All language subtitles for Lost.Worlds.S01E07.Jesus.Jerusalem.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Jerusalem.

For Christians,

the most important events
in history took place here.

[men chanting]

The Bible says this is the city
where Jesus lived his last days

and was crucified.

What happened here
changed the world.

Over 2,000 years,
the city, too, has changed.

Destroyed and reconstructed
more than 20 times

in as many centuries.

Only fragments, traces
and ruins remain

of the Jerusalem that Jesus
would've known.

Now, building on decades
of research,

with state-of-the-art
3D graphic modeling,

we can reveal what it would've
looked like to him.

The streets and gateways

through which
he would've walked.

The complex water system

which kept this desert city
from thirst.

The pools where some say
Jesus performed miracles.

The temple complex,
the heart of the city

and of the Jewish faith
where Jesus taught and prayed.

An extraordinary piece
of engineering

that was razed to the ground

almost as soon
as it was completed.

[fire roaring]

We will reveal the lost world
of the Gospels.

Jesus' Jerusalem.

[opening theme plays]

In Jesus' time, Jerusalem
was the heart of Judea,

the kingdom of the Jews.

A people defined
by their religion.

To them, this was the most
important place in the world.

[beeps]

[beeps]

The Gospels describe
three different occasions

when Jesus came to this city.

Forty days after his birth,
when his parents presented him

to the priests in the temple.

At the age of 12,
when he came to teach.

And for the last week
of his life,

he entered the city walls
in triumph

and then left them to die
on a cross.

Jerusalem in the 1st Century

is the center of everything
for the Judean world.

There's a strong contrast

between where Jesus
has come from

and the Jerusalem
to which he arrives.

[narrator]
His hometown was Nazareth,

a small settlement 75 miles
to the north.

Nazareth had a reputation for
being rough and uncivilized.

It could not have been
more different from Jerusalem.

He comes from the country
and now he's coming to the city.

[indistinct chatter]

[Soltes] If we imagine Jesus
coming to Jerusalem

for the first time,

he must've been absolutely
awestruck by this structure

which was enormous relative
to everything around it.

[narrator] This structure
is the Temple Mount.

[beeps]

For Investigators trying
to piece together

what this city looked like
in the 1st century,

it presents a unique challenge.

Most of what was built here
has been lost to time.

Destroyed within decades
of Jesus' death

by a rampaging Roman army.

And because this site is sacred

to three of the world's
great religions,

Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam,

no excavations have been
allowed here

for more than 150 years.

Nevertheless,
through detective work,

and the study
of ancient records,

it is now possible to rebuild
the Temple Mount

as Jesus knew it

and uncover the secrets
of its construction.

It was the brainchild
of Herod the Great,

king of Judea at the time
of Jesus's birth.

Herod's achievements
will always be overshadowed

by what is written about him
in the Bible.

That he ordered the slaughter
of newborn babies.

That he tried to murder
the infant Christ.

Herod generally gets a bad rap
in history.

Herod was an extraordinarily
skilled administrator.

He was also
a visionary builder

not just what he did
to aggrandize the temple

and the Temple Mount,

he built this extraordinary
fortress of Masada.

He built this extraordinary
palace complex at Herodion.

He wanted to be remembered.

He wanted
to be Herod the Great.

[narrator] And so the world
that Jesus lived in

was one molded
by his would-be killer.

In around 15 BC,
Herod had embarked on a plan

to build a new temple complex
far more grand

than what already stood there.

He would triple the size
of the existing structure

to make it cover
an area equivalent

of 25 football fields.

He would surround it
with huge walls.

But he faced two major
engineering challenges,

Firstly, in Jewish thinking,

there was only one possible
location for the temple.

He would have to demolish
the existing structure

and the priest
didn't trust him.

They didn't believe he'd finish
the job.

To prove his good intentions,

every stone needed
for the new building

would be quarried before work
began on the site.

