Real Households of Jerusalem

UNC CHARLOTTE MOUNT ZION EXPEDITION / SHIMON GIBSON

The inscribed stone mug was found during excavations on the upper east slope of the traditional Mt. Zion, not far from Zion Gate in the southern wall of Jerusalem’s Old City. The site is located in a garden area that was part of the green belt established by the British in the 1920s to surround the Old City from the south. Sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the project has been ongoing since 2006. The project’s intensive stratigraphic work and architectural analysis have resulted in the discovery of a wide range of archaeological remains dating from a variety of periods, from as early as the Iron Age (seventh–sixth centuries BCE) and as late as Ottoman times.¹

UNC CHARLOTTE MOUNT ZION EXPEDITION / SHIMON GIBSON

The stone mug was found in the rubble of a large Second Temple period building complex that extends well beyond the limits of our excavation. It was probably built to a height of at least two stories, with a basement level that consisted of several rooms extending off of a courtyard. These rooms included a mikveh with an intact barrel-vaulted ceiling, a bathroom with a complete plastered bathtub, and a deep cistern. Rooms unearthed to the west included a bakery with three circular ovens. The upper stories were lavishly decorated, as evidenced by numerous fragments of molded stucco, large chunks of fallen, multicolored wall paintings in Pompeian style (a rare find in Israel), and an exquisitely carved stone window screen. Small finds included a great variety of ceramic, stone, and glass vessels, one bowl bearing a molded Greek inscription, a bronze ladle for serving wine, and a well-preserved gold aureus coin minted early in the reign of Emperor Nero (54–68 CE).

UNC CHARLOTTE MOUNT ZION EXPEDITION / SHIMON GIBSON

Our building closely resembles the “mansions” previously identified in the 1970s in excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Based on our data, it appears our building was built as the domicile of a priestly family or Jewish aristocrat in the first century BCE, more precisely near the end of that century during the reign of Herod the Great. Judging by the finds, the building remained in use throughout the first century CE until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70.

The discovery of a unique inscribed stone mug, which likely belonged to a member of this wealthy household, is truly exciting. But to whom exactly did it belong? Was it a member of the Jewish priestly or aristocratic family who lived there, or perhaps one of the servants or household staff? We may never know for certain, and the mystery of the writing on the stone mug will continue to puzzle and challenge us.