With apologies to L. Jongewaard

Received an invitation marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Prof. Nahman Avigad to be held on Wednesday February 15th, at the Ben-Zvi Institute, Rehavia, Jerusalem.

Working with Avigad on the restoration of the Cardo and the Herodian Villas in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, I developed a deep appreciation for him. He was a kind person, meticulous in his work and research and willing to share his profound knowledge of archaeology and ancient architecture.

Avigad (centre) with Leen (left) inspecting the stucco work of David Simon during the restoration of the Palatial Mansion

The evening will also mark the publication of the 5th Volume of the Jewish Quarter Excavation final report. This volume contains my contribution on “The Restoration of the Cardo” (chapter 3).

Reconstruction drawing of the Byzantine Cardo in Jerusalem. © Leen Ritmeyer

Here is the program:

16:00 Assembly

16:30–19:00 A. Mazar: Chairman and opening

Greetings: Joseph Aviram, President, Israel Exploration Society

Zeev Weiss, Head of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology

H. Geva: Publication of the finds from Avigad’s excavations in the Jewish Quarter

R. Reich: Second Temple period stone weights from the Upper City and from the Land of Israel

O. Sion: New finds from the time of Aelia Capitolina in the Jewish Quarter

O. Gutfeld: A new interpretation presented in the publication of the Cardo and Nea Church (Vol. 5 of the Jewish Quarter publications)

Y. Tsafrir: The Southwestern Hill from the destruction to the Muslim conquest.

 

The bulla carries an Ancient Hebrew inscription: “[g]b’n/lmlk“, i.e. “Gibeon, for the King”. The bulla originates from the eastern slope of the Temple Mount, descending into the Kidron Valley. The bulla belongs to a group of bullae which were called by N. Avigad “Fiscal Bullae”. Presently we know more than 50 bullae of this type. They comprise two groups, one with names of cities in the kingdom of Judah, and the other with names of royal officials.

The Gibeon bulla, showing the inscription on the left and the back of the bulla on the right. Photo: Zev Radovan

The inscription of the bulla, reconstruction by Gabriel Barkay.

These ‘lmlk’ (for the king) bullae sealed tax commodities sent to the King of Judah and date from the time of King Hezekiah. About 50 of these fiscal bullae are known, but this is the first one that came from an archaeological rescue excavation. Gabriel Barkay has published an extensive article (in Hebrew) in which he discusses the entire phenomenon of the fiscal bullae.

The bullae include names of 19 different cities of Judah, and dates of the reign of one of the Judean kings, usually in hieratic numerals, as well as the particle “lmlk“, “for the king”. The components of the inscriptions are discussed, as well as the geographical history of the bullae, and its comparison to the list of Judean cities in Joshua 15: 20-63. The fiscal bullae represent a taxation system from the different Judean cities, based on yearly taxes, which probably replaced the previous one, reflected in the royal Judean jars and their seal impressions, from the time of King Hezekiah.

Not all of the cities, however, are mentioned in Joshua 15. Two cities belonged to Simeon, Eltolad and Bethul, and Gath was a Philistine city during most of the Biblical period. Here is the list of the 19 cities and where they are mentioned first:

1. Eltolad (Josh. 15.30, 19.4; Tolad 1 Chron. 4.29)
2. Lachish (Josh. 15.39)
3. Nezib (Josh. 15.43)
4. Arab (Josh. 15:52)
5. Keilah (Josh. 15.44)
6. Gebim (Isa. 10.31)
7. Maon (Josh. 15.55)
8. Jagur (Josh. 15.21)
9. Gath (Josh. 11.22)
10. Bethul (Josh. 19.4, Chesil Josh. 15.30, Bethuel 1 Chron. 4.30)
11. Aphekah (Josh. 15.53)
12. Gibeah (Josh. 15.57)
13. Adullam (Josh. 15.35)
14. Zaanannaim (Zenan Josh. 15.37)
15. Socoh (Josh. 15.35)
16. Gibeon (Josh. 9.3)
17. Zarah (Hazor Josh. 15.25)
18. Adoraim (2 Chron. 11.9)
19. Ziph (Josh. 15.55) – Judah

These originally were all Canaanite cities that were conquered by Joshua and were still part of the Kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Hezekiah.

