YANA TCHEKHANOVETS — The Holy City? Fourth-Century Jerusalem in Light of the New Archaeological Data

On 1 October 2020, Dr Yana Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Ben Gurion University in the Negev spoke to the society about fourth-century Aelia Capitolina/Jerusalem, explaining how new archaeological discoveries are presenting a complex portrait of the city that challenges traditional views of its smooth and quick Christianization.

Key to this are finds from the large peristyle mansion of the Late Roman period, recently exposed in salvage excavations at the Givati site, located close to the ‘City of David’ — the historical nucleus of ancient Jerusalem. This had been violently destroyed by an earthquake in AD 363.

Dr Tchekhanovets presented many finds from the site that attest to the Roman nature of the building and its clearly Pagan beliefs — carved bone and ivory items, statuettes of the gods and votive offerings, gemmae, masques, magic objects, and osteological remains of public sacrifice ceremony.

Thanks to the secure, sealed archaeological context of this material, it is now possible to question the historical narrative presented by the ecclesiastic sources and to reconsider the nature of conversion process of the central city of Christendom.