Subscriber Q&A
Addressing your questions about Jerusalem
It feels trite to move forward without recognizing the horrors still unfolding in southern Israel and Gaza, as well as in other nearby areas. While the sending of a newsletter may imply business as usual, know that I wrote today’s post while carrying an extremely heavy heart.
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This is the first post in a recurring series dedicated to reader questions about historical Jerusalem (which can be submitted here). Questions can cover Jerusalem’s geography, archaeology, excavation history, sources for reading, sites to visit in the city, or whatever might interest you. Thanks to all who took the time to submit them. I don’t have space to address each one this time around, but I will get to them in the future. If I cannot answer your question directly, I will at least try to point you to resources that can help.
Q1: Where are the monasteries in the city and Mount of Olives located? What is their history? How can I interact with them today? Any resources available to read about monasteries in Jerusalem or the Holy Land at large?
Detailing every monastery in and around Jerusalem would be a tall order, so I’ll focus only on the monasteries (and churches) located on the Mount of Olives. Each of them listed below are open to the public during regular hours unless otherwise noted. However, churches are typically closed from 12:00-14:00 Monday through Saturday, and many will be closed or holding services on Sunday. More detailed information about visiting hours might be provided by clicking the links below. All of them will require modest dress, meaning that knees and shoulders need to be covered. Unless otherwise noted, these churches were built in the 19th or 20th centuries.
The Lutheran Church of the Ascension sits within the Augusta Victoria compound and is named for the wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II. As far as I know, no ancient church was uncovered at the site. Its tall belltower is the central of the three on the Mount of Olives. The church and tower are open to the public for a small fee. There is a display room branching off of the church sanctuary that contains ornate ossuaries (bone boxes) from ancient Jewish burials. You may also want to visit the newly renovated cafe near the church entrance.
The Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension. This is the southernmost tower of the three built on the mountain. While it is possible to visit the monastery, the tower is not open to the public. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor mentions that several Armenian mosaics from the Byzantine Period were found at the site (2008:141). The church holds a large number of antiquities. One of the most famous pieces from the collection, today kept in the Israel Museum, is an Aramaic inscription mentioning the reburial of King Uzziah’s bones.
Mosque/Chapel of the Ascension. First constructed in the Byzantine Period, this church was converted by the Crusaders to an octagonal compound with a central chapel. Exposed bedrock in the chapel shows what is reputed to be the imprint of Jesus’ right foot as he began his ascent to heaven. The mosque outside the chapel was added in the Middle Ages. The buildings lie just north of the Pater Noster Church.
The Church of the Pater Noster remembers Jesus’ teaching of the “Our Father” prayer. Plaques containing translations of the prayer into many languages decorate the courtyard. It is built over the Byzantine Eleona church which was constructed at the direction of Constantine’s mother, Queen Helena. She is also remembered for initiating the building of the Holy Sepulcher and Nativity churches. The Pater Noster is located just south of the Mosque of the Ascension along the road leading to the popular Old City viewpoint in front of the Seven Arches Hotel.
Dominus Flevit (“The Lord wept”). This small Franciscan Catholic Church is typically visited by pilgrims walking down the Mount of Olives. The teardrop-shaped building is meant to evoke Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem in Luke’s rendering of the Triumphal Entry (19:41-44). It was designed by the famed Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi. The small chapel is built over a Byzantine Church whose mosaics are visible in and around it. The remains of the tombs from several different periods are visible on the grounds.
The Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene. Visitors to Jerusalem often notice this church with prominent golden onion-shaped domes. Tzar Alexander III built it in honor of his mother whose patron saint was Mary Magdalene (Murphy-O’Connor 2008:146). Pilgrims pass its entrance on the right side of the road as they walk down to the Church of All Nations below. According to the sign in front, the Church of Mary Magdalene is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00-12:00, but I believe I have visited it on a Saturday as well.
The Church of All Nations/Basilica of the Agony. The traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane sits at the bottom of the route walked by many hundreds of pilgrims a day. Some olive trees in the garden have been dated to the Crusader Period. The modern church sits over earlier Byzantine and Crusader churches. (A second Byzantine church was recently discovered in the Kidron Valley below.) Byzantine mosaics were made partially visible through glass windows in the floor. Like Dominus Flevit, this church was also designed by Antonio Barluzzi. The projecting bedrock in the church’s apse enshrines the location where Jesus collapsed in prayer before his betrayal by Judas.
The Tomb of Mary. This Crusader-era structure near the Church of All Nations preserves an earlier tradition of Mary’s burial place at the bottom of a long flight of steps. The building apparently also contained an upper portion which was destroyed by Salaḥ ad-Din, leaving only the bottom part intact (Murphy-O’Connor 2008:148). The Crusader Queen Melisande was originally buried partway down the steps on the right side. Nearby is a small grotto remembering Gethsemane.
