Jerusalem: objects from a wealthy Second Temple family
The mosaic floor, stone-carved table, and stone vessels are from the Jerusalem Jewish Quarter excavations, which revealed the upper-class houses from the Second Temple period. As a result, we can say that, for instance, upper-class Jerusalemites in the late Second Temple period were concerned with ritual purity (as is suggested by the stone vessels), and that their mosaics were ornate but lacked human and animal representations.
This photograph shows a street of the Old City of Jerusalem today. People still use the same layout as Suleiman's city.
An especially high quality of pottery, modeled after Nabataean pottery, was produced in Jerusalem toward the end of the Second Temple period. It is very thin and delicate, with hand-painted designs that are impressive for this period. Note the lack of any figurative art, which is a common feature of Nabataean and Jewish pottery and architecture in this period.
After the decree of the Persian King Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem from Babylon (ca. 538 BCE), they began to rebuild the city. Seen here are a few of the remains of that building project, which was executed over the following 200 years. The square-cornered tower at the upper left (below Nos. 1 and 2) were erected over the rubble of the 7th century BCE houses. The stepped structure immediately north of the tower (No. 3) goes back to early Israelite times, but its upper portion was reused as a post-Exilic fortification and was supplemented by additional new wall elements farther north (to the right of No. 3).
This photograph shows Phasael's Tower, one of three towers built by King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE) as part of his defensive wall system on the western side of the city of Jerusalem. Herod named the tower after his brother, who was killed by the Parthians. The upper part of the tower, built of smaller stones represents medieval repairs of the 12th century CE and later. The crusaders probably built the sloping revetments and parapets around the base. This tower is today part of a later fortress known as the Tower of David (obviously much later than the historical king David).
Jerusalem: phases of the ancient city walls
This image shows the growth of Jerusalem's walls and fortifications over the centuries of the Second Temple period (516BCE – 70CE). The first set of walls (in blue) shows the perimeter of the city during Hasmonean rule (second-first century BCE). King Herod added the Second Wall (Green) in late first century BCE to accommodate the extension of the city and the new neighborhood he added in the north. Note that the northern line of this wall and the way it connect to the fortress Antonia is disputed by modern scholars and the map shows a second alternative with the broken green line. The historian Josephus attributes the Third Wall (Red) to Herod Agrippa (41-44CE) and claims it was never really completed before the eruption of the great Revolt (in 66CE). Here too, the map shows two options for the northern line of this wall, one as suggested by the archaeologists Sukenik (at the top of the picture), and an alternative line that follows the walls of the current Old City. The present Old City Wall (Gray) was built by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent, completed in 1541 CE, and still stands to this day.
This photograph shows the 'springer' for Robinson's Arch. In 1838, Edward Robinson noticed the strange, curved stones jutting out of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount (to the upper left of center in this photograph). He realized that these stones were the 'springers' (i.e., the foundation, or the beginning) of an arch that probably supported a walkway that connected to the top of the Temple Mount on one side and to a stairway on the other. Later excavators found archaeological evidence for the stairwell, thus confirming Robinson's theory. The grey dome at the top of the picture belongs to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits inside the Temple Mount compound.
Jerusalem: Robinson's Arch (reconstruction)
In this drawing, the yellow pieces are those that have been found in archaeological excavations and the rest are an architect's reconstruction of how the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount probably looked in the Second Temple period: a monumental stairway led to the southern part of the Temple Mount. The yellow portion attached to the wall of the Temple Mount is known by its name 'Robinson's arch' (after the 19th century archaeologist Edward Robinson who found it).
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.
This photograph was taken underneath the Temple Mount, in the area known as Solomon's Stables (at the southern end of the Temple Mount, underneath the current Al Aqsa Mosque). Rather than being stables, they are cavernous halls that were built during King Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount. The arches supported flat paving stones on the Temple Mount's surface, thus allowing Herod to level and flatten the elevated surface of the Temple Mount compound. The monumental steps on the southern side of the Temple Mount led through the Hulda Gates into this area before reaching the top of the Temple Mount.
This aerial photograph shows the southern part of the Temple Mount and its massive wall. In the foreground of this photograph is the spine of the hill that was the location of the City of David in the First Temple period. To the top right is the building of the Al-Aqsa mosque (its grey dome is just cut off), and to its left, the modern building with the arched windows is Yeshivat Esh ha-Torah (a Jewish orthodox learning center).