One million tons of stone
from sites all around the city.

It took eight years.

A still greater challenge

was that the summit
of the Temple Mount

was a peak, not a plateau.

More than that, it was simply
too small for Herod's plans.

Herod arrived at a simple

but extraordinarily
ambitious solution.

He made the mountain bigger.

[rumbling]

The Temple Mount
that Jesus knew

was, in fact, the largest
man-made structure on Earth.

The floor of the plaza,

which would hold a quarter
of a million people,

was effectively a roof.

It covered a network
of chambers.

[Avner Goren]

[narrator] In the southeastern
corner of the Temple Mount,

there are four level of arches
making vaulted rooms.

Each arch is 20 feet wide
and 20 feet high.

The technique of arch building
is well-known in Herod's time.

The Romans used it extensively.

What's different here

is that Herod's men used,
not concrete,

but the local limestone.

The result was a perfectly
executed piece of engineering

with three major advantages.

It was strong.

Strong enough to carry
the weight

of tens of thousands
of pilgrims.

It was long-lasting.

[Avner] It happened
to last almost forever.

We are now looking at
the building 2,000 years later

and it is still here and strong
and very impressive.

[narrator] It was also light.

If Herod had tried
the alternative,

to simply fill the space
with earth or rubble,

the weight
on the retaining walls

would've been far too great.

They would've had to have been
made even thicker

or they would've collapsed.

As it was,

the walls that surrounded
the Temple Mount were vast.

They were 15 feet thick
and rising above the plaza,

they stood more
than 120 feet high.

They were made

from hand carved stone blocks.

[indistinct chatter]

[Ronny] The Temple Mount is
about a mile in circumference.

So we can say
that a single layer of stone

would be, let's say, 800
to 1,000 pieces.

[narrator] On average,

each of these stones weighed
around 9,000 pounds,

roughly the weight
of a full-grown elephant.

Some were much bigger.

Archaeologist have located
the largest of the blocks used

in the Temple Mount's
construction.

It can be found in what are
called the Rabbinical Tunnels.

[beeps]

Now buried by 2,000 years
of progress and change,

in Jesus' time, it was
in plain view at street level.

Dr. Jodi Magness
is a world expert

on the architecture
of Jesus' Jerusalem.

[Jodi] This very large stone

is part of what's called
the master course.

The idea was to stabilize
the Temple Mount

by incorporating a row of stones

that are much bigger, taller,
and heavier

than all of the other stones.

[narrator] Its size is hard
to comprehend.

It is 20 times larger than
the largest stone used

in the building
of Egypt's pyramids.

It's over 40 feet long,
10 feet high,

and weighs over 400 tons.

[narrator] Jesus or any other
visitor to Jerusalem

would've been confronted
by a building

of vast intimidating scale,

and Herod's builders took this
into account

with a trick of enormous skill.

[Jodi] Each row of stone,
as you work your way up,

is slightly set back,

slightly offset
from the one below.

This, first of all,
gives a stability

to the lower parts of the walls

necessary to carry
the weight above

and it also creates,

or I should say, corrects
an optical illusion.

If the stones had been
laid flushed,

perfectly straight,
one above the other,

the building is so monumental,
that when you looked at it,

it would've seemed to have been
leaning over.

It would've seemed
to have been top heavy.

So this actually makes it look
as if the wall rises straight.

[narrator] The stonemasons
were so skilled

that the fit between the stones
was almost airtight.

Shimon Gibson demonstrate
their expertise.

They were able to fit the stones
close together.

The stonemasons
were so precise

that if I try to put
this 50 dollar bill in here,

I could just get in

but that's about it,
nothing else.

[narrator] This section of the
wall has stood for 2,000 years

but engineers relied
on craftsmanship,

not mortar,
to hold the blocks together.

Eighteen thousand people
were employed

in building these walls.

Work began 15 years
before Jesus' birth.

It was still going on
80 years later.