Monastery of Saint Stephen. This Greek Orthodox Monastery memorializing the martyrdom of Stephen is built between Gethsemane and Lions’ Gate (also called St. Stephen’s Gate) in the Kidron Valley. It is possible to visit the church, as well as a small chapel containing exposed bedrock, the reputed site of Stephen’s execution by later tradition. The Byzantine-era church that remembers Stephen’s martyrdom is found north of Damascus Gate on the grounds of the École biblique et archéologique française.
The Church at Bethphage remembers the place Jesus tied up his donkey before beginning his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Accordingly, it is the site where the annual march begins on Palm Sunday in the Western church calendar. A Crusader-era church existed here previously. The first modern church built in the late 19th century was renovated by Antonio Barluzzi in the 1950s.
The church of Lazarus is the only one on this list that sits inside the separation wall today. Visiting it requires a circuitous route by private car or Arab bus with passport in hand. Like several others on the Mount of Olives, this church was also designed by Antonio Barluzzi. The modern church sits on both Byzantine and Crusader predecessors, and the nearby traditional Tomb of Lazarus can also be visited.
You can read more about the history and archaeology of churches on the Mount of Olives and elsewhere in Jerusalem in the following sources:
The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide by Murphy-O’Connor 2008:139-154
The Jerusalem Archaeological Park by Reich, Avni, and Winter 1999:100-121
Ancient Churches Revealed edited by Tsafrir 1993:101-143
Antonio Barluzzi: A Roman Architect in the Holy Land. Franciscan Printing Press. 2013. (sold inside Jaffa Gate)
The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom: A Corpus. Volume III: The City of Jerusalem by Pringle 2007
Q2: At the City of David Park Visitors' Center, could you describe what is actually visible? What is it? To what period does it date? Where is E. Mazar's "famous" so-called "David's Palace?"
Directly beneath the City of David Park visitors’ center and accessible by a set of steps sits the building now known as the Large Stone Structure. After excavating it, Eilat Mazar identified it as King David’s palace (II Sam. 5:11). Visitors to the site today will see a confusing mess of walls and exposed bedrock riddled with various cut marks and installations. This area was first excavated by R. A. S. Macalister and J. Garrow Duncan in 1923 as a part of Field No. 5. (Interestingly, their field work began 100 years ago yesterday). It was partially excavated again by Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s. From 2005-2008, Eilat Mazar became the third archaeologist to undertake field work in this space which she made famous.
I have not done the detailed research necessary to address your question at the level I would like to, and the discussion probably deserves its own separate space. Suffice it to say that her suggestion has been heavily debated, and there are many scholars who do not accept it. Some scholars accept an early date (Iron Age I) for the building but attribute it instead to the pre-Davidic growth of Jerusalem. One issue is the dating of the Large Stone Structure itself and whether all of its walls indeed belong to one building. Another involves the date of the Stepped Stone Structure just below it and whether we accept that the two were built separately or were planned as one project. And of course, the degree of methodological caution in connecting information from archaeology and ancient texts will vary from scholar to scholar.
There are other landmarks at the entrance to the visitor’s center. A display on the floor in front of the national park’s shop shows a reconstruction of opus sectile tiles that were found in the Temple Mount Sifting Project and may have once adorned parts of the Herodian Temple Mount. There are also replicas of proto-Aeolic capitals that sit atop columns. A new tunnel takes visitors from the area of the Large Stone Structure westward to the Givati Parking Lot Excavations in the Central Valley. In the other direction, steps lead from the Large Stone Structure down to the Stepped Stone Structure. I am writing an ongoing series about the history of the Stepped Stone Structure. Detailing other finds in the City of David Park would take a large amount of space, but I hope this at least addressed your question about features near the visitors’ center.
Q3: What is your take on the excavations along the western side of the Old City, along the walls outside of David's Citadel? The gate complex, possible bema seat, gabbatha? If this is the likely location of the trial, would Jesus have been led through the palace and the city towards Golgotha, or would he have been led outside the walls (following the modern road into Jaffa Gate) to Golgotha?
The excavations along the western and southwestern side of the Old City wall were directed by Magen Broshi between 1973 and 1978. Broshi never published final reports for these or his other digs on Jerusalem’s Western Hill, so only preliminary information is available. These are the last major excavations that took place in 20th-century Jerusalem for which no final reports have appeared. This situation hampers our ability to understand the excavation results, and it has certainly prevented the integration of Broshi’s digs into scholarly discussions about Jerusalem in various periods (particularly the Iron Age). Thankfully, a final report is now being prepared by Shimon Gibson. Gibson has also shared information about Broshi’s excavations in a recent lecture about Western Hill in the Iron Age.
