It will be my pleasant duty to give the opening lecture, entitled  ”Imagining the Temple Early Jews Knew”. Here are details of the symposium.

An overall view of a model of the Temple Mount looking from the northwest. In the foreground is the Antonia Fortress, while the Temple with its surrounding buildings stood close to the centre of the Temple Mount. The lower portico above the Eastern Wall (upper centre) was known as Solomon's Porch, mentioned in John 10.23 and Acts 3.11; 5.12. © Leen Ritmeyer

I hope that my presentation will provide a fruitful focal point for collaborative work between those of other disciplines who are trying to understand the site.

I am also glad to say that we are not any longer in the realm of imagination. Apart from the historical sources (Josephus, the New Testament and the Mishnah), we have the results of the daring investigations of explorers of the 19^th and 20^th century. The massive excavations south and west of the Temple Mount, following the 6-Day War in 1967, provided information on the outer frame of the Temple platform. And in the absence of excavations on the mount itself, (none is foolhardy enough to attempt this, as it would start another Mid-East war!), research into surface traces preserved there has yielded results that add detail and complete the picture. Our depiction cannot be an exact reproduction of the structure that existed in Jerusalem in the time of Christ, but hopefully it approximates to what only an imaginary time tunnel could show.

It took several decades to complete this massive Temple Mount. I will always call it Herod’s Temple Mount, as he was the originator of its plan and began its construction. Todd Bolen pointed out in his latest blogpost: “Josephus reported that in AD 64 work was halted on the Temple Mount and 18,000 workers were laid off (Ant. 20:219-23).” Such large projects take a long time to complete. It was started in the reign of Herod the Great, but continued during the time of his sons and grandsons. It is possible that the Temple Mount was never totally completed.

The problem of how and when the Temple Mount walls were built is very complex. There are architectural features that indicate that the Temple Mount walls were built in stages over a considerable period of time, although within a time span of less than 100 years. I don’t as yet have all the answers, but focussing on the Western and Southern Walls, the following points need to be taken into consideration:

1. The south end of Robinson’s Arch is keyed into the stones of the Western Wall, but its northern end is NOT:

These drawings show the different treatment of how the north and south ends of Robinson's Arch were keyed into the wall.

This means that, at some stage, the upper part of the Western Wall was built from a point to the north (possibly Wilson’s Arch) to the location where they planned to build Robinson’s Arch (see the straight joint in the drawing on the left). The arch and perhaps the southwest corner must have been built later (see The Quest – Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, p.46). This means that in 20 AD (see previous post), the southern part of the Western Wall was not yet completed.

2. However, this would leave enough time (10 years) for the southern part of the Temple Mount to be finished by around 30 AD, when Jesus and his disciples visited the Temple.

3. The street complex below Robinson’s Arch was built later (perhaps 50 AD), as coins from the time of Agrippa II were found below the paving stones.

4. The stones of the Western Wall below Robinson’s Arch have rough bosses below street level. That is also the case near Barclay’s Gate, but not to the north of this gate.  The stones of the Southern Wall, from the southwest corner to the Double Gate have also rough bosses below street level, but they don’t appear in the east part of the Southern Wall. Warren wrote (Survey of Western Palestine, Vol II, Jerusalem, p. 191):

“From the two shafts sunk at Wilson’s Arch and at Barclay’s Gate, it is obvious that the Sanctuary wall is for this portion built up from the bottom with drafted stones with well-cut faces. But to the south of the retaining wall at Barclay’s Gate, at the south-west angle and round the south-west angle to the Double gate, the stones have rough projecting faces up to the level of the pavement under Robinson’s Arch, that is, up to Course P, or to about 23 feet 6 inches above the rock at Barclay’s Gate, the sill of the gate being about 50 feet above the rock. From this the inference may be drawn that the wall south of Barclay’s Gate is of later date that that to the north, and was not commenced till the valley had begun to fill up about 23 feet 6 inches at this part. In this case the retaining wall may have been one side of a ramp or viaduct leading across the valley to this Suburban gate, at a height of 27 feet above the surface of the ground at that time.”

