The Jerusalem Water Channel is a central drainage channel of Second Temple Jerusalem, now an archaeological site in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. It is a large drainage tunnel or sewer that runs down the Tyropoeon Valley and once drained runoff and waste water from the city of

.Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, ''The Second Temple Period Central Drainage Channel in Jerusalem – upon the Completion of the Unearthing of Its Southern Part in 2011'', in City of David Studies of Ancient Jerusalem: The 12th Annual Conference, ed. Eyal Meiron (Jerusalem: Megalim, City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies, 2011), 68–95] The excavators, Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, date it to the later part of the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

. According to Leen Ritmeyer, the drain is mainly of Hasmonean age, with the exception of a bypass section near the southeast corner of the Temple Mount, which is

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς με ...

Description

The channel is about a kilometer long. The walls of the channel are made of heavy slabs of stone.

Manhole A manhole (utility hole, maintenance hole, or sewer hole) is an opening to a confined space such as a shaft (civil engineering), shaft, utility vault, or large container, vessel. Manholes, typically protected by a manhole cover, are often used ...

s with round, stone manhole covers are spaced along the length of the channel. Some of the original plaster is intact. Pottery and coins found in the water channel confirm its date. The water channel has been identified as the conduit described in

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

Flavius' '' The Jewish War''. According to Josephus, in the year 70 CE thousands of Jerusalemites took refuge from the Roman sacking of Jerusalem inside this water channel. Archaeologists attribute ash on the walls of the channel to fires set by the Romans attempting to force the Jewish survivors out of the channel. Sections of the ancient road built along Jerusalem's central, or Tyropoean Valley, and the drain tunnel underneath it were first discovered by

Charles Warren Sir Charles Warren (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was a British Army officer of the Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his military ...

and Charles Wilson in 1867–1870. Frederick J. Bliss and Archibald C. Dickey of the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by Royal Engineers of the War Department. The Fund is the oldest known organization i ...

excavated parts of the road between 1894 and 1897. The find was reburied when their excavation concluded. Other sections were uncovered, then reburied, by later archaeologists, Jones in 1937 and Kathleen Kenyon in 1961–1967. The tunnel was rediscovered in 2007 by archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron who were excavating the monumental stepped street built during Pilate's governorship and leading up from the southern city gates via the Pool of Siloam and up towards the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

when they happened on the water channel. Their excavations have eventually made accessible much of the length of the road between the Pool of Siloam and the south-eastern corner of the Herodian Temple Mount.City of David: The Central Water Drainage Channel, Present Excavation 2007–2012
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References

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External links

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City of David
Ancient sites in Jerusalem Classical sites in Jerusalem City of David (archaeological site) Tunnels in Israel Drainage tunnels Establishments in the Hasmonean Kingdom 70s disestablishments in the Roman Empire

Description

See also

References

External links