In this photograph the Dome of the Rock is visible in the upper left and the dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is visible in the upper right. Below them, Robinson's Arch is visible, springing out of the Western Wall (to the left). The tower rising up at the center of the photo is a minaret (a tower used by the announcer of Muslim prayers), built by the Mamluks in the 14th century for the Fachariya ('women's') Mosque on the Temple Mount. In this photograph, the lighter brown color is indicative of earlier remains that have recently been excavated.
This aerial photograph of the Temple Mount compound, taken from the northeast, shows the large platform at its center, on which sits the Dome of the Rock. To the left of the Dome is the Al Aqsa Mosque, and in the close foreground (at the bottom of the photo) is the eastern wall of Temple Mount with the sealed Golden Gate (known also as the Mercy Gate and the Beautiful gate). The gate was sealed in the Ottoman period. In the background is the Old City of Jerusalem and even further in the background are the high rises of the modern city.
Jerusalem: Temple Mount - Greek inscription
This fragment of a Greek inscription inscribed in stone is one of several large stone notices that were erected around the Temple precinct entrances in the Second Temple Period. A complete version of the same text was found in the 19th century, and it is a 'keep out' sign that warns Gentiles (i.e., non-Jews) that they may not proceed beyond the entrance point at the risk of death.
Jerusalem: Temple Mount - phases of the Sakhra
This 3-dimensional reconstruction of the Temple Mount shows the various stages of construction, as well as the piece of bedrock (the Sakhra) that sits at the center of the Dome of the Rock (the Kubbat as Sakhra).
Jerusalem: Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock
This aerial view of the Temple Mount, looking west, shows not just the massive Temple Mount complex and the Dome of the Rock, but also the Al Aqsa Mosque, to the left (this is the southern end of the Temple Mount complex). The Old City wall is visible at the bottom of the photograph. Note the flat enormous stone slabs that make up the Temple Mount platform. These were hewn by King Herod the Great and his engineers.
In this view of the Temple Mount, looking west, one can clearly see the Dome of the Chain (between the five arches and the Dome of the Rock), and the Al Aqsa Mosque (the large building complex on the left). The Dome of the Chain is one of the oldest structures on top of the Temple Mount and was used as a prayer house.
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 aerial view of the Temple Mount, which is looking west, shows not just the massive Temple Mount complex and the Dome of the Rock, but also the Al Aqsa Mosque (to the left, at the south end of the Temple Mount complex) and the eastern wall of the Temple Mount with the sealed Golden Gate (known also as the Mercy Gate and the Beautiful gate). The gate was sealed in the Ottoman period. Note the tower ('minaret' in Arabic) at the top right (northwest) corner of the Temple Mount compound. It belongs to a 13th century mosque called the Ghawanima. The rectangular building to its right (north) with the white roof is a modern Arab school called Omaria. The mosque, the minaret and the Omaria all sit of the ruins and foundation of the Roman-period Antonia fortress.
This aerial view of the Temple Mount, which is looking west, shows not just the massive Temple Mount complex with its retaining walls and the Dome of the Rock, but also the Al Aqsa Mosque (to the left, at the south end of the Temple Mount complex). Note the flat surface of huge stone slabs that makes up the Temple Mount, which was an artificial creation of King Herod and his engineers. Beyond the Temple Mount is the Old City of Jerusalem.
This photograph shows a vertical seam in the eastern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The 100 foot-wide southernmost stretch of the wall (the left half in the photo) is clearly Herodian construction and indicative of the King Herod's additions to the Temple Mount.
Jerusalem: Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, and Al Aqsa Mosque
This photograph of the Temple Mount shows the relationship of the Dome of the Rock (the Kubbat as-Sakhra) to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Together they make up the Haram esh-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary), the Islamic sanctuary created in the days of the Umayyad Dynasty (in the 7th century CE).
A view of Mt. Zion (in the Old City of Jerusalem) from the Hinnom Valley. The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu is visible on the upper slope and the Dormition Abbey is visible on the ridge at the upper right corner of the photo. The photograph represents architecture typical of the Central Hill where houses need to accommodate the terraces and rising nature of the slopes.