The city of Gibeon, viewed from the south. Photo: Leen Ritmeyer

Gibeon did belong to a group of four Canaanite cities that made a covenant with Joshua by disguising themselves. After having been found out by Joshua, he made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God (Joshua 9).

It will be my pleasant duty to give the opening lecture, entitled  ”Imagining the Temple Early Jews Knew”. Here are details of the symposium.

An overall view of a model of the Temple Mount looking from the northwest. In the foreground is the Antonia Fortress, while the Temple with its surrounding buildings stood close to the centre of the Temple Mount. The lower portico above the Eastern Wall (upper centre) was known as Solomon's Porch, mentioned in John 10.23 and Acts 3.11; 5.12. © Leen Ritmeyer

I hope that my presentation will provide a fruitful focal point for collaborative work between those of other disciplines who are trying to understand the site.

I am also glad to say that we are not any longer in the realm of imagination. Apart from the historical sources (Josephus, the New Testament and the Mishnah), we have the results of the daring investigations of explorers of the 19^th and 20^th century. The massive excavations south and west of the Temple Mount, following the 6-Day War in 1967, provided information on the outer frame of the Temple platform. And in the absence of excavations on the mount itself, (none is foolhardy enough to attempt this, as it would start another Mid-East war!), research into surface traces preserved there has yielded results that add detail and complete the picture. Our depiction cannot be an exact reproduction of the structure that existed in Jerusalem in the time of Christ, but hopefully it approximates to what only an imaginary time tunnel could show.

The announcement by Eli Shukron that he was puzzled by the marks, brought an enormous response from people who had all sorts of different suggestions. The Jerusalem Post reported that more than 20,000 people had responded:

Among the most interesting ideas: a torture device, drainage for ancient urinals, the original McDonald’s sign, an abbreviation for “veni vidi vici” (Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered”), a footprint from King Solomon’s pet dinosaur, molds for smelting iron to make tools, the Trinity, a representation of mountains or the symbol for water, signs to the exit, an alien cryptogram, or support for a wooden structure.

Here in the UK, BBC 4 aired an interesting program on Jerusalem with Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of “Jerusalem, the biography“. The first part of a series can be seen in the UK on BBC iPlayer. Here is a good review of his book.

Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) has a report on illegal Muslim burials at the Ophel Corner, near the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. It appears to be part of an illegal land-grab.

Illegally built Muslim tombs at the Ophel Corner, near the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. Photo: Clare Ritmeyer

The southeast corner during the Herodian period. © Leen Ritmeyer

Jerusalem City engineers have ordered that the ramp to the Mughrabi Gate be closed  indefinitely for safety reasons, although there may be political reasons behind the move, i.e. to force the Israel government to build a new bridge despite international pressure to refrain from upsetting the Arabs.

Some members of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) have called for an alternate access for Jews to visit the Temple Mount (what about the tourists)?

The Mughrabi Ramp partly obscures the Herodian Barclay’s Gate. We commented on the problems of the ramp in previous posts, such as this one, containing a diagram:

The diagram shows the relationship between the ramp and the location of Barclay's Gate, one of the four gateways in the Western Wall of the Herodian Temple Mount. The Western Wall Plaza is on the left and the excavation area on the right. © Leen Ritmeyer

This is a view of the Western Wall of the Herodian Temple Mount in between Barclay's Gate (lower right) and Wilson's Arch (lower left). This section of the Temple Mount walls corresponds with the wall that can be seen in the Western Wall Plaza area today. Herod's Temple towered high above the Temple Mount.

Todd Bolen posted a useful review of recent history of access to the Temple Mount.

Mysterious stone carvings made thousands of years ago and recently uncovered in an excavation underneath Jerusalem have archaeologists stumped.

Israeli diggers who uncovered a complex of rooms carved into the bedrock in the oldest section of the city recently found the markings: Three "V'' shapes cut next to each other into the limestone floor of one of the rooms, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) deep and 50 centimeters long. Photo: AP

The archaeologists in charge of the dig know so little that they have been unable even to posit a theory about their nature, said Eli Shukron, one of the two directors of the dig.

“The markings are very strange, and very intriguing. I’ve never seen anything like them,” Shukron said.