The complex as Jesus knew it

was the world's biggest
construction site.

But we can now create

what it looked like
on completion.

The largest structure on Earth.

[rumbling]

It stood for only five years

before a brutal Roman army
tore it down.

According
to the Gospel of St. Mark,

Jesus is said to have pointed
to the structures

on Jerusalem's Temple Mount

and said, "Do you see
these great buildings?

There will not be one stone
left upon another

that will not be thrown down."

Forty years later,

these words were proved
to be prophetic.

The Roman army,
suppressing a Jewish revolt,

destroyed the temple.

The result
for modern investigators

is one of the most tantalizing
challenges

of biblical archaeology.

To recreate the holy temple
as it stood

in the middle
of the Temple Mount.

It has taken the work

of generations of scientists
and scholars

to build a picture of what
Jesus would've seen

when he came here.

On entering the Temple Mount,

he would move upwards through
a series of courts

or open spaces.

He would pass a sign written in
Greek warning all foreigners,

meaning non-Jews,

that if they pass beyond
a certain point,

they would be put to death.

Then he would be in the court
of the women.

The last place where women
were allowed.

This was the outer court
of the temple proper

or sanctuary.

At the top
of 15 semi-circular steps

was the beautiful gate leading
to the court of the Israelites

and opened only to ritually
purified Jewish males.

Jesus would not be able to go
beyond that point

because within
the temple itself,

only the the priest
would enter.

And the holy of holies
at the back of the temple,

only the high priest entered

and only once, on the day
of atonement, per year.

[narrator] Piecing together the
evidence from written sources,

it's possible to establish
what the exterior

of this jealously guarded
sanctuary looked like.

Archeologists
have calculated the height

of the temple sanctuary

compared to the structure
that stands there now.

The Muslim Dome of the Rock.

[narrator]
So this cavernous structure

was the height
of a 15-story office block.

Our investigators want to know

how the temple's builders
managed to erect

such a building

with only the very
primitive tools

and lifting devices available
in Jesus' time.

It's clear that it would've
required vast manpower.

The accounts say that since
every stone of the building

was to be regarded as holy,

1,000 priests were trained
as stone masons.

Dr. Guy Stiebel believes
he can identify evidence

of their quarries.

[Guy]
One of the exciting things

is that this cave preserves
so freshly.

[narrator]
In an underground cavern

two miles from Jerusalem,

he has found a series
of chisel marks.

They match the exact shape
of the stones used

to build Herod's Temple Mount.

[Guy] What you can see here
very clearly,

you can see a line
horizontally here

and another line goes down here.

You can see the edge of it.

Basically, they would use
sort of pickaxe.

Cutting grooves
and then using a crowbar

to lever or to detach
the stones or stone block

from, uh, the cave itself,
from the wall of the cave

and remove it.

[narrator] Some of these tools
are still being used today.

-[indistinct chatter]
-But in Jesus' time,

the workers didn't have access
to trucks or earth movers.

You can see very clearly
that from the chiseling mark,

this is a fairly neat
straight line.

Once it was removed,

you can shape it exactly
to the measurement

that was required
by your architect.

And you wish to do it here

because then you have
to schlep it on--

I mean, to carry it all the way
whether to the Temple Mount

or to another area
of construction.

If you reduce the waste

and all the things that you
won't need later on,

you have less weight to carry.

So they were
very, very practical.

[narrator]
Transportation required

a combination of brute force
and innovative engineering.

Archaeologist Dr. Ronny Reich
has recreated one solution

that the builders' used.

It's called a Metagenes.

It's a simple
but effective system.

The stone block becomes an axle
between two wheels.

[Ronny] Ten men could roll it
to-and-fro.

Uh, each one of them, actually,
move 900 pounds of stone.

This is, of course, a burden

that a single person cannot do
by himself.

So, with this device,
that, uh, stone was moved.

