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  • Nehemia's Tower. Area G, City of David. Courtesy of the City of David Archive.
    Nehemia's Tower. Area G, City of David. Courtesy of the City of David Archive.
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Nehemiah Builds the Walls of Jerusalem

In the mid-fifth century BCE, during the time of the Persian King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah, the Jewish governor, arrived in the land. Nehemiah’s most important work was the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls.

In the picture: In the early 2000’s, a small tower was excavated by Dr. Eilat Mazar in the City of David.  This tower was incorporated into the Second Temple period wall. Mazar dated the tower to the time of Nehemiah, but this dating is disputed by some scholars, who ascribe it to the Hellenistic period.