It is possible, the dig’s archaeologists say, that when the markings were made at least 2,800 years ago the shapes might have accommodated some kind of wooden structure that stood inside them, or they might have served some other purpose on their own. They might have had a ritual function or one that was entirely mundane. Archaeologists faced by a curious artifact can usually at least venture a guess about its nature, but in this case no one, including outside experts consulted by Shukron and the dig’s co-director, archaeologists with decades of experience between them, has any idea.

Now, a Palestinian “archaeologist”, Dr. Jamal Amro, claims that he was the one who found the 17 (not 4) Roman coins! He rightly states that the coins date from the time of Valerius and then draws the illogical and ridiculous conclusion that:

“All archaeological discoveries that were found before this one in the Arab city of Jerusalem and around the Aqsa Mosque date back to ancient Arab and Islamic eras especially the times of Umayyad and Abbasid reigns (661-1258) up to the Ottoman rule (1520 AD)”

He also stated this discovery left the Jewish archaeologists in a state of shock and frustration because it just proved further their false claims and beliefs about the legend of the temple.

Here is Amro’s statement.

Joe Lauer comments:

The sad thing is that instead of laughing Amro off the stage, his statements are being parroted all over the world and incorporated into the Arab Narrative, perhaps to become an official UNESCO policy statement. Googling the headline “Archaeologist rebuts Jewish claims about their alleged temple” demonstrates how quickly and easily foolish lies can be spread in our day.

Goebbels would have been jealous.

It took several decades to complete this massive Temple Mount. I will always call it Herod’s Temple Mount, as he was the originator of its plan and began its construction. Todd Bolen pointed out in his latest blogpost: “Josephus reported that in AD 64 work was halted on the Temple Mount and 18,000 workers were laid off (Ant. 20:219-23).” Such large projects take a long time to complete. It was started in the reign of Herod the Great, but continued during the time of his sons and grandsons. It is possible that the Temple Mount was never totally completed.

The problem of how and when the Temple Mount walls were built is very complex. There are architectural features that indicate that the Temple Mount walls were built in stages over a considerable period of time, although within a time span of less than 100 years. I don’t as yet have all the answers, but focussing on the Western and Southern Walls, the following points need to be taken into consideration:

1. The south end of Robinson’s Arch is keyed into the stones of the Western Wall, but its northern end is NOT:

These drawings show the different treatment of how the north and south ends of Robinson's Arch were keyed into the wall.

This means that, at some stage, the upper part of the Western Wall was built from a point to the north (possibly Wilson’s Arch) to the location where they planned to build Robinson’s Arch (see the straight joint in the drawing on the left). The arch and perhaps the southwest corner must have been built later (see The Quest – Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, p.46). This means that in 20 AD (see previous post), the southern part of the Western Wall was not yet completed.

2. However, this would leave enough time (10 years) for the southern part of the Temple Mount to be finished by around 30 AD, when Jesus and his disciples visited the Temple.

3. The street complex below Robinson’s Arch was built later (perhaps 50 AD), as coins from the time of Agrippa II were found below the paving stones.

4. The stones of the Western Wall below Robinson’s Arch have rough bosses below street level. That is also the case near Barclay’s Gate, but not to the north of this gate.  The stones of the Southern Wall, from the southwest corner to the Double Gate have also rough bosses below street level, but they don’t appear in the east part of the Southern Wall. Warren wrote (Survey of Western Palestine, Vol II, Jerusalem, p. 191):

“From the two shafts sunk at Wilson’s Arch and at Barclay’s Gate, it is obvious that the Sanctuary wall is for this portion built up from the bottom with drafted stones with well-cut faces. But to the south of the retaining wall at Barclay’s Gate, at the south-west angle and round the south-west angle to the Double gate, the stones have rough projecting faces up to the level of the pavement under Robinson’s Arch, that is, up to Course P, or to about 23 feet 6 inches above the rock at Barclay’s Gate, the sill of the gate being about 50 feet above the rock. From this the inference may be drawn that the wall south of Barclay’s Gate is of later date that that to the north, and was not commenced till the valley had begun to fill up about 23 feet 6 inches at this part. In this case the retaining wall may have been one side of a ramp or viaduct leading across the valley to this Suburban gate, at a height of 27 feet above the surface of the ground at that time.”

5. Two fallen voussoirs are lodged in the drain below Robinson’s Arch, showing that part of the arch fell down during its construction (see pictures in this previous post).

