Jerusalem Archives - Page 165 of 195

Mahane Yehuda

Western visitors to Jerusalem are often impressed with the city’s large open-air market, Mahane Yehuda. Arutz-7 runs an illustrated article about it today.

You can learn much about a city by exploring its open air market and listening to its stories. By the end of the 19th [secular] century Jerusalem was growing, with Jews returning to their homeland. In addition, immigrants from numerous nationalities and religions from Europe, Ethiopia, Turkey, and Russia were also contributing to the urban fabric of the city. New neighborhoods were built outside the walls to alleviate the overcrowding in the Old City.

The Jerusalem neighborhood of Mahane Yehuda was established in 1887 with 162 houses, founded by three business partners: Johannes Frutiger, Joseph Navon, and Shalom Konstrum, and named after Navon’s brother Yehudah. Frutiger was a German Protestant who owned the largest private bank in Palestine; it was he who acquired the license for the Jaffa-Jerusalem Railway with Navon from the Ottoman government.

The full article and photos are here.

Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem

This might be a good opportunity to mention an Israeli film related to the feast of Sukkot (which begins on Friday evening). Ushpizin is a delightful 90-minute movie about a husband and wife whose celebration of the holiday is interrupted by some unexpected visitors. The film is in Hebrew with English subtitles. The movie won awards in Israel for “best picture” and “best actor,” but it’s popular enough in the U.S. that I found it for rent in our local Blockbuster. Amazon has it used for $8.

Tagged Jerusalem

Pool of Siloam, Then and Now

Understanding the ancient Pool(s) of Siloam is a bit difficult. First, there is the pool where Hezekiah’s Tunnel emerges. This pool is small, shallow, and unimpressive. In 2004, a monumental reservoir was discovered to the south, dating to the 1st century A.D. (for more on that, see here and here).

Scholars today do not yet know how the two pools are related. The Lower Pool was quite likely the place of the miracle of the healing of the blind man (John 9). The area above was the site of a pool in the Late Roman period, and continued in use in the Byzantine period when a 5th century church was constructed over it. What existed here before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 is not known.

Pool of Siloam, view to the north, present day

Today if you visit the pool at the end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, there are a few column drums from the Byzantine pool, but little else to suggest the beautiful complex that pilgrims visited. That hasn’t always been the case, however, for the excavations of Bliss and Dickie in the 1890s revealed some of the ancient walls. In the photo below, behind the donkey is a wall of large, well-dressed stones with a classical molding. The excavators identified this as the northern side of the square Roman pool.

Pool of Siloam, view to the north, early 1900s

After the excavations, Muslims erected a mosque over the northwestern corner of the area, covering all traces of the earlier pool and the Byzantine church built to commemorate it.

This photograph is one of 45 in the “City of David” set included in the Jerusalem volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. Photo: Library of Congress, LC-matpc-08471.

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jerusalem, Then and Now

Weekend Roundup

I updated last week’s post about the mikveh discovery near the Western Wall with a link to Leen Ritmeyer’s explanation of the location of the mikveh in relation to the Xystos and Chamber of Hewn Stone.

Bob Cargill reports that Raphael Golb’s path to prison is still clear.

If you use Logos’ Libronix, but don’t subscribe to the Tyndale Tech newsletter, you’ll find David Instone-Brewer’s “Guides, Tips, and Treasures” helpful.

Ferrell Jenkins is currently traveling through Malta and Italy, visiting such biblical sites as Rhegium, Syracuse, and Rome. You can read his observations and view his photos on his blog. I’m presently working on a new CD for the Pictorial Library that will include these places and more.

Gordon Franz gives his reflections on six weeks of excavation at Hazor this summer.

The Wall Street Journal considers the claims of Palestinians who assert that

Jews have no history in the city of Jerusalem: They have never lived there, the Temple never existed, and Israeli archaeologists have admitted as much. Those who deny this are simply liars.

The WSJ mentions “A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif” as evidence in the discussion, and, as far as I know, this discovery was first mentioned and made available by a reader on this blog.

