HEROD THE GREAT evidently had two fewer building projects than we'd thought:
Revelations of an ever-changing past
Thanks to findings at a recent dig near Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, King Herod has lost his claim to being the original contractor of certain ancient structures in the area.
By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)
A manhole cover is inconspicuously embedded in the road leading into Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. Every day, hundreds of drivers and pedestrians pass by this spot; one of the city's busiest sites. But only a few realize that this is not really a manhole, leading into the bowels of the municipal sewerage system, but rather a "gateway" to a different kind of underground world - in fact, to one of the most dramatic archaeological sites in this part of the city.
Jerusalem excavation
The manhole cover was installed in the road to allow access to an ancient aqueduct located four meters below street level. The subterranean aqueduct and fortification wall discovered nearby were at first thought to be simply more evidence of the vast construction projects undertaken by King Herod the Great (74-4 B.C.E. ) during the Second Temple period. However, their excavation has revealed not only the precise dimensions of the structures, and who built them - but, more significantly, the fact that hundreds of archaeologists and researchers have been mistaken for the past 150 years about this site.
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This long article is very difficult to excerpt or summarize, so read it all. But this paragraph near the end flags the main issues:
For researchers, the key finding involved the location and dating of the construction of the wall and aqueduct. The fact that the two structures intersect proves irrefutably that they were built concurrently - by the 10th Roman Legion [around the second century C.E.]. In one stroke, Herod lost his claim to be the builder of these Jaffa Gate projects.
The headline reminds me of Marty McFly's "Yeah, well, history is gonna change."
