Two Thousand Year Old Evidence of the Siege in Jerusalem!
City of David 08.09.2021
Three complete cooking pots and a small ceramic oil lamp were uncovered inside a small cistern in a drainage channel that runs from the Shiloah Pool in the City of David to Robinson’s Arch, in archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting near the Western Wall
Recently a small cistern belonging to a building was exposed in an archaeological excavation directed by Eli Shukron, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, near the Western Wall in the vicinity of Robinson’s Arch. Inside the cistern were three intact cooking pots and a small ceramic oil lamp that date to the time of the Great Revolt. The vessels were discovered inside the drainage channel that was exposed in its entirety from the Shiloah Pool in the City of David to the beginning of Robinson’s Arch.
According to archaeologist Eli Shukron, “This is the first time we are able to connect archaeological finds with the famine that occurred during the siege of Jerusalem at the time of the Great Revolt. The complete cooking pots and ceramic oil lamp indicate that the people went down into the cistern where they secretly ate the food that was contained in the pots, without anyone seeing them, and this is consistent with the account provided by Josephus”.
In his book, The Jewish War Josephus describes the Roman siege of Jerusalem and in its wake the dire hunger that prevailed in the blockaded city.
In his dramatic description of the famine in Jerusalem, he tells about the Jewish rebels who sought food in the homes of their fellow Jews in the city. These, Josephus said, concealed the food they possessed for fear it would be stolen by the rebels and they ate it in hidden places in their homes.
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