Palestine During the Reign of the Hasmonaeans: Map
This map shows the expansion of the Hasmonaean kingdom in the period between 160 and 76 BCE. The capital of the kingdom was always in Judaea, colored light blue. The Hasmonaean ruler Jonathan (160-142 BCE) added the yellow portions; his brother Simon (142-134 BCE) added the red portions; Simon's son, Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE) added the light blue portions outside of Judaea; Hyrcanus's son, Aristobulus I (104-103 BCE) added the dark purple regions in Galilee; and Aristobulus' brother, Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE), who expanded the kingdom to its greatest extent (the red line), added the light purple areas.
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 inside of Cave 1, the first of 11 Judaean Desert caves that were found to contain the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seven intact scrolls came from this cave, including the two oldest copies of the book of Isaiah (they date to the late 2nd century BCE; the next-earliest complete copy dates to the 10th century CE), a previously unknown work that embellished or commented on biblical books (called the 'Genesis Apocryphon'), and four sectarian writings (i.e., books written by a Jewish sect, probably the Qumran <span class="tooltip" title=' A sect of Jews from the Second Temple period.who lived in many cities in the ancient world. However, t They are best known from the desert settlement of Qumran, which is nearand the nearby the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. As a result, it is believed commonly held that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the particular subset ofthe Essenes who lived at Qumran between 150 BCE and 68 CE. Further Reading '>Essenes - the Habakkuk Commentary, the Manual of Discipline, the Thanksgiving Scroll, and the War Scroll).
This photograph shows the Arch of Titus, erected near the eastern entrance to the Forum of the city of Rome to honor Titus's defeat of the Jews and the taking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The inscription at the top reads 'The Roman Senate and People (dedicate this) to the divine Titus Vespasianus Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian.'
This photograph shows the outside of Cave 1, which, according to the common story, is what the two Bedouin shepherd boys saw and threw a rock into, hoping to find a lost goat. Instead, they heard the crash of broken pottery and found the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
This aerial photograph shows the Roman-style forum and adjoining basilica at Sebaste, which is located in the central part of the Central Hill. Herod built this town around 30 BCE in honor of Caesar Augustus (Sebastos is Greek for the Latin word Augustus). Even though the region's inhabitants included a large number of Samaritans, Herod built a gigantic temple to Augustus on the highest point in the area.
Rome: Arch of Titus - detail of the interior
This photograph shows in the inside relief of the Arch of Titus, located near the eastern entrance to the Forum in Rome. The arch was erected by emperor Domitian, Titus' brother, to honor and commemorate the defeat of the Jews and the capture and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Depicted on the relief is the triumphal procession after Titus' return to Rome, which included the golden menorah and other implements that were taken from the Temple.
This aerial photograph shows the archaeological remains of Herod's palace at Jericho, which is located in the Judaean Desert, on the bank of Wadi Qelt, near the northern tip of the dead Sea. He likely chose it because it is in the Judaean Desert, so is warm in the winter time, and because the Hasmonaean kings had already built palaces and an infrastructure of water channels for bath houses and spas. Herod constructed a royal villa complete with royal gardens and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. This photograph shows only the main building of the palace complex. On the left is a reception hall that was paved with marble and colored stone (a recent discovery in this period). Next to it is an open courtyard with columns on 3 sides and an apse at the back. Along the back of the building on the right side are five rooms that belonged to an elaborate bath that had been constructed in the best Roman style.
This photograph shows one of the city streets in Caesarea, which was built by King Herod as a port city on the Mediterranean cost. Two seated statues can be seen facing each other across the street. When Herod's son Archaeleus was deposed in 6 CE, the Roman procurator assigned to govern the area made his residence here, and Judaea was administered from this lavish seaside city.
This photograph shows the aqueduct that fed the city of Caesarea Maritima, a port city (notice the waves of the Mediterranean on the left) that King Herod the Great built nearly from scratch between 25-13 BCE. The monumental aqueduct stretches north along the coast for 6.5 miles to a spring in the Mount Carmel range, which is barely visible in the haze at the top right of the photo. Beyond that point a tunnel was cut through the mountain for another 6 miles to tap additional fresh water supplies for Caesarea's large population.
Jerusalem: Coin of 'Jonathan the King' (Alexander Jannaeus)
A typical coin struck by the Hasmonaean (Maccabean) king Alexander Jannaeus (ruled from 103-76 BCE). The symbol on the left is an anchor and the symbol on the right is a lily flower, which was a symbol for Jerusalem. The inscription around the anchor is in Greek, whereas the inscription on the other side, around the flower is in Hebrew, written in the ancient Iron Age script. Jannaeus is referring to himself with the title "King." All of the other Hasmonaean rulers called themselves 'High Priest' instead of "King." The coin reflects both the process of hellenization and the effort of the Hasmonaeans to maintain strong ties with the ancient ethos of Israel.
