This time, workers were breaking ground for a new campus of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (the original campus is located just across the street from our Israel Today offices), when they stumbled upon the very spot where Roman soldiers breached Jerusalem’s city walls 2,000 years ago.
Archaeologists were summoned to examine the evidence of the Roman breach which occurred at the end of the Second Temple Period. They found the remains of a tower jutting from the city wall and scores of catapults and huge stones used by the Romans to sling at the Jewish guards defending Jerusalem from the top of the tower.
Rina Avner and Kfir Arbib directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
“This is a fascinating testimony of the intensive bombardment by the Roman army, led by Titus, on their way to conquering the city and destroying the Second Temple [in 70 AD],” the archaeologists said in...
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