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Hillel Geva

Abstract

At the end of the First Temple period, Jerusalem’s fortified area included the City of David, the ‘Ofel and the Temple Mount on the Eastern Hill, and for the first time, also the wide area of the Southwestern Hill, including the area of today’s Jewish and Armenian quarters, and Mount Zion. At the beginning of the Second Temple period, during the Persian and Early Hellenistic periods, Jerusalem was confined to the area of the Eastern Hill. Once Hasmonean rule was established, the city expanded once again to the Southwestern Hill, which was later fortified by the First Wall. Only brief descriptions of Hasmonean Jerusalem are found in the literary sources, in the Book of Makkabbim and by Flavius Josephus; these, however, are insufficient for reconstructing the city’s plan. The archaeological record pertaing to Hasmonean-period (165–40 BCE) Jerusalem includes only few remains, mostly in a poor state of preservation and disappointing in respect to the importance of the city—the capital of the Hasmonean Kingdom. The main remains from this period are the city’s fortifications, namely the First Wall, which enclosed the City of David from the east and the Southwestern Hill, from the south, west and north. It was probably erected immediately after the conquest of the Seleucid Akra in 141 BCE. The wall surrounding the Southwestern Hill was built of massive stone ashlars with dressed margins and a protruding boss; its northwestern part, within the courtyard of the Tower of David citadel, stands to a height of about 10 m, with a massive tower projecting from it. Near the outer (western) face of the First Wall were found ballista stones, lead sling stones and winged bronze arrowheads—evidence of the ammunition fired at the city during the siege of Jerusalem in the days of Antiochus VII (Sidetes) in 133/132 BCE. Scant remains of private dwelling were uncovered on the Southwestern Hill, indicating that this area was first settled by the Hasmoneans. Later in the Hasmonean period, an urban settlement was documented on the hill, which developed into a dense residential area known as the Upper City, reaching its peak in the Herodian period. The Hasmonean palace in Jerusalem is described by Flavius Joseph on the Southwestern Hill, with a view of the Temple Mount and the Temple; no archaeological remains of the palace survived. Some researchers, including the author of this paper, are of the opinion that the Second Wall, from the Second Temple period, which surrounded a small urban area to the north of the First Wall, was erected during the Hasmonean period. A few pottery vessels from this period found in the excavations in this area may support this suggestion. This wall protected the aqueduct that led water from the north to the area of the Hasmonean Temple Mount.

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