An Ancient Roman Theater next to the Temple Mount?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(picture courtesy of CNN). The Israel Antiquities Authorities seem to have unearthed a Roman theater right next to the remains of the Temple Mount in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Ancient Roman Theater next to the Temple Mount?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(picture courtesy of CNN). 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{"id":18711,"date":"2017-11-01T01:55:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T05:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=18711"},"modified":"2017-10-16T17:07:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T21:07:49","slug":"ancient-roman-theater-next-temple-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2017\/11\/01\/ancient-roman-theater-next-temple-mount\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ancient Roman Theater next to the Temple Mount?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"cnn1\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

(picture courtesy of CNN).<\/p>\n

The Israel Antiquities Authorities seem to have unearthed a Roman theater right next to the remains of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and underneath the famous \u2018Wilson\u2019s Arch Here is the link to the CNN article\u2014
\n http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/10\/16\/middleeast\/ancient-theater-western-wall\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The theater actually is the size of a small odeon where plays would be given and the archaeologists say it was unfinished, perhaps because it was being built during the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century A.D. and had to be abandoned. <\/p>\n

We know that Herod the Great also built a theater for Greco-Roman plays in Jerusalem as well, as theater tokens from the period have been found but this odeon does not seem to be that theater. If indeed the odeon mentioned above was built during the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-36 A.D.) then it may indeed have been built before <\/em>the city was officially designated as a pagan city, Aelia Capitolina in A.D. 135, which included a pagan temple at the heart of Jerusalem. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"