So there is a building on the top of Mt Zion that was built well after the destruction of Jerusalem in 90AD that is a memoriam for the Last Supper. Truth be told, the place where it would have been has been destroyed. What we do know is that the disciples were supposed to go into the city to find a man carrying a jug of water. This would have been an unusual sight because this was woman’s work. There is a group of Jews living on Mt Zion called the Assines, remember them from Qumran? They were a very strict sect (one of the 4 main ones with 2 of the others being Pharisees and Saducees, I can’t remember the other). They called themselves the Sons of Light and the Romans the Sons of Darkness. Anyway, they took vows of celibacy so they would have been men carrying jugs of water. So the area where they lived is believed to be the area where the Last Supper would have been prepared, and the area where they lived is known. So here is the building where this is memorialized.
And this is a particular pillar that Mike pointed out to us. It’s the only one with pelicans.
What makes this significant is that pelicans, when they are old or sick and know they are going to die, they offer their own bodies as food for the younger, stronger pelicans. Interesting anyway.
Right near here was a place that is a traditional place of burial for King David. Mike says he doesn’t buy it because David would have been buried in his city…Bethlehem. Mike said he may have been buried in Bethlehem, but Herod may have moved his bones to Jerusalem. It really wasn’t all that compelling, honestly. And this was all we were allowed to see anyway.
With the other side of the room with this window.
So all in all, the pelican column was cool, the rest was OK. I find that I am more in awe of the old stuff than the newer stuff, and the for-sure-this-happened-here stuff than the maybe and memorial stuff.
OK…the one you’ve been waiting for…the big first is next!!!