Emperor Hadrian suppressed the revolt in 135 AD and decided to demolish the
whole city of Jerusalem in order to erase all sites which could incite another revolt
by the Jewish people. The emperor also forbade any Jewish presence in the new city.
A Gentile-Christian community continued to live in Jerusalem and they ensured the continuity of identification of the sacred
sites (the first bishop of this community was Marcus).
A coin minted in Hadrian's Aelia Capitolina - Jerusalem
Hadrian thus prepared a
completely new city structured on Hellenistic plans and renamed it "Aelia
Capitolina" ("Aelia" in his honour and "Capitolina" because it was to contain a
Capitol for the Roman gods). In this new architectural plan the Garden of Golgotha came to be
at the centre of the new city. Some authors maintain that the area on this
Garden became the Capitol of the new city with altars for the three main Roman
gods - Jupiter at the centre flanked by Juno and Minerva. Others, quoting evidence provided by the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea, maintain that the temple was
dedicated to Aphrodite. Both schools of thought agree that a pagan temple was erected on this site.
A marble slab on the Tomb of Jesus which had been covered by the pagan temple
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Christian literary sources recount how the Garden of Golgotha was filled up to
level off the area for the construction of the new Roman temple. Here is how
Eusebius of Caesarea (265-340 AD), a native of Palestine, describes these events in his Life of
Constantine:
"This sacred cave, then, certain impious and godless persons had thought to
remove entirely from the eyes of men, supposing in their folly that thus they
should be able to effectively obscure the truth. Accordingly, they brought a
quantity of dirt from a distance with much labor, and covered the entire spot;
then, having raised this to a moderate height, they paved it with stone,
concealing the holy cave beneath this massive mound. Then, as though their
purpose had been effectively accomplished, they prepared on this foundation a
truly dreadful sepulchre of souls, by building a gloomy shrine of lifeless
idols to the impure spirit whom they call Venus, and offering detestable
oblations therein on profane and accursed altars. For they supposed that their
object could not otherwise be fully attained, than by thus burying the sacred
cave beneath these foul pollutions." (III, XXVI - see also the account by
Eusebius about the Holy Sepulchre)
It is worth noting that the profanation of the site by Emperor Hadrian targeted an existing place of worship of the Judeo-Christian community of
Jerusalem both at the tomb and on Calvary. This early worship lies at the roots
of the apocryphal writings of this primitive Judeo-Christian community of
Jerusalem (these writings are known as the Adam and Eve cycle comprising "The
Cave of Treasures" and "The combat of Adam").
The Chapel of Adam under the Spur of Calvary
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The pagan temple of Hadrian was built on the east-west axis and was surrounded
by a Temenos (a protective wall with its façade on the Cardus Maximus from where you
entered into the sacred enclosure). St. Jerome, in a letter to Paulinus in 395
says that:
"Since the times of Hadrian up to the empire of Constantine, for almost 180 years, the statue of Jupiter was venerated on the place of the Resurrection and on the rock of the cross a marble statue of Venus placed there by the gentiles. In the intentions of the perpetrators of the persecutions they would have removed our faith in the resurrection in the cross had they profaned the holy sites with idols".
The Cave under Calvary unearthed during the archaeological research
From these descriptions, confirmed also by the archaeological research carried
out in the area, we know that this pagan temple of Aelia transformed the
Judeo-Christian site into a pagan one by placing the cult of Jupiter on the
tomb of the Lord and that of Venus on Calvary. This situation continued for
about 180 years as is stated by Jerome himself.
Remains of the Temenos (surrounding wall) of the pagan temple
Text prepared by John Abela ofm based on articles and research
by Virgilio Corbo ofm, Michele
Piccirillo ofm and Eugenio Alliata ofm
Hi-Res pictures prepared by Michael Olteanu
Other pictures prepared by John Abela ofm and Michael Olteanu
B&W pictures courtesy of SBF-Jerusalem Archives
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