A new archaeological discovery in Jerusalem reveals a call of greeting from the City of God
On the 9th day of Elul in the year 70AD, a month after the destruction of the Second Temple, fire raged through the streets of Jerusalem. On the previous day some battalions of Roman soldiers having just massacred the Jews of the city set fire to its houses. Today some 2000 years later during the month of Elul which is the nineth month of the Hebrew Calendar, an Israeli archaeologist from the Hebrew University, Dr. Oren Gutenfeld, presented an exiting discovery from the time of the Second Temple, a sinker (a weight) engraved with the name of Kathros or Kantheras which apparently belonged to the family of the High Priest of that name.
In his presentation Dr. Gutenfeld said “I put the weight into a bucket of water and when I held it up I saw that there are two words in two lines engraved in the Aramaic language and the one word is “Kathros”. A thick charred layer covered the entire weight, evidence of the burning of the city and the destruction of the Second Temple. The meaning of the word on the first line is not yet completely clear but there is no doubt that the name on the lower line is the name of the priest “Kathros”. The weight is similar to the one found in the excavations of the Burnt House in the Upper City and Dr. Gutfeld in his words said ” it rarely happens that I get exited but when I found the evidence on the weight with the name of Kathros, I shivered at reading the name of the High Priest from the Second Temple period on the weight we had found.
