Archaeologists have completed uncovering the longest steady stays of an historical wall that encircled Jerusalem, together with doable proof of a 2,100-year-old ceasefire between warring kingdoms.
Final week, archaeologists completed excavating probably the most full half ever found of the foundations of the partitions, which surrounded Jerusalem throughout the time of the Hasmonean Kingdom, when the story of Hanukkah befell. The invention comes nearly precisely one 12 months after a uncommon assortment of historical cash was unearthed by Israeli researchers, who referred to as the discover an “archaeological Hanukkah miracle.”
In Hebrew, Hanukkah means “dedication,” and the vacation marks the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem within the second century B.C., after a small group of Jewish fighters liberated it from occupying international forces, and the Hasmonean Kingdom that adopted.
Jews have fun the eight-day vacation, which this 12 months begins on Dec. 14, with the ritual of lighting a nightly candle, in honor of the tiny provide of ritually pure oil that they discovered within the temple that lasted for eight nights as a substitute of only one. Many additionally eat fried meals comparable to potato pancakes, referred to as latkes, to memorialize this miraculously long-lasting oil.
The Hasmonean wall basis, whose excavation was completed final week in Jerusalem, was doubtless constructed a number of many years after the story of Hanukkah by the identical rulers. It’s nearly 50 meters (164 ft) lengthy, round half the size of a soccer subject, and round 5 meters (16 ft) large. It held partitions, which based on estimations and a few historic writings, had been taller than the present partitions surrounding Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis.
A lot of the present partitions surrounding Jerusalem’s Outdated Metropolis date again tons of of years to the Ottoman Period.
The Hasmonean partitions encircled an space a lot bigger than the present Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem, with 60 watchtowers alongside the wall that had been greater than 10 meters (33 ft) tall, based on historical writings. The half not too long ago uncovered is likely one of the longest sections discovered intact from the muse of the Hasmonean partitions.
Separation wall and ceasefire
One of the fascinating features of the muse was that the wall above it appears to have been purposefully and uniformly dismantled to a uniform peak, not chaotically destroyed by the ravages of time or conflict, mentioned Dr. Amit Re’em, one of many lead archaeologists for the challenge from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Specialists questioned why any chief would take aside a superbly good safety wall in an space that was consistently threatened by invasion.
In 132 or 133 B.C., Hellenistic King Antiochus the Seventh, an inheritor to the Antiochus the Fourth from the story of Hanukkah, laid siege to Jerusalem and the Judean Kingdom, based on historical Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
The Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, Dr. Amit Re’im, walks in a piece of an excavation website the place, based on the establishment, a metropolis wall from the Hasmonean interval, courting to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered below the Tower of David Citadel Museum, within the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem, Dec. 8, 2025.
Leo Correa / AP
Because the Judean military struggled, Jewish king John Hyrcanus I made a decision to strike a cope with Antiochus. He raided King David’s tomb for 3,000 abilities of silver and provided 500 hostages, together with his personal brother, based on the writings of Josephus.
“Antiochus Sidetes (the Seventh) reached a ceasefire agreement with John Hyrcanus, saying, if you want me to remove my army, you yourself, the Jewish king, must raze to the ground the Hasmonean fortification that you and your father built,” Re’em mentioned Monday. Josephus’ writings state that after Antiochus accepted Hyrcanus’ deal, they “pulled down the walls encircling the city.”
Different sections of the Hasmonean wall uncovered in different components of Jerusalem weren’t dismantled, so it may have simply been one part that was dismantled, presumably to offer a basis for Herod’s palace, Peleg-Barkat defined. Its unlikely that Jerusalem was left unprotected with none safety partitions for greater than a century, she mentioned.
Wall below a jail
The present part of the wall was uncovered beneath an deserted wing of the constructing often known as the Kishleh, which was inbuilt 1830 as a army base. The wing was used as a jail, together with by the British up till the Nineteen Forties, and the partitions had been lined with graffiti carved by prisoners in English, Hebrew and Arabic. The remnants of the iron bars of the cells are nonetheless seen within the ceiling.
A lot of the constructing remains to be utilized by the Israeli police as we speak, however one wing was deserted and later transferred to the Tower of David Museum. Archaeologists first started excavating this wing of the Kishleh in 1999, however violence in Jerusalem throughout the Second Intifada, which started in 2000, halted the excavations till two years in the past.
Employees from the Israel Antiquities Authority clear a piece of an excavation website the place, based on the establishment, a metropolis wall from the Hasmonean interval, courting to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered below the Tower of David Citadel Museum, within the Outdated Metropolis of Jerusalem, Dec. 8, 2025.
Leo Correa / AP
Archaeologists eliminated the equal of two Olympic swimming swimming pools price of grime and particles by hand over the previous two years from the corridor. The excavations revealed what they imagine are Center Age-era dye pits, doubtless for cloth dying, and the lengthy part of the Hasmonean wall basis.
Within the coming years, the Tower of David Museum will set up a floating glass ground over the ruins and use the corridor as one in all its new galleries within the Schulich Wing of Archaeology, Artwork and Innovation. The renovations of this part are anticipated to take not less than two years, now that the archaeological dig has concluded.
Final 12 months’s “archaeological Hanukkah miracle”
Nearly precisely one 12 months in the past, in December 2024, Israeli researchers found a uncommon assortment of historical cash on the third day of Hanukkah, calling the discover an “archaeological Hanukkah miracle.”
The cash had been greater than 2,000 years outdated and believed to belong to King Alexander Jannaeus, the second ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty. Archaeologists discovered the hoard of about 160 of the cash throughout excavations within the Jordan Valley, which runs between the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution and the japanese border of Jordan.
The traditional cash had been unearthed on the third day of Hanukkah. Researchers famous the importance of that timing, since Alexander Jannaeus descended from leaders of a revolt in 167 B.C.E. that the Talmud says led to the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem and the primary celebration of the Hanukkah vacation.
Extra not too long ago, final month, archaeologists found proof of an historical non secular observe in northern Israel along with a wine press courting again roughly 5,000 years — one of many oldest ever uncovered within the nation.
