunnel. This prolific spring provided water for the inhabitants of Jerusalem in antiquity even in the driest summer months. It was accessed via Warren's Shaft in the early Israelite period and rerouted in 701 BCE when the Siloam Tunnel was cut.
The photographed image (on the right) and line drawing (on the left) are of one of two Ketef Hinnom amulets. It is a small (1.0 x 3.75 inches), thin sheet of silver on which an inscription was lightly inscribed. It is important because they date to ca. 600 BCE and the inscription preserves part of the Priestly Blessing that is known from the Bible (Numbers 6:24-26), which makes the two amulets the oldest evidence for a biblical text. The sheets were found rolled up and had possibly been worn around the neck (after a string was passed through the center of the roll). They were found in a tomb across the Hinnom Valley from the southwestern corner of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem: map of the period between the Jebusites and Hezekiah
This map shows the borders of city of Jerusalem from the time of the Jebusites, the settlers of the city prior to the 10th century BCE, to the time of the Judaean king Hezekiah (686 BCE). The current Old City walls (built in the 16th century CE) and the Temple Mount complex (built by Herod the Great between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE) are in red. The Canaanite, Jebusite, and Davidic city (i.e., the city prior to the time of king Solomon) is outlined in purple; the Solomonic expansion is outlined in green; and the 8th century BCE expansion of the city is in yellow. Water systems (e.g., the Siloam Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam, and the Gihon Spring) are in blue.
This photograph shows the inside of the Siloam Tunnel. The water level is higher in the winter than in the summer, this photograph probably having been taken in the winter. The carved ceiling corners and pick marks are clearly visible. The tunnel does not get much lower than this; in other places it reaches 20 feet or more in height. The overall length of the tunnel is approximately 1/3 of a mile.
This map shows the plan of the Siloam Tunnel (also known as Hezekiah's Tunnel), which was carved around 701 BCE to reroute the water of the Gihon Spring so that it was accessible to the people living inside Jerusalem's city walls and inaccessible to the besieging Assyrian army. The source is the Gihon Spring, #2 on the plan, and the Siloam Pool is #16. Warren's Shaft, the place from which people had previously accessed the water, is #6. Note the sharp curves in the middle of the tunnel. This is where, according to the Siloam Tunnel Inscription, workers starting at each end and cutting toward each other, heard the sound of the other team's voices calling out as they got close to each other, and thus cut toward the sound until an opening was created.
This photograph shows the inside of the Siloam Tunnel at the 'place of the join' - that is, midway through the tunnel's length, where the Siloam Tunnel Inscription says that two teams, each cutting from opposite ends, met. The pick marks on the walls (which give the walls their rough appearance in this photograph) go in opposite directions in the two halves of the tunnel and confirm the inscription's account.
This photograph shows the exit of the Siloam Tunnel. The small pool in the foreground was, up until 2004, thought to be the Pool of Siloam. However, in that year a larger, lower pool that dates to the Second Temple Period was found just below this one.
This inscription, which was found carved into the wall at the end of the Siloam Tunnel (also known as [King] Hezekiah's Tunnel), tells the story of the carving of the tunnel. It reads, '…the tunneling. And this was how the tunneling was completed: As [the stone cutters were swinging their] picks, each man toward his fellow, when there were 3 cubits remaining the voice of a man calling out to his fellow [could be heard], because it got louder (or 'because there was a crevice') on the right. And on the day that the tunnel was completed, each stone cutter cut toward his fellow, pick against pick, and the water flowed from the source to the pool, 1,200 cubits. The height of the rock above the stone cutters' heads was 100 cubits.' The script is consistent with other known inscriptions from the late 8th century BCE. Compare 2 Chronicles 32:1-3, 30 and 2 Kings 20:20.
Jerusalem: Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock
This photograph of the Temple Mount was taken from its southeast corner (i.e., it is looking northwest). The Temple Mount is visible in the center of the photograph, as is the Al Aqsa Mosque (on the left) and both the Old City and New City of Jerusalem (in the background). The ruins at the bottom left of the photograph are archaeological remains from the Crusader period.
This photograph shows the actual vertical shaft through which people would have lowered buckets from the so-called 'sloping shaft' into the water below. It is unknown when this shaft was created, or even if it was man-made or natural, but it was certainly used prior to 701 BCE when the Siloam Tunnel was cut.
This cross-section drawing shows the shaft by which inhabitants of Jerusalem obtained water from the Gihon Spring. In the drawing, 7 is the Gihon Spring, 8 is the city wall, and 1 is the entrance into the tunnel system from inside the city. Water carriers would enter at 1, descend down some steps (2), walk down a sloping tunnel (3) to the main shaft (9), where they could drop buckets approximately 50 feet down to the water, which had flowed from the spring (7) through a tunnel (6). It is important to note that the Warren's Shaft tunnel complex predates the cutting of the Siloam Tunnel (also known as Hezekiah's Tunnel) in 701 BCE.
This photograph shows the excavation of the so-called 'sloping tunnel' that led from the entrance to the Warren's Shaft complex to the vertical shaft. It was clearly carved to allow many people to walk through it simultaneously.
This six-sided prism of baked clay preserves the annals of Sennacherib, who was the king of Assyria from 704-681 BCE. It was written around 689 BCE in the Akkadian language (and cuneiform script). The text contains the records of Sennacherib's eight military campaigns, and includes a reference to the campaign against Hezekiah, king of Judah, in order to reclaim the tribute that he owed to Assyria. Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem and Judah is preserved in the biblical books of 2 Kings (18:13ff) and Isaiah (36:1ff). According to the Prism, Sennacherib's campaign against Hezekiah led to his submission; according to 2 Kings 19:8ff, the mission was without success.