A Juridical Curse from a Roman Mansion in the City of David

A large péristyle building of the Late Roman period has been unearthed on the northern part of the hill in Jerusalem known as the City of David during excavations that were conducted from the years 2007 to 2012 and are still ongoing. 1 As the remains of this building were increasingly revealed, it became evident that they constitute part of an extraordinary architectural complex. What has been excavated of the build ing so far covers some 1500 sq. m., but it may be calculated that the entire building occupied an area of at least 2000 sq. m. The building featured two large open courtyards adjacent to each other, one of which is péristyle, with sériés of rooms surrounding them on ail sides. While the eastern part of this spacious architectural complex was built close to the crest of the hill, its western part occupies a lower level on the incline that descends into the Tyropoeon Valley. In order to deal with the natural …