An ancient road recently opened to the public (beginning at the City of David National Park in Jerusalem) allows visitors to walk the same path our ancestors trod on their Temple pilgrimages thousands of years ago.
The ancient stones of the Pilgrimage Road are so well preserved that it’s hard to believe it was built towards the end of the Second Temple era. It led from the entrance of ancient Jerusalem to the Temple Mount. Three times a year, festive crowds of pilgrims from near and far walked up this road to the Temple. Picture family patriarchs and matriarchs walking slowly, taking pride in their offspring, young children sitting on their parents’ shoulders, and older children holding their parents’ hands … all gazing in awe at the magnificent Temple towering before them.
Today, we can only try to picture the Temple that once stood at the end of the route. But, just like our ancestors, we now have the opportunity to walk the whole length of the ancient road, filled with anticipation and yearning for closeness to G‑d.
The Road’s Beginnings
The Pilgrimage Road began just beyond the southern gate leading into ancient Jerusalem. Researchers believe that this was the main entrance to the city at the time. Visitors would first encounter a large reservoir, recently identified by archeologist Nahshon Szanton as the Solomon Pool mentioned by Josephus. On the north side of the pool were large stone steps.
When a sewage pipe in the neighborhood burst in 2004, the repairmen uncovered large stone steps from a much earlier era. When archeologists arrived, they discovered that the steps leading up from the pool did not stop at street level as previously thought, but continued up, forming a road leading all the way to the Temple Mount.
In 2013, Szanton and fellow archaeologist Joe Uziel began excavating the ancient road, known today as the Stepped Street or the Pilgrimage Road. The excavation, initiated by the Israel Antiquities Authority and sponsored by the City of David Foundation, started small but soon turned into the most complex and expensive excavation in all of Israel.
“It’s a complicated area,” says Szanton. The Pilgrimage Road was “the main street of Jerusalem” in the 1st century CE. During the pilgrimage holidays, it was crowded by pilgrims, but the rest of the year, it served the local residents. About 7.5 meters (25 feet) wide, the street was surrounded by houses on both sides. It ran from Solomon’s Pool to the Temple Mount, totaling about 600 meters (a third of a mile).
The Excavations
Because the ancient road is located under a contemporary neighborhood, the archeologists were faced with the challenge of conducting excavations without disturbing the residents.
“We had to invent a new methodology,” says Szanton. “Generally, archeological excavations take place vertically, starting with the most recent layer and going down to one layer after another. But we began underground and moved horizontally, from one side of the street to the other. Before moving on to the next step, we had to reinforce the area we had just completed by building structural supports to ensure that the upper stratum does not collapse.”
Working their way sideways, the archeologists excavated the top half-meter of the site. From there, they were able to continue in the usual manner, vertically, until they reached the original stone steps.
Every 1.5 to 2 meters (5 to 6.5 feet), the excavation was paused, and a construction team was brought in to install metal support arches to hold up the street above. Other specialists installed electricity and ensured proper air ventilation. Hundreds of people participated in this process. Due to the complexity, the excavations took over a decade.
The Discoveries
For the archaeologists, the work on the Pilgrimage Road was moving and meaningful. “When you stand between two stones on each side of the street, you know that the whole Jewish nation passed between these two stones two thousand years ago,” says Szanton. “All our ancestors passed there. It’s very powerful!”
The most amazing discovery, says Szanton, was “the street itself. Every meter that we uncovered is fascinating. The street is monumental in scale.” Its size and quality of construction attest to its importance at the time.
Based on coins found right under the road, archeologists determined that the street was built in the days of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, which dates it between 30 and 40 CE. This finding was unexpected because until recently the road was attributed to King Herod.
With this discovery, archeologists are learning more about Jerusalem under Pilate’s rule. Josephus mentions that Pilate built an aqueduct using money from the Temple treasury—a sacrilegious act that sparked riots in Jerusalem. It seems that Pilate was also busy with other building projects in the area.
Building the Pilgrimage Road required extensive effort and resources. “This is the second urban project in Jerusalem after the Temple Mount,” says Szanton. Each stone slab used in the road construction is about 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, 1.5 meters (5 feet) wide, and 0.5 meters (1.5 feet) thick, weighing 2.5 tons. The stones were quarried north of Jerusalem and transported to the building site. Altogether, about 10,000 cubic meters of stone were used in this project. That in itself was a major undertaking.
In addition, building projects of this scale require expert builders. For both the aqueduct and the road, “you need professionals from the Roman army,” says Szanton. “They have the knowledge and the equipment. So on the one hand, Pontius Pilate was a very cruel ruler, but on the other hand, he was a monumental builder, just like Herod the Great.”
In addition to information about Jerusalem’s rulers, the excavation also provided clues about the daily life of Jerusalem’s residents. For example, among the finds were botanical remains. “Now we know what they ate,” says Szanton. Currently, a study on the subject is being prepared for publication.
During pilgrimage seasons, merchants would set up stalls along the Pilgrimage Road, where visitors could purchase anything they needed, from food for their families to live animals for sacrifice in the Temple.
Another installation discovered along the road is a stepped structure leading to a small platform. Though its exact purpose is unknown, researchers hypothesize that it might have served as a meeting location as well as a lost-and-found station.
About two-thirds of the way through the excavations, the archeologists reached a section where the large stones lining the road disappear. The rest of the road is missing stone slabs until it reaches the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. There, you can see stones similar to the ones covering the first two-thirds of the road. The reason for these missing stones is still a subject of debate among researchers. Szanton suggests that the stones may have been looted in a later time period and used for construction elsewhere.
The Water Drainage System
Under the Pilgrimage Road, researchers found a drainage channel built at the same time. Its purpose was to drain rainwater from the main road during the rainy season.
Archeologists believe that at the time of the Great Revolt and the Roman conquest of Jerusalem, Jewish fighters used this drainage channel as a hiding place. Eli Shukron, the archaeologist who conducted excavations in the channel, found a Roman sword there.
Other objects discovered in the channel were ancient coins and tokens (likely used while trading animals for sacrifices in the Temple), as well as a golden pomegranate, perhaps made for the High Priest’s robe.
Destruction Layer
In the course of the excavations, archeologists uncovered the destruction layer from the Roman siege and capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
The Romans set Jerusalem on fire, and the buildings along the Pilgrimage Road collapsed right onto the road. “All that was in these buildings we are finding in this destruction layer, the small things that belonged to people living in Jerusalem at that time,” explained Szanton. Among the findings are coins minted in Judea at the time, as well as pottery, glass, stone, and wooden vessels.
The Destination
The road ends at the foot of the Temple Mount, just south of the Western Wall Plaza, within the Davidson Archeological Park. There, the pilgrims would have encountered a row of shops. They would have turned right to proceed to the Hulda Gates leading inside the Temple complex.
Today, coming out of the Pilgrimage Road, we see a pile of stones from the ancient wall destroyed by the Romans. But we can picture better days, when the Jewish people will live in peace in our land and travel to the rebuilt Holy Temple three times a year to reconnect with G‑d, our extended families, and our true selves. May we experience it very soon.
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