This monumental stairway is all that still exists of the monumental temple that King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE) erected and dedicated to the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. The temple's foundations were laid directly over the top of the palaces of the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. The temple was damaged when the city was destroyed in the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-70 CE) but it was repaired and enlarged by the Emperor Septimius Severus in 200 CE when he rebuilt the city and granted it colonial status. In the background are the hills of the Central Hill.
This photograph shows the remains of a Tobiad palace at Araq el-Amir in modern Jordan (east of the Jordan River). The Tobiads were a Jewish ruling family in the late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE who, according to the books of 2 Maccabees and Josephus, were philhellenes (that is, they embraced Hellenism. Philhellene comes from the words philos [love of] and Hellene [Greece]). The book of 1 Maccabees tells us that there were Jews in this period who so embraced Hellenism that they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem (where young men would exercise in the nude) and transformed Jerusalem into a Greek polis called Antioch In Jerusalem. The Tobiad palatial residence at Araq el-Amir seems to support these accounts, as it is a Jewish residence yet is clearly Hellenistic in style. In addition, carved representations of animals, which are believed by many scholars to have been prohibited by Jewish law in this period, were found here. You can see the carved animals at the front of the picture, on the top surviving panel, to the left and right of the entrance (marked by the two stand-alone columns).
This aerial photograph shows one of the great engineering feats of antiquity: the enclosed harbor at Caesarea Maritima. The coast of Israel/Palestine has few good natural harbors, so King Herod built one using the state-of-the-art technology of cement that would cure underwater to build one of the two or three largest harbors in the Mediterranean. (The harbor itself included the dark spots visible under the water that extend out of the photo to the left.) Behind and on both sides of the harbor Herod built a massive city that included a temple to Caesar Augustus on the high spot overlooking the harbor.
The Romans are well known for having built stone-paved roads in order to speed communication and enable the army to move more efficiently. They built an extensive road network that connected the main cities of all of their provinces. This one led from the port of Joppa through the town of Emmaus, a colony for veteran soldiers built by the Emperor Vespasian in 70 CE, to Jerusalem.
This building is a mausoleum, i.e. a monumental burial structure, from the 2nd-3rd century CE. Bodies were placed inside the building in sarcophagi (lidded coffins carved out of limestone). Mausolea are extremely rare in Roman Palestine. The two columns at the entrance are carved in Corinthian Style with capitals that look like acanthus leaves. This testifies to the Roman taste of the wealthy family (whose identity is unknown) that built this structure.
This theater is an example of both a new custom and a new architectural form brought eastward by the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Romans. Theater was a Greek invention, but many (if not most) of the Hellenistic 'influences' came to Israel/Palestine as a result of the Romans. This one was built by King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE) soon after the city was given to him by Caesar Augustus in 27 BCE. The city of Sebaste continued to be inhabited through the 6th century CE.
This aerial photograph of the southern portion of the city of Caesarea Maritima shows the huge theater that looks out toward the ocean and the setting sun. The land that juts out into the ocean at the lower left corner of the photo is the so-called 'Promontory Palace,' also built by King Herod the Great. The area of green to the left of the palace, between the modern road and the ocean, has been excavated since this photograph was taken, revealing a long colonnaded street and a hippodrome for chariot races.
The large stones visible in the foreground of this picture are catapult stones that were used in the Roman siege of the Judaean desert fortress of Masada (in 73 CE). They are obviously very large and very heavy, and were made by the Roman soldiers when they arrived at Masada and began the siege that marked the end of the Great Revolt.
These vessels are typical of those created in the Roman period. Glass bead jewelry is known to have been made as early as 3,000-2,000 BCE, core-formed glass vessels were made beginning around 1,500 BCE, and molded glass vessels are known from the Hellenistic period. The earliest known blown glass dates to the Early Roman period, and seems to have been first discovered in Israel/Palestine.
This aerial photograph, looking straight down on King Herod's (37-4 BCE) palace at Herodium, clearly shows its double circular defense wall and four towers. Three of the semi-circular towers were defensive, while the completely round tower probably served for both defense and as the coolest, breeziest place in the hot summer months. Directly in front of the round tower is a large rectangular garden courtyard surrounded by a colonnade and flanked at both north and south ends by niches whose benches would have provided places to sit. A bathhouse was found at the lower left quadrant of the enclosure and a dining area was found in the lower right. During Herod's lifetime the walls would have stuck up above the ground; at some point after Herod died the mound was covered with stones to give it the appearance that it has today: that of nothing more than a hill, with the palace sunk into it.
