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The Monastery of the Virgins is a structure uncovered during Benjamin Mazar's excavations south of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The large number of Christian religious finds from the site have prompted its identification with a monastery described by a pilgrim, Theodosius the archdeacon, in his ''De Situ Terrae Sanctae'', a work of the early 6th century.〔 The building was constructed in the 4th century on the remains of an earlier Herodian building identified with the Second Temple courthouse, and was destroyed during the Persian sack of Jerusalem in 614. ==Excavations== The building identified as the Monastery of the Virgins was unearthed in Area XV〔 of Mazar's excavations of the Ophel on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Carried out between 1968 and 1977, the excavations revealed that a crowded residential neighbourhood stood in the area to the immediate south of the Temple Mount enclosure during Jerusalem's Byzantine Period.〔 from the Triple Huldah Gate, at the foot of the Temple Mount's southern wall, the excavators revealed a structure whose plan resembled a typical Byzantine courtyard house, with wings arranged around a central courtyard. Built on top in the remains of a large Second Temple Period building and an older burial cave, the house featured three stories of which the basement and ground floor were well preserved.〔〔 The excavation of the building yielded earlier Iron Age II shards, including a LMLK seal and the head of a fertility figurine. However, as a result of the building's excellent state of preservation digging beneath its floors was abandoned in order to allow its display to the public.〔 Measuring by , the structure was built in the early 4th century as a single spacious unit.〔 Its ground floor included the courtyard, a kitchen, shops and staircases leading to the basement and the floor above, which housed a chapel.〔 In the mid-6th century the northern and southern wings of its ground floor were modified and sealed off from the rest of the building.〔 A destruction layer testifies to the destruction of the building in a great conflagration, probably during the Persian sack of the city in 614.〔 In the destruction layer were found the remnants of the upper floor, which collapsed into the floor below.〔 The remains of weapons, probably the defenders', were also found at the site. These include a sword, a scabbard, a pickaxe, a dagger and an umbo, a rare feature of the Byzantine weapons repertoire.〔 While adjacent areas were built over during the subsequent Islamic periods, the building in area XV was left undisturbed. This allowed for its excellent state of preservation. It is currently accessible to visitors to the Jerusalem Archaeological Park at the foot of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Monastery of the Virgins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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