[narrator] When the stones have
been delivered to the site,

they still had to be maneuvered
into place.

On average, each one weighed
at least 10 tons.

Simple cranes were used
to lift them.

Here we have constructed
a bipod with ropes.

And pulleys and the ropes can be
pulled with levers.

With eight people working,

we could lift the stone a meter,
two meters, three meters high

and then let it down easily.

[narrator] The end result would
certainly have been magnificent

but one aspect
of the temple's construction

has always proved mysterious.

The writer Josephus says

that the temple was covered
in marble and gold

and that from a distance,

it looked like a snowcapped
mountain glittering in the sun.

Some modern investigators
find this hard to believe.

And the reason is there's no
marble in Israel,

in ancient Palestine,
it doesn't exist.

It all has to be imported

from other places like Turkey
and Greece.

And we have very, very little
marble imported to this country

in the time of Jesus.
It's not until later

that marble starts
to be imported

in any sort of quantities.

[narrator] Hillel Geva may have
found the answer.

[footsteps echoing]

Deep below the street level
of contemporary Jerusalem,

he's excavated the preserved
ruins of a rich person's house.

The walls and ceilings are
covered with intricate designs

and these designs show
that Jerusalem's builders

had the skill
to sculpt plaster

and create the illusion
of stone.

This wall has been cut to mimic
the framed blocks

that make up the walls
of the Temple Mount.

[Hillel] This is imitation
in plaster of construction

in large blocks.

Each block has a train.

And here it was left white,
not decorated,

but, eh, other examples are
with decoration.

[narrator]
It seems possible then

that the sanctuary's
awe-inspiring facade

was created using
a very cunning technique.

[Jodi] So in my opinion, when
air sources describe the temple

as being made of marble
or covered with marble,

what they actually mean

is that the building was made
of a shining white stone

or perhaps stone covered
with a polished stucco.

[narrator] We can now show
the temple

as it would've looked
when Jesus saw it.

The focal point of the city.

White and gold

with plumes of smoke rising
from the sacrificial altars

that stood in front of it.

The building was a magnet

for believers all over
the Middle East.

When Jesus came to Jerusalem
for his last passover,

there may have been a quarter

of a million
other visitors there.

Jerusalem struggled to cope.

And while the pilgrims
concerned themselves

with spiritual matters,

the daily life of this
desert city was dictated

by something much more basic.

The need for water.

[narrator] Tradition has it that
one week before his death,

Jesus entered the city
of Jerusalem in triumph.

Crowds gathered to welcome him,
chanting and waving palms.

[cheering]

Many of the people
were his followers

but the city was already full

of people who come to celebrate
the Feast of Passover.

[Ori] The normal population
of Jerusalem

around the time of Jesus
is probably well under 30,000.

And probably during
the time of the festivals,

certainly the Passover Festival,

one can imagine that it
might've been 10 times,

that it might've been 300,000.

[narrator]
Jerusalem, at this moment,

was the fastest growing
settlement in the Middle East.

It received over
a million visitors a year.

Our investigators have been
trying to build a picture

of what the city looked like

and how it handled this massive
influx of people.

Some of the benefits
seemed positive.

Pilgrims brought wealth.

The construction
of the temple...

itself engendered or created
a lot of money.

People came to Jerusalem
as pilgrims.

They had to spend money
for lodging, for food,

for gifts and souvenirs
along the way,

and, of course,
pay the temple tax

and also pay for sacrifices.

[narrator]
Decades of deep excavation

along the western wall
of the temple

have uncovered the remains
of a street 30 feet wide

and 3,000 feet long

which functioned
as a shopping mall.

It's known
as the Herodian Street.

Jesus would've walked here.

[indistinct chatter]

[Ronny] This is the main street.

The main thoroughfare
of Jerusalem.

And you have just to imagine,
the large number of people

coming here to buy
and sell things

in these various shops
along the street.

All of those who came
on pilgrimage.

