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... There was absolutely no criticism of Roman oppression, nor any mention of Jewish revolt. ... http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/mysteries/index.html
Archeologists find ancient tunnel used to escape Romans
Updated 9/10/2007 4:50 PM |
An Israeli archeologist walks along a drainage channel recently discovered in the City of David next to Jerusalem's Old City. Historian Josephus Flavius indicates in The War of the Jews that numerous people took shelter in the channel and lived inside until they fled the city through its southern end.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archeologists on Sunday said they've stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago: the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city's Roman conquerors.The ancient tunnel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem in the days of the second biblical Temple, which the Romans destroyed in the year 70, the dig's directors, archaeology Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, told a news conference.
The channel was buried beneath the rubble of the sacking, and the parts that have been exposed since it was discovered two weeks ago have been preserved intact.
The walls — ashlar stones 3 feet deep — reach a height of 10 feet in some places and are covered by heavy stone slabs that were the main road's paving stones, Shukron said. Several manholes are visible, and portions of the original plastering remain, he said.
Pottery shards, vessel fragments and coins from the end of the Second Temple period were discovered inside the channel, attesting to its age, Reich said.
The discovery of the drainage channel was momentous in itself, a sign of how the city's rulers looked out for the welfare of their citizens by organizing a system that drained the rainfall and prevented flooding, Reich said.
The discovery "shows you planning on a grand scale, unlike other cities in the ancient Near East," said anthropologist Joe Zias, an expert in the Second Temple period who was not involved in the dig.
But what makes the channel doubly significant is its role as an escape hatch for Jews desperate to flee the conquering Romans, the dig's directors said.
Historian Josephus Flavius indicates in The War of the Jews that numerous people took shelter in the channel and lived inside until they fled the city through its southern end.....continued...http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-09-09-israeltunnel_N.htm