At the Temple Gates: The Archaeology of Jerusalem Pilgrimage

THE NEW OPHEL EXCAVATIONS, HEBREW UNIVERSITY

Pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple was a fundamental aspect of Second Temple Judaism, rooted in the biblical commandment to appear before Israel’s God “three times a year” (Exodus 23:17; 34:23–24; Deuteronomy 16:16). Although little is known about this practice in the Persian and Hellenistic periods (sixth–second centuries BCE), pilgrimage left a significant mark in written sources from the first century BCE onward. Philo of Alexandria (Special Laws 1.69; 2.146), Flavius Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 4.203–204; Jewish War 6.423–425), and the New Testament (Luke 2:41; John 2:13; Acts 2:1–11) all testify that pilgrimage was practiced by many Jews in Judea and throughout the Diaspora, usually on the occasion of the three annual festivals: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles), when abundant sacrifices and offerings were made at the Temple.

COURTESY GLENN J. CORBETT, BAS

Despite the plethora of references to pilgrimage in our ancient sources, however, little is known about how it was actually performed, as the descriptions in rabbinic literature (Mishnah Pesahim 5.5; Bikkurim 3.2–8) from the second through the fourth centuries might be literary compositions rather than authentic testimonies handed down from the Second Temple period. Archaeological evidence from Jerusalem is then crucial for reconstructing pilgrimage practices.

Nineteenth-century European scholars had already begun to explore the area adjacent to the Temple Mount for evidence of ancient Jerusalem, but it was Benjamin Mazar’s extensive excavations at the foot of the platform’s southern wall, from 1968 to 1978, that proved particularly significant, revealing substantial remains from the late Second Temple period (first century BCE–first century CE). Especially important were his excavations along the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, which revealed a large plaza, shops, and a major street, along with a monumental staircase supported by Robinson’s Arch that led to one of the Temple’s entrances. Mazar also excavated massive cisterns, dozens of ritual baths (mikva’ot), and numerous artifacts, including soft chalk vessels that, according to Jewish religious law (ha­lakhah), are not susceptible to impurity and, therefore, were possibly used by pilgrims to maintain their ritual purity as they approached the Temple. Most of these finds, however, have been only partially published, meaning we lack a full account of their archaeological context and stratigraphy.

DAVID HARRIS

More recent excavations have exposed remains that allow us to reconstruct the actual route taken by pilgrims to the Temple. Jerusalem’s topography drew many pilgrims to the city’s southeastern gate, inside of which lay the Pool of Siloam and a wide street paved in the days of Pontius Pilate (c. 26–37 CE) that ran along the Tyropoeon Valley and connected the gate with the Temple Mount.¹ The nearly 2,000-foot-long street featured many steps and lacked sidewalks, indicating it was primarily meant for pedestrians, likely pilgrims ascending to the Temple.

Eventually, the pilgrims reached the Ophel, the area between the foot of the Temple Mount to the north and the City of David to the south. Here, they gathered in a plaza in front of two sets of wide steps leading to two gates that gave access to the Temple complex, one with a double entrance (the Double Gate) and the other one with three openings (the Triple Gate).

The Ophel is one of the most important archaeological sites of the Second Temple period, with substantial architectural remains and rich assemblages of finds. Throughout much of the Second Temple period, Jerusalem was situated in the City of David, and worshipers crossed the Ophel on their way up to the Temple. Even though Jerusalem had expanded to the north and west by the late Second Temple period, there is good reason to believe that the southern gates were still considered the main entrance to the Temple complex and that most visitors first passed through the Ophel.