Here are the existing preliminary reports:
“Excavations on Mount Zion, 1971-1972: Preliminary Report” in Israel Exploration Journal 1976 by Broshi
“Along Jerusalem's Walls” in The Biblical Archaeologist 1977 by Broshi
“Excavations Along the Western and Southern Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem” in Ancient Jerusalem Revealed 2000:147-155 by Broshi and Gibson
Concerning the trial of Jesus, the majority of scholars believe that Pontius Pilate would have resided in Herod’s palace on the Western Hill while in Jerusalem during Passover rather than in the traditional Antonia Fortress on the Via Dolorosa. In his 2009 book The Final Days of Jesus: The Archaeological Evidence, Shimon Gibson attempts to pinpoint the exact location of Jesus’ trial before Pilate within the palace complex. Using details from Josephus, the gospels (particularly John), and the archaeological evidence, he argues that the trial took place at a gate that was uncovered by Broshi just outside the western Old City walls (2009:101-106). Based on my current understanding of this issue, it seems to me that this at least cannot be discounted as a possible location for Jesus’ trial. However, I’d like to complicate Gibson’s argument with a few observations.
First, we know very little about the physical structure of Herod’s palace aside from the existing topography in the city and Josephus’s descriptions in The Jewish War and The Antiquities of the Jews. Excavations on the Western Hill have revealed substructure walls running north-south that are thought to have formed a platform on which the palace was built. However, virtually nothing remains from the palace superstructure itself, which must have been magnificent. I have written recently about some architectural fragments found downslope from this area that some scholars argue may have originated in the palace.
Part of discerning the location of Jesus’ trial depends on how precise we can be about the size of the palace complex. Its western and northern limits seem to be the most clearly definable. Josephus tells us that the area north of the palace was fortified by three large towers that were built into the northern wall of Jerusalem. One of these must be the so-called Tower of David (likely ancient Hippicus), which I have discussed in another post. North of this tower is the Transversal Valley, which runs on an east-west axis from Jaffa Gate to the area of today’s Western Wall Plaza. Herod’s palace must have been built south of all these features. The western line of the palace is also clearly delineated by the slopes of the Hinnom Valley (Wadi er-Rababa) and the first-century city wall that ran essentially on the same the line as the modern Old City wall.
By contrast, the extent of the palace to the east is unknown. As I mentioned in a previous post, Orit Peleg-Barkat, who has written extensively on Herodian Jerusalem, suggested that Herod’s palace may have spread considerably to the east. Although the flat area we today call the Armenian Quarter is thought to have contained the entirety of the palace, at least part of it could have descended eastward along slopes of the Western Hill. Herod overcame geography wherever he built, and sometimes his palaces were planned with stepped terraces (e.g. Masada, Caesarea). I assume that Jesus was brought before Pilate by a small group of Jerusalem’s priestly elite (mainly Sadducees) whose houses were located in or near today’s Jewish Quarter. If this was the case, the space outside the western city wall near Broshi’s gate would have been both far removed from the House of Caiaphas and not necessary to accommodate the size of the group.
Determining the southern extension of Herod’s palace has a direct impact on our understanding of the function of Broshi’s gate. Most scholars believe Herod’s palace stretched as far south as the current southern Old City walls. This understanding is an old one, with roots as deep as at least the 19th century. It is reflected in many discussions, maps, and models of first century Jerusalem, including Michael Avi-Yonah’s famous model housed at the Israel Museum. However, some believe the palace of Herod only spanned about half this distance. This is the view of Amit Re’em who uncovered foundation walls of Herod’s palace in the Qishle near the Citadel at Jaffa Gate. If the palace complex indeed stretched to the southern Old City walls as most believe, then the gate uncovered by Broshi must have been connected with it in some way. However, if it did not, then the gate may have served another purpose, such as providing access to wealthy residential quarters on the Western Hill. In this case, it would be difficult to see why we should connect Broshi’s gate with the trial of Jesus.
We should also bear in mind that the flat area in front of the gate today, which looks like it could serve conveniently as a gathering point, is a modern artificial terrace built of debris that has accumulated outside the city wall over millennia. It is unclear how the area along the western Old City walls would have looked in antiquity, but the slope may have been more dramatic for defensive purposes, as it is in other parts of the Hinnom Valley. It is also not clear to me how much we can know archaeologically about the features of the gate itself, specifically if there was an elevated terrace where Pilate could have stood to perform judgements. The publication of the final reports from Broshi’s excavations may help evaluate these and the other points above.
As for the route of Jesus’ movement to the site of the crucifixion, I assume this would have depended on the location of the trial. If on the west side as Gibson suggests, it is possible that Jesus would have simply been brought outside the city walls via Broshi’s gate and walked to Golgotha from there. It is also possible that he was taken through the city and exited by a gate on the north side. I have written elsewhere about the location of the Gennath Gate which mentioned only by Josephus. Perhaps Jesus may have exited this gate on the way to Golgotha, although the gospels don’t provide any indication of that that I am able to discern.
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