[8] She also made a golden plate on which was written the passage of the Torah[9] which the Kohenim read when a wife suspected of infidelity was brought before him.

The strictness with which she observed the Jewish law is instanced in the Talmud: Her son [Izates] having gone to war, Helena made a vow that if he should return safe, she would become a Nazirite for the space of seven years.

[11]"Rabbi Judah said: 'The sukkah [erected for the Feast of Tabernacles] of Queen Helena in Lydda was higher than twenty cubits.

However, he believed the bones inside, wrapped in shrouds with golden embroidery, were the remains of the wife of a king of Judea from the First Temple period, possibly Zedekiah or Jehoash.

De Saulcy was forced to suspend the dig when the news that human bones were being dug up drew the ire of the Jewish community of Jerusalem.

[17] The palace of Queen Helena is believed to have been discovered by archaeologist Doron Ben-Ami during excavations in the former Givati parking lot area adjacent to the City of David in 2007.

[18][19] It was a monumental building located in the City of David just south of the Temple Mount and was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

The ruins contained datable coins, stone vessels and pottery as well as remnants of ancient frescoes.