Building on earlier discoveries in the area of the Ophel, especially Benjamin Mazar’s excavation, a research project of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, headed by the present authors and sponsored by the Israel Science Foundation, is studying the “archaeology of pilgrimage” in the Second Temple period. The Ophel, traversed annually by thousands of pilgrims on their way to the Temple, offers an unparalleled window into Jerusalem’s role as a major pilgrimage destination. Our project investigates the Ophel’s evolution as the primary pilgrimage gateway to the Temple and examines how it accommodated the flow of pilgrims, from its traffic patterns to commercial installations. We focus on establishing the timeline of pilgrimage to the Temple and documenting its growth from the Hellenistic to early Roman periods. Additionally, we study the material remains of pilgrim activities, seeking to understand how rituals were performed and how worshipers interacted in this space, so close to the sacred precinct.

ZEV RADOVAN / BIBLELANDPICTURES.COM

The project encompasses two complementary studies. The first focuses on analyzing the unpublished remains from Mazar’s excavation. Our team is systematically processing thousands of documents, photographs, and plans from Mazar’s archive. This work includes re-examining and dating the excavated structures and installations, while conducting a comprehensive analysis of the extensive artifact assemblages, including oil lamps, pottery vessels, and stone objects. A significant component of our research, conducted with numismatists Donald Zvi-Ariel and Yoav Farhi, focuses on the exceptional coin assemblage from Mazar’s excavation, with 2,900 coins dating to the Second Temple period. Coin analysis will allow us to trace the intensity of pilgrimage activity near the Temple gates in different periods and will illuminate the Ophel’s role as a commercial hub hosting money changers, sacrificial animal merchants, and others. The assemblage includes a few rare coins that may help to identify the presence of pilgrims coming from distant lands.

The second component of our project, conducted in collaboration with the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology, includes new excavations in the eastern part of the Ophel that aim to reveal additional remains from the Second Temple period. Mazar’s earlier excavation there uncovered a densely packed Byzantine neighborhood across the entire area that flourished during the fifth and sixth centuries.² Mazar typically did not penetrate below Byzantine floor levels in this area, however, leaving its earlier history largely unknown. Using methods that were not commonly employed in Mazar’s time, such as wet sifting and soil flotation, we are able to recover small, delicate materials—fish bones, seeds, pollen, and bullae—which significantly expand our understanding of the site’s environmental, economic, and administrative contexts. Collaborative work with various specialists provides a detailed picture of the social and commercial activities connected with pilgrims and goods that arrived in Jerusalem from both near and far.

Since the inception of our project in 2022, our team has opened four excavation areas. Area F is a large Byzantine-period structure, previously uncovered by Mazar and identified by Hebrew University archaeologist Eilat Mazar (granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar) with the “Monastery of the Virgins” mentioned by the Christian pilgrim Theodosius in the early sixth century. Segments of finely cut ashlar masonry led Benjamin Mazar to suggest that parts of a Herodian-period structure were reused in the Byzantine construction. Based on a fragment of a Hebrew inscription found nearby (which may contain the word for “elders”), he further hypothesized that the earlier structure may have been a Jewish legislative court, since rabbinic sources mention a Sanhedrin court situated at the entrance to the Temple Mount (Mishnah Sanhedrin 11.2). To test this hypothesis, our excavation opened two probes on either side of the ashlar foundations of the eastern wall of this complex, both of which reached bedrock. The finds from the probes indicated the wall was built only in the late Roman or early Byzantine period, though it is still possible that other parts of this structure may have incorporated Herodian remains.

JULIA GODDARD / ARMSTRONG INSTITUTE OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Area E is located at the easternmost edge of the Ophel, near the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount. This is a large open area characterized by just a few walls protruding above the surface, aligned in a southwest-northeast direction, which is typical of pre-Byzantine remains in this area. This suggested there was significant potential for quickly revealing layers from the Second Temple period and, consequently, for drawing comparisons with the monumental remains that Mazar uncovered near the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount (mentioned above). Indeed, immediately beneath the surface were floors and walls dating to the late Second Temple period. Unlike at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, however, the remains here are poor and most likely domestic, and no monumental construction has been revealed thus far.

