House_of_Ahiel (2)

Hebrew University professor Yigal Shiloh uncovered a house in the City of David opposite the Kidron Valley. It is the most complete house excavated to date within the city. It is known as the House of Ahiel because it contained a pottery sherd with the name Ahiel scratched on it. This is a four-room house, the typical Israelite residence of the First Temple period. Characteristically, it has three rooms set around a central courtyard and two rows of square monolithic pillars that supported a roof. An unusual feature of the house was that it contained a toilet. Ahiel’s house was burnt during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

 

Visualizing First Temple Jerusalem, Rivka Gonen, BAR 15-03, May-Jun 1989.

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