Editing Aelia Capitolina (section)

===Layout and street pattern===
{{Main|The Cardo (Jerusalem)}}
The urban plan of Aelia Capitolina was that of a typical Roman town wherein main thoroughfares crisscrossed the [[Urban planning|urban grid]] lengthwise and widthwise.<ref>[http://jeru.huji.ac.il/ed22.htm The Cardo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217114200/http://jeru.huji.ac.il/ed22.htm|date=December 17, 2008}} Hebrew University</ref> The urban grid was based on the usual central north–south road (''[[cardo]] maximus'') and central east–west route (''[[Decumanus Maximus|decumanus maximus]]''). However, as the main cardo ran up the western hill, and the [[Temple Mount]] blocked the eastward route of the main decumanus, the strict pattern had to be adapted to the local topography; a secondary, eastern cardo, diverged from the western one and ran down the [[Tyropoeon Valley]], while the decumanus had to zigzag around the Temple Mount, passing it on its northern side. The Hadrianic western cardo terminated not far beyond its junction with the decumanus, where it reached the Roman garrison's encampment, but in the Byzantine period, it was extended over the former camp to reach the southern, expanded margins of the city.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The two cardines converged near the [[Damascus Gate]], and a semicircular [[piazza]] covered the remaining space; in the piazza, a columnar monument was constructed, hence the Arabic name for the gate, ''Bab el-Amud'' ("Gate of the Column"). [[Tetrapylon]]es were constructed at the other junctions between the main roads.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

This street pattern has been preserved in the [[Old City of Jerusalem]] to the present. The original thoroughfare, flanked by rows of columns and shops, was about {{convert|73|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} wide, but buildings have extended onto the streets over the centuries, and the modern lanes replacing the ancient grid are now quite narrow. The substantial remains of the western cardo have now been exposed to view near the junction with Suq el-Bazaar, and remnants of one of the tetrapylones are preserved in the 19th century [[Franciscan]] chapel at the junction of the Via Dolorosa and Suq Khan ez-Zeit.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}