Dated back to 701 BC, the immaculately preserved structures indicate the restoration of Jerusalem after the Assyrian siege of the city between the reign of King Hezekiah and King Josiah.
“This discovery, along with the palace previously uncovered in Ramat Rachel and the administrative center recently uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority on the slopes of Arnona, attests to a new revival in the city and a somewhat ‘exit from the walls’ of the First Temple period, after the Assyrian siege,” said Yaakov Billig, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s excavation. “Villas, mansions and government buildings in the area outside the walls of the city… [testify] to the relief felt by the city’s residents and the recovery of Jerusalem’s development after the Assyrian threat was over.”
Recognition of the strategic and panoramic nature of the area was also expressed some 2,600 years later, when the British Mandatory administration built its central seat of government, known as the “Commissioner’s Palace” (Armon Hanatziv) there. A few decades later, one of the most famous promenades in the State of Israel was established on the site, the Armon Hanatziv Promenade, from which the spectacular view of the City of David and the Temple Mount can be seen to this day.
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Marney Blom is news director for the Acts News Network.
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