This is... the heart
of Jerusalem.

[narrator] Some archeologists
call this place "Wall Street,"

acknowledging that it's the
financial heart of the city.

They have also pieced together
physical evidence

of the close relationship

between these commercial
interests

and the spiritual life
of the temple.

Examination of the wall at
the southern end of the street

reveals the remains of an arch.

It's known as Robinson's Arch.

More than 50 feet tall

and with a span
of at least 40 feet,

it served as one
of the main entrances

to the temple complex.

And built into its base,

against the walls
of the Temple Mount,

were stores that would sell
goods to pilgrims.

[Ori] That area,
the area below it,

leading down
to the great stairs

that leave behind what
is called Robinson's Arch,

all of that, one can imagine,
just overflowing with commerce.

And all of these people
after all,

they're heading up
to the temple.

And meanwhile,
all along the way,

there were hawkers saying,
"Buy this. Buy that."

[narrator] Jesus must've
encountered a scene like this

as he entered the temple.

Furious at what he saw,

he set out to confront
the authorities

for the first time.

[chattering]

It's said that he makes his way

into the are called
the Court of the Gentiles.

Like every Jewish male,

he had to pay
a two shekel temple tax.

The special coin needed
could only be bought

from the money changers
in the temple complex.

They had a reputation
for corruption.

[Ronny] I can imagine
that changing money

might lead to fraud,

to, uh, taking advantage
of innocent people

from-from the countryside,
etcetera,

who are not used to city life.

And he probably
was turning aside

and looked and watched

those people
cheating occasionally

and this made him mad.

[thunder rumbling]

[narrator] This is the one
occasion in the Gospels

when Jesus is said
to have shown his rage.

-[thunder rumbling]
-It's going too far

within the temple precincts
as far as Jesus is concerned.

-"Get out of here."
-[thunder crashing]

-[Bernt] He made a whip
-[clinking]

and threw them out,
turned round the tables

and said, "What are you doing?

You are converting
my father's house

into a cave of robbers."

[coins falling, clinking]

[water whooshing]

[narrator] But if pilgrims gave
the city its income,

they also had
to be provided for.

And the most valuable resource
in Jerusalem was water.

Jerusalem was
and is a desert city.

It stands 2,500 feet
above sea level.

The nearest river
is 25 miles away.

How did all of those thousands
upon thousands

of people in Jerusalem
get their drinking water?

[narrator] There were
30 rain-filled reservoirs

around the city.

The largest held a volume
of water equivalent

to 20 Olympic swimming pools.

And yet supply could barely
meet demand.

[Ori] They must've crowded
around them.

They must've waited around them
for their turn

because there weren't that many

and there were many pilgrims.

[narrator] People didn't
only need water

for domestic purposes

[Ori] They need an inordinate
amount of water

for purification purposes.

They need to be ritually pure

to go up to the temple
and visit it.

[narrator] As part of daily
religious observance,

and particularly before going
to the temple,

every Jew was required
to cleanse himself ritually

by washing in what was called
"living water."

Jerusalem had many pools
designed for this purpose

called mikvahs.

It was at the biggest
and busiest of these,

the pool of Siloam,

where Jesus is said
to have performed

one of his final miracles.

[Ronny] In the Gospel of John,

we hear of the story
of him healing the blind man.

He takes some dirt
from the ground, spits on it,

smears it on his eyes and say,

"Now go and wash
in the pool of Siloam."

[rumbling]

[narrator]
It was a chance discovery

during engineering work
on a nearby pipe

that lead Ronny Reich

to pinpoint the precise
location of this pool

and understand just how large
the Siloam pool was.

Fed by one of Jerusalem's
only natural springs

via a tunnel 600 yards long,

it's thought to have covered
up to 20,000 square feet.

[rumbling]

If Jesus did heal a blind man
who came and bore witness here,

then the story
of this apparent miracle

would've been heard
by hundreds

and then spread
throughout Jerusalem.

