Lifestyles of Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous

YAEIR Z, COURTESY OF THE CITY OF DAVID ARCHIVE

Between the Eighth and Sixth Centuries BCE, Jerusalem reached unprecedented heights of power and prosperity. The city was the economic, political, and religious capital of the Kingdom of Judah. It boasted the Temple, the royal palace, and other official buildings of the state. From a small town founded on the narrow ridge known today as the City of David, Jerusalem developed into a strong, walled city of hundreds of acres, surrounded by agricultural estates in service of the kingdom. The capital was supported by a network of smaller cities and fortresses that facilitated its control over the kingdom’s territories and the wealthy trade caravans that passed through them.

GIVATI PARKING LOT EXPEDITION

Here, we present a large public building uncovered recently at the Givati Parking Lot excavation. We call it Building 100. Located on the northwestern slope of the southeastern ridge (i.e., the City of David), a short distance from the Ophel and the Temple Mount, it evidences the city’s wealth during the closing centuries of the Iron Age.¹ This magnificent structure was built on a large rock terrace carved into the western slope of the ridge. Excavation revealed a row of three rooms (A–C) that made up the ground floor of the southern wing of a large two-story building. Several walls and stone piers extend to the north, indicating that the entire building was much larger, probably at least twice the size of what we uncovered (we estimate the entire building originally measured at least 65 by 55 ft). The three rooms, which appear to have been storage areas, were preserved to a height of nearly 9 feet in places. The exterior walls were built of square hewn stones or large rough-hewn blocks. Many of the building’s walls, both inside and out, were covered with a fine layer of plaster.

KOBBI HAREATI, COURTESY OF THE CITY OF DAVID ARCHIVE

Although we still don’t know when Building 100 was first built, we do know it was violently destroyed. Throughout the building, we found the collapsed walls and floors of the upper story, along with charred wood and burnt debris caused by a great fire that engulfed the building. The pottery from the collapse, together with radiocarbon and archaeomagnetic data, all confirm the site was destroyed in the early sixth century—most likely during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE that marked the end of the First Temple period.

MICHAEL KAPLAAN

VADIM ASSMAN

The western room (Room A), which is the largest (measuring about 20 by 16 ft), had a stone-paved floor and two to three monolithic piers that supported the second story. The room’s southern wall also had a small window that looked to the south.

DRAWING: A . RUBAN

PHOTO: CLARA AMIT

The central and eastern rooms (Rooms B and C), which are smaller (about 16 by 11 ft), both had beaten earth floors. On the western side of Room B, a rounded stone installation was discovered, while in the room’s northeast corner, a small square chamber with a narrow opening was probably used for storage, as many pottery bowls were found stacked inside. To the north, a corridor connecting Rooms A and B featured a small drainage channel that flowed down from the building’s upper story via a gutter.

Building 100 was finely decorated with beautiful architectural features. Two decorated stones were found amid the collapse: a large ashlar with a designed frame (perhaps part of a window frame), and a basin with a smoothed interior. A small drainage opening suggests the basin may have been a sink. We do not know where the basin originally stood, but the small gutter coming down from the second floor indicates it may have been a fixture in the room above. In the fills covering Building 100, a fragment of a volute capital was also found during previous excavations.² Such capitals have rarely been found in Jerusalem but are well known from other royal or cultic centers in Judah, including Ramat Rahel, Armon HaNatziv, and Wallajeh.

GIVATI PARKING LOT EXPEDITION

Most impressive was a thick, terrazzo-style plaster floor that adorned at least part of the building’s second story. The floor was made of a base of coarse limestone fragments, topped by a thick layer of well-sifted sediment and calcite crystals. Its hardened surface was polished to create a smooth, reddish, shimmering floor. This is the first time such a floor has ever been found in Iron Age Israel.

PHOTO: CLARA AMIT

PHOTO: CLARA AMIT

Building 100’s splendor is also reflected in the objects found inside. Most indicative is an assemblage of decorated ivory plaques discovered in the debris of Room B (see “Fragments”). The plaques lay amid the rubble that had fallen from the second story when the building collapsed. The pieces most likely served as decorative inlays attached to rich furniture that stood in the room above. Indeed, many pieces of burnt wood were found beneath the rubble in all three rooms, but especially in Room C. These included roof beams, and also small wooden fragments that may have originally been part of furniture that was smashed and broken during the destruction.

