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HERE COME THE ROMANS. Although Jerusalem eventually recovered from the Babylonian destruction to grow and prosper later in the Second Temple period, there is virtually no evidence of this period at the site, except for parts of an aqueduct and a small mikveh, or ritual bath. This dearth of remains is thanks to the Romans, who razed everything above the First Temple house to build the eastern cardo of their city. The new thoroughfare ran south from the Damascus Gate in the north, parallel to the western cardo and the Western Wall of Herod’s Temple Mount. It was connected to the latter by at least two perpendicular streets.