The light colored, curved shape on the left in this photograph is the roof the Shrine of the Book, a building within the Israel Museum in Jerusalem that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. The roof was designed to look like the lid of one of the jars inside of which many of the scrolls were found. Many of the scrolls and artifacts found at Qumran are displayed in the exhibition that is inside the building.
Jerusalem: The Temple Mount - growth in the Hasmonaean and Herodian periods
This slide shows the ways and degrees in which the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was expanded in the Hasmonaean (blue area) and Herodian periods (purple area).
This inscription, written in Greek, was found in the City of David, south of the Temple Mount, in 1914. It can be dated, on the basis of script, to the reign of King Herod (37-4 BCE), and its content points to a synagogue having been built in Jerusalem at least two generations earlier. It reads, 'Theodotus Vettanos [or, son of Vettanos], priest and synagogue leader [archisynagogos], son of a synagogue leader [archisynagogos], built [or 'restored'] this synagogue for the purpose of the reading of the Law and for the instruction of the commandments of the Law, the hostel and guest rooms, and the baths for foreigners who need them. This synagogue was established by his forefathers, the elders and Simonides.'
Jerusalem: The Western Wall/Wailing Wall
This photograph shows the proximity of the Western Wall (sometimes called the Wailing Wall) to the Dome of the Rock. The Western Wall, at the center of the photograph, is the western wall of the Temple Mount that was built by Herod the Great and on top of which stood the Jewish Temple prior to 70 CE. It is often considered to be one of the holiest sites in Judaism. Above and to the left is the Dome of the Rock, which stands over a section of bedrock that Muslims believe is that last place that the Prophet Muhammad stood before embarking on his Night Journey. It is usually considered to be the third holiest site in Islam. The gray dome to the right is the Al Aqsa Mosque, which sits at the southern end of the Temple Mount. In the background is the Mount of Olives.
There are a few monumental tombs outside and below the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Jehoshaphat Valley. The one in this picture is known anachronistically as the Tomb of Absalom (Absalom was the biblical son of David who lived and died nearly 1,000 years before this tomb was built). The structure consists of a tomb below and a monument on top that combines several different styles typical of the Late Hellenistic period. The square base was carved out of the bedrock and has column bases and capitals of the Greek Ionic style, but the decoration of triglyphs and rosette metopes above the capital are borrowed from Doric style Greek buildings, and the concave cornice on top comes from Egypt. The combination of features in this building have no exact parallel among other known structures, and its date of construction is unknown, but probably dates to the 1st century BCE or the 1st century CE.
These three doorways, which were blocked up after the Crusader period, led from the monumental steps on the south side of the Temple Mount into the Temple Mount and the area called Solomon's Stables. They were built into the base of the Temple Mount during King Herod's massive renovation project and allowed access to the Temple Mount from the Lower City (known today as the City of David) and other areas to the south.
This photograph shows what one of the Dead Sea Scrolls looked like when it was found (before it was unrolled). Though a scroll in this state is much easier to deal with than others that were broken into thousands of fragments, the 2,000 year-old state of the animal skin on which the text was written was extremely dry and fragile. They must be humidified and slowly unrolled over time. Often times insects had bored through them or the animal skin had stuck to itself in clumps. This scroll was 9.3 feet long when unrolled.
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 is a photograph of Yitzhak Rabin, who was the Israeli Prime Minister who signed the Oslo Peace Accords with Yassir Arafat (the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization) in 1993. He was assassinated in 1995 by a Israeli man who was opposed to the Oslo Accords.
This is a view of the Jordan River, south of the Sea of Galilee. The River flows from north to south on the eastern edge of Israel/Palestine. It is neither wide nor deep, and so provides no defensive advantages. The River flows through the Jordan valley, with modern Israel/West Bank to the west and Jordan to the east. The Jordan Valley is part of the Syrian African Rift, a geological that characterizes the landscape from northern Syria all the way south to Mozambique, southeast Africa.
This is a view of the Upper Jordan River, North of the Sea of Galilee. The main source of the Jordan River is located near Banias (Caesarea Philippi), 1,312 feet above sea level. It drops down into the Huleh Valley and then down to the Sea of Galilee, and from there down to the Dead Sea (1,300 feet below sea level). This view of the upper Jordan River (above the Sea of Galilee) shows both the size of the river and the turbulence of the water, as well as the more mountainous terrain of this part of the country.