Jerusalem: Eastern Terra Sigillata Juglet
This jug, which was found in the Jewish Quarter excavations in Jerusalem, is made of a type of pottery called Eastern Terra Sigillata 'A', or ESA. Its red, lustrous slip is one of the hallmarks of this kind of pottery and is partially the result of the amount of oxygen in the kiln when the jug was fired. ESA was first produced around 140 BCE in the eastern Mediterranean, probably on the island of Crete and/or along the coast of the northern Levant, but it became very popular and by the 1st century CE was exported all over the Mediterranean. It is one of the types of pottery that can be closely dated and helps archaeologists to better date the soil in which it is found.
This aerial close-up of the northern outcropping of the mountaintop fortress of Masada shows the three-tiered Northern Palace that was built by King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE), as well as storehouses and a bath house (at the top of the photograph). The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that when the rebels who fled from Jerusalem arrived at Masada, they found still-edible wheat in the storerooms.
This photograph shows the synagogue within the fortress of Masada, which is located in the Judaean Desert (note the Dead Sea in the top right of the picture). At the end of the Jewish revolt against Rome in 70 CE, some of the rebels who were part of a group called the Zealots, fled Jerusalem to the mountaintop fortress of Masada. They either refurbished a previously-existing synagogue or turned a room into a synagogue, building benches along the walls and installing a small inner room to serve as a genizah (storage room for used or damaged scrolls). Two pits dug into the floor of the small room yielded two scrolls, one of Deuteronomy and one of Ezekiel. Fragments of other scrolls were found nearby. Some of the fragments appear to have been written in the same scribal tradition as texts found in the Qumran caves.
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 map shows the areas of Israel/Palestine that revolted against Rome in 66 CE (also known as 'the Great Revolt'), as well as the paths of attacks and counter-attacks that occurred during the four years of fighting. Pink areas (Galilee, Perea, and Judaea) indicate regions in which there was much support for the revolt; pink striped areas indicate regions with partial support. Red lines indicate the path of the 12th Legion; green lines indicate Vespasian's various expeditions against different parts of the country (note that he never assaults Jerusalem); blue lines indicate Titus' final move against Jerusalem, with three legions (5th, 10th, and 15th) who joined the 12th legion and numerous other auxiliary forces.
This map shows the gradual expansion of the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean between the years 100 BCE and 150 CE. Red areas indicate Roman control in 100 BCE; yellow areas indicate the extent of the empire at the time of Julius Caesar's death in 44 BCE; green areas indicate areas annexed by Augustus; and blue areas indicate regions annexed between the death of Augustus (14 CE) and 150 CE.
This bronze coin, which was minted in Rome in 71 CE after the Romans captured Jerusalem, features the profile of the Emperor Vespasian on the recto (left), and, on the verso (right), a Roman soldier standing over a mourning woman who symbolizes the defeated Judaea. Between them is a palm tree. The inscription around these two figures reads IUDEA CAPTA, Latin for 'captured Judaea.'
This scale model of Second Temple Jerusalem resides at the Israel Museum in modern Jerusalem. This particular photograph is looking west and shows a reconstruction of the Second Temple itself (after King Herod the Great's renovations). The Holy of Holies would have been at the far west of the main Temple building, behind the large doorway. The open-air altar stood in the inner court, between the large entrance door and the steps that are visible at the lower center of the photo. The walls in the immediate foreground (at the bottom of the photo) would have separated the Court of the Gentiles (where anybody was allowed) from the Court of the Women (where only Jews were allowed, and women could not go beyond).
This map shows both the size of Herod's kingdom at the beginning of his reign (the purple areas that include Judaea, Perea, and Galilee) and the regions that were given to him later by his Roman benefactors, mainly the emperor Augustus (the lighter pink areas). Herod ruled as a vassal king of the Romans from 37-4 BCE.
This aerial close-up of the northern outcropping of the mountaintop fortress of Masada shows the three-tiered Northern Palace that was built by Herod the Great, as well as storehouses and a bath house (at the top of the photograph). The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that when the rebels who fled from Jerusalem arrived at Masada, they found still-edible wheat in the storerooms
Jerusalem in the Second Temple period: Map
This plan shows what Jerusalem looked like in the late Second Temple period, prior to the Jewish revolt of 66-70 CE. The Jewish Temple occupied the Temple Mount and the upper-classes lived in the Upper City (known today as Mt. Zion), across the Tyropoeon Valley from the Temple Mount, near Herod's Palace. The city walls encompassed all that had been the City of David, as well as most of what is the modern Old City.
