At the Temple Gates: The Archaeology of Jerusalem Pilgrimage

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Thousands of pilgrims traversed the Ophel on their way up to the Jerusalem Temple. Located between the City of David to its south and the Temple complex, this area was the primary gateway to the Temple. Explore what archaeology reveals about Jerusalem pilgrimage during the last two centuries of the Second Temple period, from the Hasmoneans up to Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE.

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Footnotes

1. See Orit Peleg-Barkat, “Milestones: Eilat Mazar (1956–2021),” BAR, Fall 2021.

2. See Aryeh Shimron and Orit Peleg-Barkat, “New Evidence of the Royal Stoa and Roman Flames,” BAR, March/April 2010.

Endnotes

1. Nahshon Szanton et al., “Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem: The Monumental Street from the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount,” Tel Aviv 46 (2019), pp. 147–166.

2. See Eilat Mazar, The Temple Mount Excavations in Jerusalem 1968–1978 Directed by Benjamin Mazar: Final Reports, vols. 2 and 3: The Byzantine and Early Islamic Periods (Jerusalem: Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem, 2003 and 2007).