‘Intact’ Jerusalem wall, evidence of 2,100-year-old ‘ceasefire’ discovered by archaeologists in Israel
The Hasmonean wall foundation, whose excavation was finished last week in Jerusalem, is almost 50 meters long, around half the length of a football field, and around 5 meters wide.
Workers from the Israel Antiquities Authority clean a section of an excavation site where, according to the institution, a city wall from the Hasmonean period, dating to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered under the Tower of David Citadel Museum, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
In a remarkable discovery, archaeologists in Israel have unearthed what is believed to be the remains of an ancient wall that encircled Jerusalem. According to archaeologists, this is the longest continuous remains of the wall, dating back to the Hasmonean Kingdom.
“An extraordinary discovery in Jerusalem. One of the longest, most intact Hasmonean city wall segments (2nd century BCE) uncovered by an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation,” the Israeli government said in a post on X.
An extraordinary discovery in Jerusalem 🏺✨ One of the longest, most intact Hasmonean city wall segments (2nd century BCE) uncovered by an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation.
A people who fortified their ancient capital; who would one day rebuild the modern State of Israel… pic.twitter.com/H0kMgAwt3T
According to The Associated Press, the Hasmonean wall foundation, whose excavation was finished last week in Jerusalem, is almost 50 meters long, around half the length of a football field, and around 5 meters wide. It is estimated to have been taller than the current walls surrounding Jerusalem’s Old City.
Workers from the Israel Antiquities Authority clean a section of an excavation site where, according to the institution, a city wall from the Hasmonean period, dating to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
As per some ancient writings, the Hasmonean walls encircled an area much larger than the current Old City of Jerusalem, with 60 watchtowers along the wall that were more than 10 meters tall.
Much of the current walls surrounding Jerusalem’s Old City date back hundreds of years to the Ottoman Era.
How it was discovered
Over the past two years, archaeologists had removed the equivalent of two Olympic swimming pools worth of dirt and debris by hand from the location of the discovery.
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Workers from the Israel Antiquities Authority clean a section of an excavation site where, according to the institution, a city wall from the Hasmonean period, dating to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
The current section of the wall was uncovered underneath an abandoned wing of the building known as the Kishleh, which was built in 1830 as a military base. The wing was used as a prison, including by the British up until the 1940s, and the walls were covered with graffiti carved by prisoners in English, Hebrew and Arabic. The remnants of the iron bars of the cells are still visible in the ceiling.
Most of the building is still used by the Israeli police, but one wing was abandoned and later transferred to the Tower of David Museum. Archaeologists first began excavating this wing of the Kishleh in 1999, but violence in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada, which began in 2000, halted the excavations until two years ago.
The Jerusalem Regional Archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority, Dr. Amit Re’im, shows a section of the excavation. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Evidence of ancient ceasefire
One of the most interesting aspects of the foundation was that the wall above it seems to have been purposefully and uniformly dismantled to a uniform height, not chaotically destroyed by the ravages of time or war.
Experts believe that it was the result of a ceasefire in 132 or 133 BC, when Hellenistic King Antiochus the Seventh, an heir to Antiochus, laid siege to Jerusalem and the Judean Kingdom.
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As the Judean army struggled, Jewish king John Hyrcanus I decided to strike a deal with Antiochus. He raided King David’s tomb for 3,000 talents of silver and offered 500 hostages, including his own brother, according to ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.
“Antiochus Sidetes (the Seventh) reached a ceasefire agreement with John Hyrcanus, saying, if you want me to remove my army, you yourself, the Jewish king, must raze to the ground the Hasmonean fortification that you and your father built,” Dr. Amit Re’em, one of the lead archaeologists for the project from the Israel Antiquities Authority, told AP.
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Workers from the Israel Antiquities Authority clean a section of an excavation site where, according to the institution, a city wall from the Hasmonean period, dating to the late 2nd century BCE, was uncovered under the Tower of David Citadel Museum, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) 
