Israeli archaeologists say they have uncovered a ritual bath in Jerusalem that was likely used by Jewish pilgrims coming to the Temple two millenia ago.
The bath is located next to the Temple Mount, the compound in Jerusalem’s Old City where two Biblical Temples stood. The second was destroyed by Roman legions in 70 A.D.
The Israel Antiquities Authority says the stone bath was likely used for ritual purification by pilgrims who came to the Temple three times a year.
Similar ritual baths are still used by Jews for purification.
The site that once …

U.S. archaeologists have found an extremely rare 2,000-year-old limestone cup inscribed with 10 lines of Aramaic or Hebrew script near the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Such ritual cups are common, especially in areas that were inhabited by priests, but usually they are unmarked or bear only a single line of text, such as a name, said archaeologist Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who led the dig along with James Tabor of the same school.
“To have 10 lines of text is unprecedented,” he …