Aerial view of Herod’s Jerusalem, early 1st century (before 70). The drawing is in landscape format and has no frame. Inscriptions appear on the reverse.
The city is enclosed within a fortified wall, punctuated by towers and pierced by several gates. Solomon’s temple stands on the right-hand side of the drawing. It stands at the center of the esplanade, a vast courtyard surrounded by porticoes. The basilica runs along the south side. It is flanked by the Antonia fortress, built by Herod, and the circus. The city unfolds in several terraces in the lower left-hand section of the drawing. It features a theater and a public square. The latter is close to Herod’s palace. It consists of two buildings set around a garden and protected by a fortified wall with towers. A little higher up on the drawing, a mound of earth represents Golgotha. The Mount of Olives rises up in the distance, on the right of the drawing, overlooking the Garden of Gethsemane.