Tagged Galilee, Italy, Jerusalem

Petition Against City of David Excavations Rejected

From the Jerusalem Post:

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition submitted against the Israel Antiquities Authority by residents of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, concerning excavations being conducted at the City of David archeological park in the neighborhood’s Wadi Hilweh section.
The petition, which was the second of its kind submitted by residents – and dismissed by the court – within the last week, alleged that the excavations were being done without the proper permits and were encroaching on the residents’ private property. Residents also complained that the archeological projects had damaged their homes.
The IAA, however, claimed that the residents were being “incited by other figures whose considerations are political and improbable,” and maintained that the excavations were of the utmost importance.
One of the excavations is being conducted next to the Givati parking lot, which is located south of the Old City’s southern wall, at the entrance to Silwan. According to the IAA, numerous layers of antiquities have been revealed during the excavation, including a “very impressive” structure that was likely a public building dating back to the late Roman period.
Remains from the early Islamic period have also been uncovered, as well as remains from the Second Temple period. According to the IAA, “all of the remains were scientifically excavated, through meticulous work, while photographing and documenting everything.”
The second excavation, which was the subject of the residents’ most recent petition, exposed a drainage channel structure from the Second Temple period that extends over a distance of many dozens of meters. According to the IAA, “the structure is surprisingly well preserved, and one can walk through it upright, for most of its length. The excavators were aware of the structure’s existence; nevertheless, the segment that was excavated was only recently exposed.”

The full article is here.

HT: Joe Lauer

Tagged Excavations, Jerusalem

Large Mikveh Discovered Near Western Wall

A large ritual bathing installation from the 1st century A.D. has been excavated in the Western Wall Tunnels. From Arutz-7:

It is located about 30 meters past the entrance to the Tunnels, in the general direction of the Western Wall. Once it becomes open to the public, the 11 broad steps leading down to the mikveh will be seen approximately 8 meters below floor level.
Josephus, the famous turncoat general and historian of the period, wrote that the administrative and governmental center of Jerusalem was located at the foot of the Temple, and that among the buildings there were the National Council and the Lishkat HaGazit, Chamber of Hewn Stone, where the Sanhedrin – Israel’s Supreme Court – convened. The archaeologists feel that it is possible that the luxurious hall aside the mikveh was originally one of these structures.
Archaeologist Alexander Ohn, the director of the dig, explains: “It is interesting to note that in the middle of the first century, changes were made in the grand structure. It was no longer used for public administrative purposes, and in its western wall a large mikveh was installed – with 11 steps descending into the immersion pool. It appears that Jerusalem was growing at this time, and with it the need to provide a solution for the increasing numbers of people who came en masse to Jerusalem, especially on the pilgrimage festivals (Passover (Pesach), Pentecost (Shavuot), and Tabernacles (Sukkot)). Ritual immersion in a mikveh and precise observance of the laws of purity were an inseparable part of Jewish life at this time; the importance of a mikveh, especially in this location, was great.”

The complete article is here. The Israel Antiquities Authority press release (temporary link) includes two high-resolution photos (zip).

UPDATE: Joe Lauer notes some additional photos in this brief AP article.

UPDATE (9/26): Leen Ritmeyer has written an illustrated post about the discovery, including clarification of some portions of the JPost article.

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Jerusalem, Temple Mount

Western Wall Area, Then and Now

This photograph was taken by the American Colony photographers between 1900 and 1920 from the southern wall of the Old City (visible on the right edge). The Dome of the Rock is clearly visible, but you have to look harder to see a portion of the Western Wall below it. The buildings directly below the Dome are in the area of today’s “ramp” giving access to the Temple Mount to non-Muslims. The fields in the foreground are cactus.

By 1964, the plants had been removed and a narrow road paved. The road today follows a circuitous route similar to that shown here, where buses pick up passengers from the Western Wall.

The problem today is that you can’t get the same perspective because of buildings in the way.

You get a better feel for the comparison if you move in front of the buildings.

If it’s easier for you to compare these if you have them in a larger size in a PowerPoint file, you can download that here (but see update below).

The first photo is one of 77 photographs in the “Views of Jerusalem” section of the Jerusalem volume of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. Photo: Library of Congress, LC-matpc-00886.

The second photo is from Views That Have Vanished: The Photographs of David Bivin.

UPDATE (9/23): Mark V. Hoffman has edited the PowerPoint file so that the images are aligned and transition smoothly one to the next. You can download that here. Thanks Mark!

Tagged American Colony Photos, Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Then and Now