On the slope of the City of David hill, where the Kidron and Ben Hinnom Valleys meet, the Ancient Shiloah Pool was discovered just a few years ago. This magnificent pool was constructed 2,000 years ago during the days of King Herod, in Jerusalem's glorious building tradition. This grand pool served as an important meeting point for Jerusalem's pilgrims, who would arrive in the city to visit the Temple Mount on the three major Jewish holidays: Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth), and the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot).

The pool is mentioned in the New Testament as the place where Jesus has performed a miracle, as he healed a blind man (John 9 7). An impressive road once connected the Shiloah Pool to the Temple Mount and served as the central axis for all of Jerusalem's pilgrims and visitors. Shops and businesses once lined the length of the Herodian Road and enjoyed the road's centrality and the wide exposure that they had to the many pilgrims who filled Jerusalem on the holidays. The way that leads from the Shiloah Pool in the direction of the Temple Mount reached 600 meters into the valley whose Greek name once was the "Tyropoeon" which means the valley of the cheese mongers.

During the Hellenistic Period the road was lined with the shops and factories of dairy product manufacturers, such that when the winter rains would come, the valley would be washed clean of the refuse and smells that were a by-product of the dairy i

PAST

Of all the historic sites of ancient Palestine, ending with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Tamar is the most under-appreciated city in southern Israel. 

Biblical Tamar seems to have been forgotten by historians, most of whom barely remember where the southern tribal boundaries were set by Moses. The lack of Jewish and Islamic references describing its very existence should be a source of embarrassment in academic circles, not to mention archeological research.

The Roman Empire became officially Christian in 325 CE, but it, too, apparently had little reason to build more than a large fortress at Tamar without so much as a monastery or church.  Nearby Mamshit, used by Nabataeans and Romans as a stopover as a water source in the spice route from the East, was fully reconstructed, but the extraordinary Jewish city to the south remained buried under desert sands. 

There is little evidence that Christians lived and worshipped at Tamar or drank from the  refreshing artesian well outside Roman walls, but certainly King Solomon and subsequent Jewish kings knew of the city's strategic significance. Moses understood its importance and the Israeli

The Old City of Jerusalem is famous for, among other things, its eight unique gates*, none of which are more impressive than the Damascus Gate.

Built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538 as part of a total revamp of Jerusalem's walls, the Damascus Gate featured a majestic crown-shaped parapet. But during the heavy fighting in and around the Old City during the Six Day War in 1967 the Damascus Gate's "crown" suffered considerable damage.

With so many ancient and biblical sites on their plate, it took Israeli archaeologists over 40 years to get around to it, but this year the Damascus Gate was finally restored to its original glory.

Allaboutjerusalem.com

"The Old City of Jerusalem is a focus of interest for people the world over and the number one tourist attraction in Israel," said Elad Kendel, director of the Old City Basin in the Jerusalem Development Authority."The city walls and the gates are the first thing that everyone sees when they arrive at the Old City, and it is therefore important to us that tourists, both domestic and foreign, see the city in all its glory," Kendel added.

The Jerusalem Development Aut

PAMUKKALE, Turkey
A team of Italian archaeologists has announced the discovery here of what they believe to be the tomb of Philip, one of Jesus' 12 apostles, at the ancient Asia Minor city of Hierapolis in Turkey's Aegean province of Denizli, and are planning to excavate the unopened grave soon.

The discovery of the grave of the New Testament saint, who came to Hierapolis - known today as Pamukkale - nearly 2,000 years ago to spread the Gospel and was crucified upside down by the Romans, will attract immense attention around the world, said excavator Francesco D'Andria, director of the Institute of Archaeological Heritage, Monuments and Sites at Italy's National Research Council in Lecce.

Philip's tomb has traditionally been associated with the martyrium church built at the site, though no evidence of the ancient burial was ever found. In July, however, D'Andria and his team located a smaller church less than 150 feet away from the martyrium that appears to contain the grave of the apostle.

"As we were cleaning out the new church we discovered a month ago, we finally found the grave," said D'Andria. "With close examination, we determined that the grave had been moved from its previous location in the St. Philip Church to this new church in the fifth century, during the Byzantine era."

D'Andria has been leading archeological excavations at the ancient city for 32 years. Hierapolis was founded around 190 BC by Eume