Archaeologists have uncovered a remarkably intact ritual bathing complex, around 2,000 years old, near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Dating to the time of Jesus, it may have served Jewish pilgrims visiting the holy site. The find also sheds light on the ancient practices that helped shape Christian baptism.
The excavation was conducted by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and announced earlier this fall. The complex lies in the Ophel, just south of the Temple Mount, close to an ancient entrance called the Triple Gate.
Built in the early first century A.D., the site includes three large ritual baths, a plastered pool, a paved plaza and an extensive water system. Its location beside one of the main entrances to the Temple Mount suggests that pilgrims may have purified themselves there before entering the Second Temple.
One bath is especially well preserved. It stands nearly 14 feet high and still has its vaulted stone ceiling and a shaft that once brought water into the structure. The university said it is rare to find a building from the Second Temple period preserved from floor to ceiling, particularly in such a historically important part of Jerusalem.
Excavation directors Uzi Leibner and Orit Peleg-Barkat described the large structure, dedicated entirely to ritual purification, as unusual. They said the discovery helps researchers understand how the area south of the Temple Mount accommodated pilgrims and what rituals took place near its gates.
The site also preserves signs of Jerusalem’s destruction by Roman forces in 70 A.D. Archaeologists found dozens of coins from the First Jewish Revolt against Rome on the floors and mixed in with the debris.
Underneath the complex, the team uncovered an older public purification facility, including another large ritual bath thought to date to the first century B.C. Its presence indicates that ritual bathing took place at the site well before the Roman destruction.
Jesus and his disciples could have visited the complex, but there is no evidence in the New Testament that they did, said Candida Moss, a theology professor at the University of Birmingham who studies early Christianity.
Moss said the discovery offers a glimpse of Jewish purification practices that preceded and influenced Christian baptism. Ritual bathing became more common among Jews in Judea and Galilee between the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., she said, as the number of immersion facilities grew. The Qumran community, associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, also used ritual baths called mikva’ot.
That wider tradition, Moss said, helps put the popularity of John the Baptist and the use of baptism by Jesus’ followers in context. A ritual often viewed as uniquely Christian emerged from broader Jewish practices of bathing and purification.
The discovery follows other recent finds in Israel dating to the time of Jesus. Earlier this fall, officials announced the recovery of a well-preserved, 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath in Kiryat Gat, about 35 miles southwest of Jerusalem. Around the same time, archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old aqueduct near Jerusalem that once carried water to the Second Temple complex.