It was a public challenge
to the city's authorities.

[narrator] As investigators,
archeologists,

and biblical scholars
try to understand

the unique metropolis that was
Jerusalem in the time of Jesus,

an extraordinary picture
is emerging.

This is a desert city
obsessed by water.

Where spiritual matters govern
every aspect of daily life.

Where practical
innovative engineering

sits side by side
with mysticism.

Where in the run-up
to big religious festivals,

crowds would would gather
at key points in the city.

Shimon Gibson has been part
of the team

trying to uncover and recreate
the most intriguing such site.

The Bethesda pool.

Lying to the north
of the temple complex,

it is at this pool

that according
to the Gospel of John,

Jesus told a paralyzed man
to take up his bed and walk.

Archeologists have dug
down 40 feet

through 2,000 years of rubble

to uncover the place
as Jesus would've seen it.

What's fascinating is that even
before he came here,

this pool was said
to have healing powers.

[Ori] Jesus comes
to the Bethesda pool

and there was whole line-up
of elderly people,

of crippled people,
of blinded people.

And they're waiting essentially
to get their turn in the pool.

[narrator] The man
who Jesus cured

is said to have waited years
for a chance

to bathe in the waters here

and what Shimon Gibson
discovers fits the story.

The steps from the time of
Jesus are very well-preserved.

As you can see, there's
a flight of steps here

with a landing between
each set of steps.

These landings fit in very well
with the Gospel of John's story

that the infirm were brought in
to the pool itself

and that Jesus then enacted
his miracles.

[narrator] The reason that
the sick were carried here

to rest on the landings
and bathe on the waters

was that the waters were said

to bubble and churn red
with blood.

[water burbling]

Shimon Gibson investigates
the hidden system

of tunnels and shafts

which regulated the flow
of water

into the pool of Bethesda.

This was what produced
the pool's famous bubbling.

[water burbling]

This is the area
of the sluice gates

and you have two openings.

One large one on top,
another small one at the bottom.

[narrator] The sluice gates
gave precise control

over the depth of water
in the pool.

They were accessed
via a vertical shaft

sunk through 50 feet of rock.

If I can... Let's see.
Here we are.

[exhales]

So to demonstrate how people

would have climbed up and down
the shaft,

I'm climbing up here

and it's roughly
about this level...

[exhales] that a pulley system
would've been utilized.

They would then, um,
extract the plug.

It was hard work but it was
an ingenious system.

[water whooshing]

[narrator] Shimon has also found
an explanation

for the apparent presence
of blood in the water.

Um, here in the rock-cut wall,
you can see here this fissure.

And within the fissure
is this reddish soil.

Within the barrier wall,

within the tunnel
which was cut through,

between the two pools,
the soil is even redder.

When the water was flowing
through from the northern pool,

those who were coming down
to be purified

would've thought that perhaps

blood was emerging
from the water.

-[water whooshing]
-[narrator] At the same time,

the Temple Mount was often
awash with real blood.

Because once a pilgrim have
made himself ritually pure,

his next duty would be
to go and offer a beast

for sacrifice.

At the time of major festivals,
such as the Passover,

which brought Jesus to the city
for the final days of his life,

vast numbers of animals
would be killed every hour.

It was sacrifice
on an almost industrial scale.

It's Easter. Pesach.

Just imagine several thousands
of sheep

being slaughtered
on a single day.

[narrator]
This is the background

to Jesus' last days.

We have a clear picture
of what Jerusalem was like

at the time that he was
arrested, tried, and killed.

But many people want to try
and get closer still

to pinpoint the places

where these events are said
to have played out.

It's not just historians
and archeologists.

Every year, hundreds
of thousands of pilgrims

come to the city in the hope
of walking where Jesus walked.

But through 2,000 years
of rebuilding and change,

the city has grown
and so have the stories.

It's become hard
to separate reality from myth.

