Canaanite city walls excavated in the City of David

Archaeologists in the City of David, Jerusalem, discovered a 79 foot section of the 17th C BC city, constructed 7 centuries before King David conquered the city and made it his capital. The massive 26 (!) foot high wall was excavated by a team headed by Prof. Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa. It may have protected the walkway from the eastern slopes of the city to the Gihon spring down in the Kidron valley.

>>> Photo at right shows a section of the wall (courtesy IAA) >>>

The Middle Bronze period walls are from the time of the meeting of Abraham with the King of Salem (Genesis 14, 18-20): "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all".

This wall made the Canaanite city (named Salem/Shalem) very well protected. Years later, during the 13th C conquest of Canaan, the Israelites could not conquer the city due to these walls. As per the Bible (1 Judges 21): "And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem".

King David finally captured the city at about 1,000 BC (2 Samuel 5): "Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David".

>>> More details in Jerusalem News

New screen saver - Holy Jerusalem

Holy Jerusalem sites screen saver, displays over 50 of the Holy city's Biblical sites.

Pressing [F9] will switch the screen saver to a web page with additional info and photos from BibleWalks.com


Free 30 days evaluation.

>>> More info on the screen saver

New discoveries of Herod's tomb

The search for Herod's royal burial chamber continues...

In the 2008 season a section was excavated on the other side of the city’s stairway. The results of the excavations are kept secret, but there are rumors of an exciting discovery. Perhaps this is the actual burial chamber of King Herod?..

The new findings will be revealed soon (Nov 18, 2008) by the archaeologists, and were documented in a film that was prepared by National Geography (to be released on Nov 25).

More info in Herodion site.

Herod's grave found in Herodion?

May 8, 2007

According to Yedioth Ahronot newspaper, archeologists from the Hebrew university in Jerusalem will disclose today details on the finding of the grave of Herod the Great in Herodion. Herod, the great King and builder of Israel and the 2nd temple, was buried in the Herodion fortress - according to the Roman-era historian Josephus Flavius.

The king's grave was never found to date in spite of many years of excavations on the site, and the team, headed by Prof Nezer, will reveal the details on the findings.

http://www.biblewalks.com/sites/Herodion.html

Biblical sites in Jerusalem

Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and the most Holiest city in the World, is located in the center of Israel, on top of the Judean mountains (700-800M above sea level). This strategic location, first selected by King David 3000 years ago, made the city the heart of the biblical Israel and the Jewish faith, a Holy city for the Christian and Muslim faiths, and the capital of Modern Israel.

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Biblewalks.com reviews the biblical sites in Jerusalem, and you can see these reviews by clicking on the following web pages:

* Overview of Jerusalem:

http://www.biblewalks.com/sites/Jerusalem.html

* Sites Gallery of Jerusalem:

http://www.biblewalks.com/sites/Jerusalem_Gallery.html

* Or see a whole list of ancient sites in the sites list:

http://www.biblewalks.com/sites/sites.html

* or start from the home page:

http://www.biblewalks.com