Archaeologists Identify 'Lost' Jerusalem Street Built by Pontius Pilate... [tr]

Live Science ^ | Sunday, October 20, 2019 | Owen Jarus

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists have identified a grand street in Jerusalem that was built by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea who is famous for overseeing the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

The nearly 2,000-foot-long (600 meters) street would have connected the Siloam Pool -- a place where pilgrims could stop to bathe and get fresh water -- to the Temple Mount, the most holy place in Judaism. The street was likely used by ancient pilgrims on their way to worship at the Mount, the researchers said.

Archaeological evidence for Pontius Pilate is limited and the discovery sheds a bit of light on what the prefect was like, researchers wrote in a paper recently published in the journal "Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University." The fact that Pilate built a street that would have helped people reach the Temple Mount suggests that he may not have been as self-serving and religiously insensitive as ancient writers claim, the researchers said.

Scholars have long known of the existence of the street, with archaeologists excavating in the area as early as the 19th century. What archaeologists didn't know until now was when precisely the street was constructed.

To find out, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University dug down beneath the street, reaching areas that had been sealed off by the street's mortar. They found dozens of coins, with the most recent dating back to A.D. 30/31, a time when historical records show that Pontius Pilate was prefect of Judea. The absence of coins from later times indicates that most or all of the construction was done when he was prefect, the researchers wrote.

[SunkenCiv]

The ancient street built by Pontius Pilate ends near these pilgrim stairs at the southern end of the western wall. (Image: © Shutterstock)

[SunkenCiv]

[Viking2002]

Somebody needs to contract out these archaeologists to find the ‘lost’ high-speed rail system that Jerry Brown built.....or at least the money that was farmed out for it.

[Tax-chick]

Very interesting about the coins!

[djpg]

“ The fact that Pilate built a street that would have helped people reach the Temple Mount suggests that he may not have been as self-serving and religiously insensitive as ancient writers claim, the researchers said.”

Spoken as true liberals. Doing something politically popular with other people’s money is not self-serving?

[richardtavor]

The picture included is of the Monumental Staircase, which predated the Romans. The road that they excavated is west of here, and actually passes by the SW corner of the Temple Mount, and ascended up to what is “Robinson’s Arch”. Herod’s top cornerstone is still at the SW base of the Temple Mount, where the Romans rolled it off from above. The road that has been excavated passes by the base cornerstone for the entire Temple Mount, about 90’ below the surface..It is still being excavated and is open to the public through the Archaeological Park and Davidson Center. Well worth the tour if anyone happens to be in Jerusalem.