“It was the last thing you would expect to find in a swimming pool”, she said.

“It’s not a swimming pool, it’s a michvah. A ritual bath”, said the professor.

It was one of the banes of being an archeologist. He was playing tour guide to someone that didn’t understand his work. But as daughter of his patron, an owner of a chemical company of international repute, well there were certain things that she expected of him.

“This house belonged to one of the priests that served in the temple. His religion required that he be ritually clean when performing certain duties. When the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD the tenth legion camped here on the mount of olives. One of their cohorts took possession of this house. After Romans took the city the priest never came back. He may have died in the final assault and burning of the temple.”

She pointed at the inscription in the dry pool. What does “Semper sub vestis lavis inictis” mean?

He cringed at the thought of having to explain the Romans’ joke yet again.