Just in time for Chanukah: Ancient Greek Roof Tiles Found in Jerusalem

Roof tile fragments discovered at the Giv‘ati Parking Lot Excavation. Photo by Eliyahu Yannai, City of David National Park.

Just in time for Chanukah, archeologists in Israel uncovered ancient roof tiles in the City of David in Jerusalem that they have dated to the time of the Maccabean revolt against the Syrian-Greek dynasty that occupied Israel that occurred in the second century BCE and its king Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV – Antiochus Epiphanes.

On Thursday night, Jews around the world will light the first candle of the nine-light menorah that is lit every day of the eight days of Chanukah. Each night another candle is added in commemoration of the re-sanctification of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees after it had been desecrated by the Greeks.

The revolt was sparked after the Greeks attempted to stamp out the Jewish faith and impose Greek culture on the country.

Now, archaeological excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel-Aviv University at the City of David National Park, located around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, have uncovered the oldest ceramic roofing tiles in the Land of Israel. These tiles represent an example of the Syrian Greeks’ attempt to transform the nature of Jerusalem.

The sixteen Hellenistic-period roof tile fragments date from the 2nd century BCE.

The finds will be exhibited for the first time on Monday, 11th December 2023, the Fifth Light of Chanukah, at the Israel Antiquities Authority Conference “In Those Days At This Time–The Hasmoneans are Coming” that will take place between 15:00–18:00 at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel. The free event is open to the public and will include a tour of the new National Campus.

Roof tile fragments discovered at the Giv‘ati Parking Lot Excavation. Photo by Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Ceramic roofing tiles were invented in Greece as early as the 7th Century BCE, their durability and resistance to water, specifically rainwater and precipitation, gained them a positive reputation and ensured their rapid adoption in neighboring areas. However, 500 years went by until they began to appear in the material culture of the Land of Israel. In fact, it aspires that the person who brought them to Israel was none other than Antiochus IV Epiphanes –known to all of us from the story of Hanukkah.

“The representatives of the Seleucid King, Antiochus IV, who reigned over vast areas from Syria to Persia, brought the knowledge and tradition of constructing tiled roofs from Seleucid-controlled Syria,” said the archeologists.

According to the story in the book of the Maccabees, in 168 BCE, Antiochus IV undertook a military expedition to Jerusalem, which led to the outbreak of the renowned Maccabean Revolt. In order to establish his control of the city, Antiochus constructed a mighty fortress that was known as the “Acra.”

The Greek soldiers residing in the fortress continued to rule the city after the Maccabean cleansing of the Jerusalem Temple, and according to the descriptions in the books of the Maccabees and the later writings of Flavius Josephus, the fortress embittered the lives of the Jewish residents in the city and the Temple. Despite several descriptions of the fortress in the Jewish and external literary sources, its exact location within the city remains a puzzle debated by scholars.

According to Dr. Ayala Zilberstein of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel-Aviv University, “The architectural remains uncovered over recent years have reopened the debate, and they actually strengthen the identification of the fortress on the City of David hill. The discovery of the roof tiles constitutes additional evidence and further reinforcement from a different direction, for the identification of the Hellenistic presence in the City of David, characterized by foreign construction traditions. Further research on many more tiles that were discovered in the previous archaeological expedition directed by Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Dr. Yanna Tchekhanovets of the Israel Antiquities Authority, may shed more light on this issue.”

“Tiles were very rare in our region during this period, and they were alien to local construction traditions, indicating that the technique of using tiles to roof parts of a tower or a structure inside that famous fortress was brought from Greek-controlled areas by foreign rulers.”

According to Dr. Filip Vukosavović of the Israel Antiquities Authority: “Until now, we had little material evidence for the presence of the Seleucid Greeks in Jerusalem. The new tiles discovered in the City of David provide tangible remains of the Seleucid Greek presence in the region, linking us with the story of Hanukkah. It’s very exciting to encounter the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV ‘face-to-face’, almost 2,200 years after the events of Hanukkah.”