A clear example is the site
where Jesus ate

his Passover meal.

The way in which he has said
to have broken bread here

has formed a blueprint for
Christian services ever since.

And that's why so many come
to this room,

the Cenacle or Upper Room
on Mount Zion,

because they believe
that it happened here.

[people clapping and singing
in native language]

[Jodi] The architecture
of the room

uh, that is today identified
as the site of the Last Supper

is clearly much later
than the time of Jesus.

The arches or the vaults of
the room, which are ribbed,

are distinctively Crusader
in style.

[Ori] And that's an architecture
that won't come along

for another thousand years
after the time of Jesus.

[narrator]
These vaulted ceilings belong

to the 12th Century,

when crusading European armies

were battling Muslim forces
for control of the Holy Land.

We have no
archeological evidence

that the Last Supper took place
in this room

or even on the site
where the room is located.

It's just a tradition

that has come to identify
this spot

as the site of the Last Supper.

[bell tolling]

[narrator]
This site was the location

of one of the earliest
Christian churches.

But there's also been a mosque

and a host of other buildings
here

It's likely the Last Supper

was in one of Jerusalem's
private houses.

It would've looked
completely different

than the church.

[Jodi] Because it would've been
in a simple house.

The roofing would've simply been
flat wooden beams,

uh, covering the ceiling,

and nothing like the arches
and vaults that you see today.

[narrator] The Gospels say
after the Last Supper,

Jesus went with three
of his disciples

to the Garden of Gethsemane.

[whooshes]

[beeps]

Again, it's difficult to
ascertain the precise location,

but it's clear that this was
at the foot

of what is now called
the Mount of Olives.

Gethsemane means "olive press."

[Ori] The Garden of Gethsemane
seems to be a small enclosure

up towards what we now called
the Mount of Olives

northeast of the Temple Mount,
northeast of the city.

And that seems to be the place
out to which Jesus went

to pray on the night
before he was captured.

[narrator] After a night
spent in meditation,

he is seized by men acting
for the temple authorities.

[Ori]
Jesus is apparently apprehended

in the Garden of Gethsemane
just before dawn,

that darkest hour
before the dawn.

And the question
is where is he taken?

[narrator] This is the final
challenge for investigators.

To map the sequence of events
known as the Passion of Christ.

Two thousand years on,

they will try to retrace
the path

that lead
to Jesus' crucifixion.

[narrator] The Gospels agree
that after his arrest,

Jesus was brought
to the residence

of Pontius Pilate,
Judea's Roman governor.

This makes historical sense.

The Roman Empire had
a tight grip on this city.

A big political decision

such as the execution
of an apparent rebel

or revolutionary like Jesus,

had to be made
by Rome's representative.

Again, tradition
has attached itself

to one particular site

as the place where Jesus
was beaten,

paraded before the mob,

and then sentenced.

Generations of pilgrims

have been told that it happened
in the Antonia Fortress.

The Antonia
was the headquarters

for the garrison
of Roman soldiers stationed

in Jerusalem.

Very little remains of it now.

But investigators have been
able to reconstruct it

from ancient writings.

Situated at the northeast
corner of the temple,

it was a block-shaped structure
with four massive towers,

each well over 50 feet high.

As such a strong image
of Roman domination,

it's clear why the Antonia

came to be associated
with Pilate

and the trial of Jesus.

Today, almost nothing
of it remains.

Looking for hard evidence,

Jodi Magness heads
to a paved area

identified as the Lithostrotos,

supposedly attached
to the fortress

and the place where Jesus
was crowned with thorns.

[Jodi] The Lithostrotos
is mentioned in the Gospels

as the site where Jesus

was sentenced to death

by Pontius Pilate.

So, modern Christian pilgrims

to Jerusalem revere this site.

[narrator] The problem
is that the science

just doesn't support this part
of the traditional story.

[Jodi] In fact, we know
from archaeology,

that this pavement didn't exist
in the time of Jesus.

