Archaeologists find vast moat that protected Jerusalem’s biblical kings
Archaeologists have solved a 150-year-old mystery in the City of David, discovering a massive moat that was used to fortify and protect the Temple Mount and the king’s palace in biblical-era Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University announced on Sunday, El.kz cites timesofisrael.com.
The city’s northern fortification eluded archaeologists for a century and a half as they could not trace its full route. But recent excavations of the Givati Parking Lot, adjacent to the Old City walls, have revealed a moat that split the City of David in half, separating the palace and Temple Mount from the rest of the city.
The vast moat, which was at least nine meters deep and 30 meters wide, the IAA said in a press release, was “one of the monumental fortifications that protected the kings of Jerusalem.”
“It is not known when the moat was originally cut, but evidence suggests it was used during the centuries when Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, almost 3,000 years ago, beginning with King Josiah,” said excavation directors Prof. Yuval Gadot and Dr. Yiftah Shalev. “During those years, the moat separated the southern residential part of the city from the ruling Acropolis in the north — the upper city where the palace and the temple were located.”
The discovery corresponds to references in the Bible to the topography of the area. In one such reference in the first Book of Kings (11:27), King Solomon is described as building the construction, which was dubbed the “Millo.”: “… Solomon built up the ‘Millo’ and closed up the breach in the wall of the City of David his father.”
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