Mysterious Podium Uncovered near Temple Mount

In Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, pilgrims would walk up a stepped street that led from the Siloam Pool in the City of David to the Temple Mount. What did they encounter along the way?

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) recently uncovered a pyramid-stepped structure along this stepped street in Jerusalem’s City of David—in Jerusalem Walls National Park. The structure is approximately 2,000 years old. Its exact function or purpose remains a mystery.

Archaeologists Nahshon Szanton and Joe Uziel, who lead the IAA excavation, believe the structure is a monumental podium, but since there are no parallels for this structure, their identification is not positive. They explain their position in a statement issued by the IAA:

We believe the structure was a kind of monumental podium that attracted the public’s attention when walking on the city’s main street. It would be very interesting to know what was said there 2,000 years ago. Were messages announced here on behalf of the government? Perhaps news or gossip, or admonitions and street preaching—unfortunately we do not know.