(CBN News) JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli archaeologists have unearthed the largest Roman Basilica of its kind ever to be found in Israel in the coastal city of Ashkelon.
They found the sprawling 2,000-year-old complex during a conservation and restoration project in Tel Ashkelon National Park.
“The huge building is covered with a roof and divided into three parts – a central hall and two side halls,” according to Dr. Rachel Bar-Natan, Saar Ganor, and Fredrico Kobrin, excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “The hall was surrounded with rows of marble columns and capitals, which rose to an estimated height of 13 meters and supported the building’s roof. The floor and walls were built of marble.”