This plan shows what Jerusalem looked like in the Byzantine period. The Temple stood in ruins, as did the short-lived Temple of Jupiter that some scholars believe was erected in its place. Multiple churches were built during and after the reign of the Emperor Constantine (306-337 CE), the largest and most notable being the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (just to the left of the center) and the Nea Church (at the bottom). There were two cardos (main streets) that ran through the city from north to south, the eastern (left-most) of which was only discovered in 2006.
Jerusalem: Model of the Antonia Fortress
This scale model of Second Temple Jerusalem resides at the Israel Museum in modern Jerusalem. This particular photograph is looking from north to south at the Antonia Fortress, which sat at the north edge of the Temple Mount complex (the Temple building of which can be seen behind it). The Antonia Fortress was a military barracks that was built by King Herod the Great and was used to garrison Roman troops when Judaea was ruled by a Roman procurator.
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).
This photograph shows the current day Damascus Gate (one of the northern entrances into the Old City of Jerusalem) and a lower, earlier doorway of the Roman gate of the city. Above the lower arch is a worn inscription that reads 'Colonia Ae[lia] Cap[itolina]' - The Colony of Aelia Capitolina, indicating that it was built in the time of Hadrian (early 2nd century CE). Inside the doorway is a guard room and a stairwell that ascends within the eastern gateway tower to the present day parapet above the city wall.
This pool, just north of Jaffa Gate, on the west side of the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of several large reservoirs constructed to provide water for the expanding population of Jerusalem during the reign of King Herod the Great (37-4 BCE). It and other reservoirs were fed by aqueducts that brought fresh water to Jerusalem from as far away as 12 miles to the south. Note the black dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the background and the tower and buildings of the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus in the far background.
This bronze coin was minted in 131 CE and commemorates the rededication of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina (the inscription is in Latin and reads 'COL[onia] AEL[ia] KAP[itolina]'). The picture in the middle of the coin is the façade of the temple to the Capitoline Triad that Hadrian had erected on the Temple Mount (according to some scholars), with the seated figure of Jupiter inside flanked by the goddesses Juno and Minerva. Many have argued that the building of the Temple of Jupiter was a catalyst for the Bar Kokhba Revolt (131-135 CE).
This photograph shows the Damascus Gate (one of the northern entrances into the Old City of Jerusalem) and a lower, earlier doorway of the Roman gate that stood at the same place. Above the arch is a worn inscription that reads 'Colonia Ae[lia] Cap[itolina]' - The Colony of Aelia Capitolina, indicating that it was built in the time of Hadrian (early 2nd century CE). Inside the doorway is a guard room and a stairwell that ascends within the eastern gateway tower to the present day parapet above the city wall.
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.
Jerusalem: "Place of the Trumpeting" inscription
This stone, with an inscription in Hebrew that reads, 'To the place of trumpeting to an(nounce)…,' was found in excavations at the base of the southwest corner of the Temple Mount (where many things were found that had been thrown off of the Temple Mount by Roman soldiers that destroyed it in 70 CE). It likely originally marked the spot (or gave directions to the spot) where a priest would have blown the trumpet that announced the beginning and end of the Sabbath.
This plan shows what Jerusalem looked like after the Roman emperor Hadrian (117-138 CE) ordered the establishment of a colony named Aelia Capitolina in 130-132 CE. Some scholars believe that a temple to Jupiter was erected on the site where the Jewish temple had been, which is what this map shows. The camp of the Tenth Roman Legion occupied the southwestern corner of the city.
Jerusalem: Broad Stairs at the Temple Mount
This monumental staircase, located to the south of the Temple Mount compound (the wall of which is seen in the background) is one of two that led up to the Double and Triple Huldah Gates and into the Temple Mount. They were built as part of King Herod the Great's monumental renovation project. This particular staircase is 200 feet across and allowed access to the Temple Mount platform from the Lower City (know today as the City of David) and other parts of the southern city of Jerusalem. They were probably in use until after the Crusades.
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.
Jerusalem: Model of Herod's Western Fortress
This scale model of Second Temple Jerusalem resides at the Israel Museum in modern Jerusalem. This particular photograph shows the towers that were part of a defense system of Jerusalem constructed by Herod the Great at its western border to guard both the entrance to the city and the palace that he built just to the south. This model is based partly on the description of the fortress by the Jewish historian Josephus and partly on the results of excavations in the later Citadel (known as the Tower of David), which was built over Herod's fort. Josephus tells us that Herod named the towers after three of his closest associates – his wife Miriam, his brother Phasael, and his close friend Hippicus.
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.'
This photograph shows the detail of extra-long blocks that King Herod's engineers used to bind the existing exterior walls of the Temple Mount compound to the southern addition that he was building. Some of these blocks measure 39 feet long and weigh more than 100 tons.
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 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).