Jordan River: north of the Sea of Galilee
The main source of the Jordan River is located near Banias (Caesarea Philippi), 1,312 feet above sea level. It drops down into the Huleh Valley and then down to the Sea of Galilee and from there down to the Dead Sea (1,300 feet below sea level). This view of the upper Jordan River (above the Sea of Galilee) shows both the size and turbulence of the water and the more mountainous terrain of this part of the country.
The Judaean Desert is located east of Jerusalem (which is in the distance, at the top of the hill) and is formed by the topography of the Central Hill descending toward the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea (the lowest place on earth). It is very dry, as a result of being in the rain shadow that is created by the prevailing weather patterns that arrive at the Central Hill from the west. In addition, the soil is comprised mostly of Senonian limestone that erodes easily and does not retain moisture well.
This monastery in the Judaean Desert, initially called the Great Laura and later Mar Saba (after its founder, Sabas of Cappadocia), was built in 483 CE. It is the result of Byzantine-era hermetic monasticism: in 457 CE, at the age of 18, Mar Saba went into the Judaean Desert to practice a laura-type monastic dedication. Twenty years later struck out on his own to live in a cave near this site; he was soon joined by other hermits. 5 years later they built the first phase of this cliff-type laura. Successive additions enlarged it.
Kurkar Ridge along Seashore Coastal Plain
The coast of northern Israel, between Tel Aviv and Haifa, is characterized by “kurkar” ridges. The term “kurkar” refers to sea-sand that has hardened into rock. This results from a mineral reaction between the sea water and shore sediments producing a carbonate cement. This naturally occurring phenomenon has preserved this part of the coast from development because the cement-like ridges posed an obstacle to the construction of sea ports.
The land of Israel (circled in red) though small in size, occupies one of the great crossroads of the ancient world. The global superpowers of the ancient Near East (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia) coveted this area, either as a buffer between warring empires (e.g., Egypt and Assyria) or for its access to important trade routes running through an area that resembles a bottleneck in northern Israel.
Land of Israel/Palestine: satellite photo
This satellite photograph of Israel/Palestine shows the main geographical markers that define the borders of the country. The two bodies of water are the Sea of Galilee (in the north) and the Dead Sea (in the south). Flowing between them from north to south is the Jordan River, which flows through the Jordan Valley (part of the Syrian-African Rift, also known as The Great Rift Valley). Between the Jordan Valley and the Mediterranean Sea is the Central Hill region, and between the Central Hill and the Mediterranean Sea to the west is the Coastal Plain. In the bottom of the photograph, marked by the light yellow colors are the desert regions – the so-called Judaean Desert to the left of the Dead Sea, which is an extension of the Negev desert (covering the entire bottom right of the picture).
This image shows the famous Colosseum of Rome. It was built by Vespasian and Titus (70–80 CE) and reflects their efforts to elevate the imperial profile of the Flavian Dynasty. At the center of the Colosseum, a retractable floor once covered an intricate labyrinth of corridors and rooms. These stored lions, bears, gladiators, and weapons. To build the Colosseum was extremely expensive. It was funded by the slave auction of the Jewish captives from the Great Revolt against Rome in Judaea (66–70 CE).
These two photographs show the actual T. E. Lawrence (on the left) and the other of the actor Peter O'Toole, who played Lawrence in the famous movie Lawrence of Arabia. T. E. Lawrence was a British Army officer who was trained as an archaeologist before enlisting in the British Army after the start of World War I. As an officer he fought with the Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal. He convinced them to coordinate their actions in support of British strategy. He was involved in the capture of Aqaba and the fall of Damascus.
Edward Gibbon, pictured here, was an English historian and a member of the British Parliament. He wrote a 6-volume work called The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire between 1776-1788. Although he was widely criticized for treating Christianity as a historical phenomenon and being critical of Christianity's negative effects on the Roman Empire, his work was widely praised for its style of prose and its use of primary sources. It was one of the most influential works on ancient Rome for over 100 years.
This photograph shows the Jezreel Valley, which separates the central hills from Lower Galilee. The Via Maris (the road that runs north from Egypt along the coast) cuts through the Jezreel Valley on its way to Damascus. Southern Galilee, known as 'Lower Galilee' in antiquity because it was of lower elevation than the northern half of Galilee, is the most fertile part of Israel/Palestine, good for both farming and shepherding. The mountain in the background is Mt. Tabor.