Beneath the modern Jewish Quarter, archaeologists uncovered a series of grand mansions from the Herodian period (1st century BCE to 70 CE) that belonged to the priestly aristocracy of Jerusalem. The Herodian Quarter, also called the Wohl Archaeological Museum, preserves these mansions with their frescoed walls, elaborate mosaic floors, ritual baths, and stone vessels, revealing a lifestyle of luxury and piety that existed just steps from the Temple.
Palatial Mansion
The largest mansion covers over 600 square meters, an enormous residence by any ancient standard. The house was arranged around a central courtyard, with reception rooms, bedrooms, and service areas on multiple levels. The walls were decorated with frescoes in the Pompeian style, imitating marble panels and architectural features in painted plaster. The floors featured geometric mosaics of high quality. The scale and decoration of the house indicate that its owner was among the wealthiest and most powerful people in Jerusalem, almost certainly a member of the priestly aristocracy.
Ritual Baths
Multiple mikvaot (ritual baths) were found in each house, reflecting the priestly families’ obsession with ritual purity. The priests who served in the Temple were required to immerse before performing their duties, and the private mikvaot in their homes allowed them to maintain purity in their daily lives. The baths are carved from the bedrock, plastered, and supplied with rainwater collected from the roof. The number and size of the mikvaot in each house go far beyond what ordinary Jewish law requires, confirming that these were priestly families who took purity to an extreme.
Stone Vessels
Throughout the mansions, archaeologists found large quantities of stone vessels: cups, bowls, measuring cups, and storage jars, all carved from the soft local limestone. Stone was preferred over pottery because, according to Jewish law, stone does not contract ritual impurity. A pottery vessel that became impure had to be broken and discarded; a stone vessel could be used indefinitely. The prevalence of stone vessels in these houses is one of the clearest archaeological indicators of Jewish religious observance in the Second Temple period.
The Destruction
Like the Burnt House nearby, the Herodian mansions were destroyed in the Roman sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Layers of ash and collapsed masonry seal the houses at the moment of their destruction. In one room, a stone table was found overturned, as if someone had knocked it over while fleeing. In another, charred wooden beams lay where they fell when the ceiling collapsed. The excavations preserve these moments with haunting clarity, turning archaeological remains into human stories.
Menorah Graffito
One of the most significant small finds in the Herodian Quarter is a graffito of a seven-branched menorah scratched into the plaster wall of one of the mansions. The drawing is believed to depict the actual golden menorah that stood in the Temple, drawn by someone who had seen it. If so, it is one of the earliest and most authentic representations of the Temple menorah in existence.
Visit with Hoshen Tours
The Herodian Quarter is one of the finest archaeological museums in the Jewish Quarter. Hoshen Tours includes it alongside the Burnt House, the Cardo, and the Hurva Synagogue in Old City itineraries.