6. The two eastern domes of the Double Gate passageway (barely visible on the right in the drawing below) also fell down at some time during the First Century AD and were built up again without decorations. (The western domes are still decorated). It is not clear if this happened before or after the Royal Stoa was completed.

This reconstruction drawing shows the Double Gate of Herod's Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Most of the elements have been preserved, including the domes inside the double passageway. Some researchers have proposed that this beautifully decorated gateway was the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, mentioned in Acts 3.10. © Leen Ritmeyer

At present, I see the following sequence in the building of the southern part of the Temple Mount (only four of the stages are illustrated below):

a. Herod, in his lifetime, completed the lower part of the Western Wall from the Antonia Fortress up to Barclay’s Gate, that is as far south as the Hasmonean extension of the square Temple Mount goes (see this previous post). The portico on top of the wall may only have been completed from the Antonia up to the gate over Wilson’s Arch, as that is where the First Wall was connected to the Temple Mount.

This drawing is part of the elevation of the Western Wall drawn by Warren. The coloured section may indicate the first stage in the building of the Western Wall, most likely completed during the reign of Herod the Great. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

The second stage (shown in blue) is the construction of the Western Wall south of Barclay's Gate, with stones having rough bosses.

b. The part of the Western Wall that lies below the street, from Barclay’s Gate up to the southwest corner and then up to the Double Gate in the Southern Wall, was built with rough bosses in or soon after 20 AD. Because the southwest corner of the Temple Mount crossed the Tyropoeon Valley and cut the drain below the planned street, an arched relay section was built to connect the drain again. The Western Wall with the rough bosses was built up to the level of the planned street:

c. The Tyropoeon Valley was then (20 AD), filled up to the level of the rough bosses from Wilson’s Arch to Barclay’s Gate.

d. The top of the Western Wall was built from the gate over Wilson’s Arch to the north side of Robinson’s Arch:

The section marked in green indicates the third stage in the building of the Western Wall, from either Wilson's Arch or Barclay's Gate to the northern end of Robinson's Arch. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

e. Robinson’s Arch and the Double Gate in the Southern Wall with the wall in between were built later, possibly sometime around 30 AD.

f. Part of Robinson’s Arch fell down (and perhaps also Wilson’s Arch) and the two eastern domes of the Double Gate passageway were destroyed (The Quest, p. 74) – possibly by an earthquake?

g. The underground passageway of the Double Gate was repaired, the southwest corner with Robinson’s Arch and stairway completed and the Royal Stoa finished.

During this fourth stage, shown in red, the Western Wall was completed with Robinson's Arch and stairway. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

This proposal for the development of the Herodian Temple Mount is only in its early stages, but I hope that it may be helpful to those who struggle to understand the implications of the latest archaeological discoveries near the foundation of the Western Wall.

© Leen Ritmeyer

A picture of the two coins that were found in the mikveh. The coins date from the time of the Roman procurator Valeruis Gratus (17-18 AD). Photo: Vladimir Neichin/IAA

This picture shows that the Western Wall was built over the remains of a mikveh. Photo by Vladimir Neichin/IAA

Photo of the excavation of the mikveh by Vladimir Neichin/IAA

This late date is not surprising, as at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, usually dated to 30 AD, it was said that this Temple complex had been in building already for 46 years (John 2.20).

At the northern end of the Western Wall is a piece of bedrock that wasn’t even removed before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

A huge block of bedrock that was never quarried is visible at the end of the Western Tunnel. The Western wall is visible on the right and on the left is the street that was paved around the protruding piece of rock. Photo: © Leen Ritmeyer

This doesn’t mean to say that the Western wall is not Herodian. The whole building concept was designed by Herod the Great and completed after his death.

Although it sounds mysterious, Ronny Reich, whom I met very recently in Jerusalem, said that he has new information about the construction date of Robinson’s Arch. It will be interesting to see what he has to say.

HT: Joe Lauer

A view of the southwest corner of Herod's Temple Mount. In the foreground is Robinson's Arch with its monumental stairway that led up from the main street in the Tyropoeon Valley and entered the Royal Stoa through a gateway. On the left of Robinson's Arch is Barclay's Gate with Wilson's Arch at far left. The Temple towered high above the Temple Mount. © Leen Ritmeyer