It was laid later
in the 2nd Century AD

by the emperor Hadrian,

as part of a marketplace
that he built here.

[man talking
in native language]

[narrator] For centuries now,

pilgrims have walked a route
beginning at the Antonia,

down which Jesus has said
to have carried his cross.

This route is called
the Via Dolorosa,

the Way of Sorrows.

By tradition now,
we have adopted 14 stations

where people stop to remember

where Jesus has suffered.

[man talking in native language]

[narrator] But there's little
to prove

that this is the right route.

[Ori] People who believe

they are following
the footsteps

of Jesus to the point and place

where he is confronted
by Pontius Pilate,

where the soldiers hold him
in captivity,

where they jammed the, uh,
crown of thorns on his head,

may be mistaken.

[people singing hymns]

[narrator] The idea that this
is the route that Jesus took

is based on
a simple misconception

that Pilate's residence

and the headquarters
of his troops

were the same place.

Actually, records suggest

that Pilate probably lived
in another building,

a palace constructed by Herod.

We now know that,
contrary to medieval tradition,

the trial of Jesus
would've taken place

within the old palace
of Herod the Great,

the praetorium, where
the governor, Pontius Pilate,

coming up from Caesarea
would've been lodged.

[narrator] No trace
of this palace has been found.

But we do know that it stood
to the southwest of the temple.

And if this was
Pilate's residence,

and Jesus was brought here,

then his final journey did not
follow the Via Dolorosa.

[indistinct chatter]

Modern Jerusalem is not
the city that Jesus knew

and it is almost impossible

that anyone could now walk
the exact path

that Jesus took.

For most of the people here,

it's the spiritual dimension
to this journey

-that's important.
-[praying indistinctly]

And yet, remarkably, there
is strong evidence to suggest

that we do know where Jesus
was killed and buried.

Scripture talks about Golgotha,
the Place of the Skulls,

as the place where Jesus died.

Today, as they have done
for 1,500 years,

believers say that place
was here

where the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre stands

in the center of Jerusalem.

It is thought that this place

only became a church 300 years
after the death of Jesus.

But some scholars have argued

that it couldn't be
the true site

of Jesus' death and burial

because the Gospel says
that these events

took place
outside the city walls

since Jewish law forbade
either execution

or burial inside the city.

[Ori] In the case of Jerusalem,

the configuration of the city
was different then.

And that the site of Golgotha

was outside the city
at the time of Jesus,

but subsequently, of course,

it's within the bounds
of the city.

What we do know based on
archeological excavations

is that the area of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre,

in particular the Rotunda,
was part of a larger cemetery.

In other words,
this was an area

that was beyond
the city walls.

It was not within the city.

[narrator] At a spot
on the edge of the church,

Jodi Magness finds proof

that burials did take place
on this site 2,000 years ago.

What we see here is an example
of a typical Jewish tomb

in Jerusalem,
in the time of Jesus.

These tombs were typically
rock-cut tombs

with burial niches or loculi

cut into the walls
of the burial chambers.

[narrator] All the facts fit.

The weight
of the evidence suggests

that this really might be where
the burial took place.

[Jodi] The location
of Jewish tombs

on this spot is as close
as we can get, archeologically,

to saying that this
is the authentic spot

where Jesus was crucified
and buried.

[narrator] Jerusalem is
an extraordinary city today,

and we can reconstruct
a detailed picture

of what it was like
2,000 years ago.

[Katharina] We're capable

of reconstructing
1st Century Jerusalem,

physically and spiritually.

Some of those remains
we have to dig up.

They're hidden
underneath the soil,

but others are there.

They're still a central part
of the city of Jerusalem.

[indistinct chatter]

[rumbling]

[narrator] By rebuilding it,

we get a glimpse of a time
and a life

that, whatever we believe,

played a massive part
in shaping our world.

[triumphant music playing]