W. NEJEM / THE NEW OPHEL EXCAVATIONS, HEBREW UNIVERSITY

Areas D and D1 are the main areas of our excavation. During conservation work in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a large four-sided stepped pool was uncovered here, a little more than 50 yards south of the Triple Gate. Two similar pools from the Second Temple period are known from elsewhere in Jerusalem. Although not roofed, these seem to have been large ritual baths that could be entered from all directions, perhaps for ritual immersion or for purifying vessels. In 2013, Eilat Mazar began excavating a Byzantine domicile west of the pool. Beneath its eastern side, she revealed the ashlar façade of an earlier monumental building that she assigned to the late Second Temple period based on associated finds. Following Eilat Mazar’s untimely death,^a we resumed excavations in this area with the aim of uncovering the entire structure to determine its exact date, nature, and purpose.

MERCADO / THE NEW OPHEL EXCAVATIONS, HEBREW UNIVERSITY

So far, we exposed a wide porch paved with neat ashlars in front of the structure that connects it to the large stepped pool. Two large thresholds are fixed in the ashlar façade, leading to two staircases that descend inwards. The southern room has plastered stairs, indicating it functioned as a ritual bath. The architecture of the northern room is outstanding, although still partially buried under later Byzantine walls. A large threshold that once supported a double door leads to a staircase built of well-dressed ashlars, with sets of stairs separated by wide landings.

Incorporated in secondary use in a Byzantine wall above the northern room was a fragment of a beautifully carved Herodian soffit (the underside of an architectural element, such as a lintel). It joins a large assemblage of decorated ceiling pieces from the Herodian Temple Mount found at the Ophel,^b but we cannot rule out that it decorated our monumental structure. While we can only tentatively place the building’s construction in the late first century BCE or slightly later, we have ample evidence for the date of its destruction. A massive destruction layer on both staircases contained ashlars, numerous pottery and stone vessel fragments, and dozens of coins. The latest coins are issues from year four of the First Jewish Revolt, indicating the building was destroyed together with the Temple and the entire city in the summer of 70 CE.

We believe the building, the porch, and the large stepped pool were all built as one integrated complex. The staircases leading into the structure, and those leading into the stepped pool, mirror each other with sets of stairs separated by landings. The high-quality masonry and large entryways clearly point to the public nature of the structure. The prime location of this complex, near the foot of the monumental staircase climbing to the Triple Gate, indicates it was probably of major significance. We still have to determine how the building was integrated into the Ophel’s overall plan and what function it served. Initial observations, however, suggest it was used, at least partially, for ritual purity purposes.

SASSON TIRAM

Finally, in Area D1, we excavated a subterranean system of plastered tunnels that begins under the monumental structure and connects to the drainage of the large stepped pool. Several components of the system were clearly built earlier, such as a vaulted reservoir that likely went out of use when a massive pier was erected inside of it to support the monumental structure above. There are also indications that an earlier ritual bath and a lavish ashlar structure were cut by the drainage channel of the large stepped pool. Other parts of the system, however, were built with the monumental structure, such as an arch in the foundations of the façade that enabled passage through the tunnels. Coins found in the plaster of the channels, pools, and ritual baths will help us date the various phases of this intricate system, whose discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the development of the Ophel as a public area in the late Second Temple period.

Although it is premature to assess the project’s full implications for pilgrimage research, the finds so far predominantly date to the last two centuries of the Second Temple period, from the Hasmonean period up to Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 CE, with no evidence of earlier mass pilgrimage. A significant portion of the late Second Temple period public infrastructure pertains to water management—conduits, drainage systems, cisterns, reservoirs, and ritual baths—while other elements relate to traffic, such as streets, plazas, and staircases. Artifacts of daily life, including pottery, oil lamps, and stone vessels, are predominantly local, produced in and around Jerusalem, with foreign pilgrims likely acquiring these vessels in city markets. By combining artifact analysis with a reconstruction of the area’s urban layout, we can begin to reconstruct pilgrimage practices during this pivotal period in Jerusalem’s history.