A rich collection of bullae and seals probably indicates the existence in the building of the personal or administrative archive of a high official. An agate seal bearing the name “Ikar ben Matanyahu” was found in the collapse in Room B, as were two small decorated seals, one of white stone and the other of bone. Among the dozens of bullae fragments found in the building were several with inscriptions. A complete bulla from Room A has an ancient Hebrew inscription reading “To Nethanmelek, the servant of the king.” Other seals found close by name “Elihana bat Gael” (a woman) and “Saaryahu ben Shabenyahu,” presumably officials or wealthy elites within the city.³

Analysis of animal bones excavated from Building 100 showed that its occupants ate mainly sheep and goat and, to a lesser extent, cattle and even some chickens and hunted animals. Interestingly, however, the remains show that sheep and goat were raised not only for their meat and secondary products (wool, milk, etc.), but perhaps also as sacrificial animals. In one area, we identified a predominance of right front limb bones, parts that are associated with sacrificial offerings in the Bible (Leviticus 7:32). It is possible, therefore, that these bones indicate specific portions of meat that were received from the Temple priests following sacrificial rites.

In addition to fine cuts of meat, the building’s occupants enjoyed a wide variety of fish, including bream, mullet, cod, catfish, and Nile perch. Given that similar types of fish bones have been found elsewhere in Jerusalem, it seems that the city’s residents—and certainly the wealthiest among them—enjoyed a constant supply of fish, which were transported to Jerusalem from the Mediterranean, the Nile, and the marshy lagoons of the northern Sinai Peninsula.

The building’s pottery also provides clear evidence of wealth. A very rich assemblage of tableware was discovered smashed on the floor of Room B, including at least 45 bowls that form a set of drinking vessels. The dishes may have been stored in the room for banquets, receptions, or ceremonies held upstairs. Among the wares were some Phoenician vessels, including a “black on red” juglet and several carved stone bowls, which were probably brought to Jerusalem from the coast.

At least 15 storage jars and one pithos stood in Room C, together with a decanter and cooking pot. One of the jars is stamped with a rosette impression, a clear indication that the building’s occupants had some connection to the kingdom’s royal administration.^a The storage jars probably stood along the western wall of the room, one above the other, perhaps even on shelves.

Residue analysis revealed that the jars contained vanilla-spiced wine and in some cases olive oil. The use of vanilla indicates that Jerusalem was connected to broader global trading networks by the end of the Iron Age, because vanilla grows naturally in the tropics of India and Africa and must have been imported into the Levant through long-distance trade. We assume, therefore, that vanilla pods were just a few of the exotic products that were carried by South Arabian caravans as they crossed the Negev towards Gaza or Ashkelon, under the auspices of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The kings of Judah clearly benefited from this trade, which allowed Jerusalem’s ruling elite to enjoy exotic luxuries that were displayed and consumed in the capital.

SASHA FLIT

Building 100’s dimensions, construction, and architecture, together with the broad range of high-quality luxury objects found inside, clearly indicate it was no ordinary house. There were also no hearths, ovens, or other signs of food preparation, nor was there any evidence for household industry or production. Whatever Building 100 was, it was not a place of routine, everyday domestic activity. So what was this building, which is the largest and richest structure ever discovered from Iron Age Jerusalem?

SASHA FLIT

The many luxurious finds, especially those associated with lavish feasts or special gatherings, suggest that various ceremonies were held on the second floor, where the assembly enjoyed vanilla-flavored wine and choice cuts of meat while sitting on ivory-decorated furniture. Indeed, the building’s features and contents bring to mind the prophet Amos’s famous rebuke of Israel’s aristocracy:

SHALOM KWELLER, CITY OF DAVID

Alas for those who lie upon beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp; … who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils. …Therefore, they shall now be the first to go into exile (Amos 6:4–7).

In the Hebrew Bible—especially in the books written and edited close to the time of the Babylonian destruction—buildings used by senior officials and priests are called “chambers.” The prophet Jeremiah, for example, mentions the chambers of several officials and wealthy citizens that were located in close proximity to the Jerusalem Temple (Jeremiah 35:2–5). Such spaces appear to have functioned not only as residences, but also as formal state institutions, where ceremonies and social gatherings (often involving drinking) were held and administrative decisions were handed down.

Another striking example is found in 2 Kings 23:11, which mentions the “chamber” of a royal official named Nethanmelek. This is likely the same person named on the bulla found in Room A. And although it is tempting to view Building 100 as Nethanmelek’s chamber, all we can say is that this magnificent structure—or at least its well-adorned second floor—was likely the chamber of someone like Nethanmelek who was a servant, minister, or priest of the Kingdom of Judah.

All we know about late Iron Age Jerusalem confirms that Building 100 was unique in the city’s ancient landscape. In addition to being a public building, it was a magnificent residence and reception hall—a biblical “chamber”—where a senior royal official carried out the routine business, administration, and ceremonial obligations of the kingdom. Now its archaeology has opened a window onto the daily life of Jerusalem’s ruling elite at the end of the First Temple period.

The Iron Age building recently excavated in the Givati Parking Lot section of the City of David was unique in Jerusalem’s ancient landscape. A magnificent residence and reception hall used for official ceremonies and social gatherings, it may be identified with the biblical “chamber,” reflecting the daily life of Jerusalem’s ruling elite at the end of the First Temple period.