Today in Jerusalem’s old city the street that begins at St. Stephen’s Gate passes directly above the traditional site of the Antonia Fortress. There is a Convent and a Church resting upon the north half of the site.
Today in Jerusalem’s old city the street that begins at St. Stephen’s Gate passes directly above the traditional site of the Antonia Fortress. There is a Convent and a Church resting upon the north half of the site.
There is still remaining at the site a large area of the central courtyard of the fortress (165 sq. feet). The original pavements of stones are still in place (about 1 foot thick). Their channels made the rainwater to flow into cisterns as they do today. It is interesting that the soldiers’ scratching from various games into the pavement stones is still visible.
Titus and the Roman legions had completely destroyed the fortress. Later the Temple area and the Antonia Fortress area were the location of two fora in the Emperor Hadrian’s forum (Aelia Capitolina), which was built over the ruins of Jerusalem 100 years after its destruction. Many of the remains on the site of the Antonia Fortress are traced to Hadrian’s forum. The exact location is not conclusive and according to experts some of the remains of columns, capitals, etc. in the area of Antonia come from Herod’s time and some from the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.).