Testimony Burned in Stone: the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE

Having abandoned these [towers]…they found immediate refuge in the ravine below Siloam…and dispersing hither and thither and slunk down into the mines [tunnels]…The Romans…massacred indiscriminately all whom they met…the victors instituted a search for those in the mines, and, tearing up the ground, slew all whom they met...

JOSEPHUS, JEWISH WAR 6:403–406, 429

In the picture: Archaeological evidence of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the summer of 70 CE was found in many places in the city. For example, a Roman sword and remains of its sheath were discovered in the early 2000s in the excavations by Prof. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron in the drainage channel under the pilgrims’ street. This was probably the weapon of a Roman legionary who had gone down into the drainage channels where many Jewish fighters were hiding. Another possibility is that a Jewish fighter took the sword from a Roman soldier, killed the soldier, and fled to the channels, taking the sword with him.

In the picture: In the early 1970s, an expedition headed by Prof. Nahman Avigad discovered remains of a huge fire at the site now known as the Burnt House, in the Jewish Quarter, as well as the skeletal remains of a woman, next to which was a spear point.

In the picture: In the drainage channel in the southern part of the City of David, Prof. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron discovered in the early 2000s pots in which Jews fleeing there apparently took food. The roof of the channel was found smashed, apparently by Romans looking for hidden Jews, as described by Josephus.