Roman Permission Granted for Rebuilding Jerusalem’s Walls

Section of the Ottoman wall around the Old City of Jerusalem where the earlier, lower layers of the Herodian and Hasmonean wall preceding it are clearly visible

25 February 42 – 16 Adar 3802

According to the Tannaitic chronicle Megillat Ta’anit, the Romans permitted the Jews to rebuild the wall surrounding Jerusalem on 16 Adar, and as a result fasting was forbidden on this date. Some assume the reference is to Agrippa I, last king of independent Judea, who rebuilt the gates of the city in 42. If so, the fact that the work required Roman sanction testifies to just how limited Judean independence was during Agrippa’s reign, just a few decades before the destruction of the Second Temple put an end to all hopes of restoring it.