event · E0459
Pilgrimage Road דרך עולי הרגל
A monumental stepped street some 600 meters long and 6–8 meters wide, paved with massive ashlar slabs over a vaulted drainage channel, climbing the Tyropoeon Valley from the Pool of Siloam (Pool of Siloam) to the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount, with shops along its sides. A section was found by British excavators in 1894; the steps were re-exposed in 2004 during a sewer repair, and the street has been systematically excavated since 2013 by Nahshon Szanton and Joe Uziel for the Israel Antiquities Authority — tunneling beneath the modern neighborhood. More than a hundred coins sealed beneath the paving run no later than 30/31 CE, placing construction under the administration of Pontius Pilate rather than under Herod as long assumed. On its paving stones lies the collapse and burn debris of 70 CE. The excavated street was inaugurated in September 2025 and fully opened to the general public in January 2026, within the City of David National Park.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- דרך עולי הרגל
- Also known as
- Stepped Street, Jerusalem pilgrim road, Derech Olei HaRegel
- Era
- second-temple
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3790–3830 AM — from its construction in the generation before the churban until the city fell in 3830
- Civil (computed)
- 3790–3830 AM · 30–70 CE
- Academic
- constructed in or after 30/31 CE (latest coins beneath the paving); destroyed 70 CE
- Date range
- built c. 30s CE; in use until the destruction of 70 CE
- Duration
- ≈40 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Jerusalem
IV. What
- Events
- Pool of Siloam
Why it matters
The Torah commands every male to appear before Hashem three times a year, and the Mishnah describes the procession of pilgrims going up to Jerusalem with their bikkurim. This staircase is where that happened: the literal road of aliyah la-regel in the last decades of the Second Temple, worn by the sandals of the festival crowds climbing from the pool where they could purify themselves to the gates of the Temple Mount. The archaeology adds two sharp points. The coins beneath the paving overturned a century of attribution — not Herod's project but one built under Pontius Pilate, meaning the pilgrims of the Temple's final generation walked a street newer than many of them. And the fire and collapse of 70 CE still lie on its stones: the road of ascent, buried by the churban, walked again since 2026.
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| The street is a monumental stepped road, roughly 600 m long and 6–8 m wide, of large ashlar paving slabs over a drainage channel, running from the Pool of Siloam up the Tyropoeon Valley to the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. A section was found by British excavators in 1894; the steps were re-exposed during a 2004 sewer repair, and systematic excavation by Nahshon Szanton and Joe Uziel of the Israel Antiquities Authority has proceeded since 2013. | archaeology | ★★★★★ |
|
| More than one hundred coins recovered from sealed contexts beneath the paving date no later than 30/31 CE, placing the street's construction under the administration of Pontius Pilate — not under Herod the Great, as had long been assumed. It is a rare case of an excavation result overturning a standing consensus about a monument's builder, and it means the street served the pilgrim crowds for only about four decades before the city fell. | archaeology | ★★★★★ |
|
| This is the road of aliyah la-regel in its late Second Temple form: the Torah's command to appear before Hashem three times a year, and the Mishnah's picture of the pilgrims' procession going up to Jerusalem, played out physically on this ascent from the Shiloach pool to the Temple gates. Destruction debris of 70 CE — collapsed stones and burnt material — lies directly on the paving.
That pilgrims used this street is the standard reading of its route, width, and the adjacent pool; no inscription labels it.
|
biblical rabbinic archaeology | ★★★★☆ | |
| The fully excavated street was inaugurated in September 2025 and opened fully to the general public in January 2026, as part of the City of David National Park — the first time since 70 CE that the ascent can be walked end to end. | archaeology external | ★★★★☆ |
Referenced by: Pool of Siloam