Jerusalem - Old City

Old City Day - Nov 17

Ann and I went to the old city that day (also on other days this trip). This day, I walked around the archeological park, Ann went to a museum called the Burnt House which was the remains of the residence of a priest and his family that was burned by the Romans in mid Elul 70 CE.


I had the camera. The first image is that of the remains of Robinson's arch (on the wall) and the drawing of what Robinson's arch once looked like. There are a number of websites that explain Robinson's arch. One is hotlink. Basically, it was used to allow VIPs get to the Temple fast without encountering the general public.


The second image is a guy carrying a Torah Scroll. There was a Bar Mitzvah that morning. The Torah is a sefardic one and based on the uluing, I am pretty sure it was a Persian family doing the celebrating. In the backround are some stones that were at one time on the top of the wall but knocked down by the Romans in 70 CE.


The third image is Robinson's arch again this time showing the top of the wall.


The fourth image is a menorah modeled on the carvings made in the arch of Titus and also based on the desription of the menorah in the writings of Josephus.


The fifth image is a replica of one of the stones that was pushed off the wall by the Romans in mid AV in 70 CE. It has the enscription "The house of the trumpeters" in Hebrew. The trumpeters gather on the south west corner of the retaining wall of the temple and sounded notes before Sabbath and Holidays and also after the Sabbath and Holidays to let people know when to stop work and then when work could begin again. The original from which the replica was made is normal in the Israel museum and we saw it two days later in the Bible Lands Museum where it was on loan (while construction was ongoing at the Israel Museum).


The sixth image is Ann at a cafe in the upper city which overlooks the temple mount and the Mount of Olives (and actually has decent prices also).


I think it was called the Cafe of Gold. Ann spent some time there writing post cards.


The seventh image is from the south side of the Temple mount. It shows Columns that were erected during the 3rd Century by the Romans.

The stairs however were from the 1st century BCE. They were the stairs that would be used by the common folk to bring offerings. The stairs are built to have two short steps for every long step. This is thought to be done to prevent people from rushing forward.
















Ann didn't have a camera to take images of the Burnt House.




















Sorry about that.