Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Israel Day 2 : More Jerusalem

There was much more of Jerusalem to see.

Next we explored the Cardo, the main-street and outdoor strip mall built by the Romans around 130 AD, and was one of the causes of the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome. Hadrian's renaming Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina and building a Roman city over Jerusalem rubbed the Jews the wrong way for some very obvious reasons. It was later expanded by Justinian to connect to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The Cardo still remains today, under the current street level and with a supporting superstructure above today.

An illustration of how the Cardo looked in its heyday:

Mainly artisan shops line the modern lower Cardo today including an artist by the name of Udi Merioz, who makes some amazing paintings. It turns out Mr. Merioz was also a personal friend with M.Sgt Roy P. Benividez. Yes, the hero and Medal of Honor holder M.Sgt Roy P. Benividez. An interesting letter to Udi was published in front of his shop, and a picture of M.Sgt Benividez still adorns the inside of his shop to this day:

Then we headed out of the Cardo area and entered into the Christian Quarter.

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