5. Two fallen voussoirs are lodged in the drain below Robinson’s Arch, showing that part of the arch fell down during its construction (see pictures in this previous post).

6. The two eastern domes of the Double Gate passageway (barely visible on the right in the drawing below) also fell down at some time during the First Century AD and were built up again without decorations. (The western domes are still decorated). It is not clear if this happened before or after the Royal Stoa was completed.

This reconstruction drawing shows the Double Gate of Herod's Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Most of the elements have been preserved, including the domes inside the double passageway. Some researchers have proposed that this beautifully decorated gateway was the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, mentioned in Acts 3.10. © Leen Ritmeyer

At present, I see the following sequence in the building of the southern part of the Temple Mount (only four of the stages are illustrated below):

a. Herod, in his lifetime, completed the lower part of the Western Wall from the Antonia Fortress up to Barclay’s Gate, that is as far south as the Hasmonean extension of the square Temple Mount goes (see this previous post). The portico on top of the wall may only have been completed from the Antonia up to the gate over Wilson’s Arch, as that is where the First Wall was connected to the Temple Mount.

This drawing is part of the elevation of the Western Wall drawn by Warren. The coloured section may indicate the first stage in the building of the Western Wall, most likely completed during the reign of Herod the Great. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

The second stage (shown in blue) is the construction of the Western Wall south of Barclay's Gate, with stones having rough bosses.

b. The part of the Western Wall that lies below the street, from Barclay’s Gate up to the southwest corner and then up to the Double Gate in the Southern Wall, was built with rough bosses in or soon after 20 AD. Because the southwest corner of the Temple Mount crossed the Tyropoeon Valley and cut the drain below the planned street, an arched relay section was built to connect the drain again. The Western Wall with the rough bosses was built up to the level of the planned street:

c. The Tyropoeon Valley was then (20 AD), filled up to the level of the rough bosses from Wilson’s Arch to Barclay’s Gate.

d. The top of the Western Wall was built from the gate over Wilson’s Arch to the north side of Robinson’s Arch:

The section marked in green indicates the third stage in the building of the Western Wall, from either Wilson's Arch or Barclay's Gate to the northern end of Robinson's Arch. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

e. Robinson’s Arch and the Double Gate in the Southern Wall with the wall in between were built later, possibly sometime around 30 AD.

f. Part of Robinson’s Arch fell down (and perhaps also Wilson’s Arch) and the two eastern domes of the Double Gate passageway were destroyed (The Quest, p. 74) – possibly by an earthquake?

g. The underground passageway of the Double Gate was repaired, the southwest corner with Robinson’s Arch and stairway completed and the Royal Stoa finished.

During this fourth stage, shown in red, the Western Wall was completed with Robinson's Arch and stairway. Drawing © Leen Ritmeyer

This proposal for the development of the Herodian Temple Mount is only in its early stages, but I hope that it may be helpful to those who struggle to understand the implications of the latest archaeological discoveries near the foundation of the Western Wall.

© Leen Ritmeyer

Sailing across the Sea of Galilee. Photo: © Leen Ritmeyer

One such route is the Jesus Trail, a 65 km long hike from Nazareth to Capernaum.

The Jesus Trail is a 65-kilometer hiking trail in the Galilee region of Israel which connects important sites from the life of Jesus as well as other historical and religious sites. The Jesus Trail™ offers an alternative for travelers and pilgrims to experience the steps of Jesus in a way that is authentic, adventurous and educational by hiking through the rugged and beautiful landscape of the Galilee in Israel.

The main Jesus Trail hiking route is 65km and begins in Nazareth and passes through Zippori National Park, Cana, Ilaniya, Kibbutz Lavi, the Horns of Hattin, Nebi Shu’eib, Arbel National Park, Migdal, the Jesus Boat at Kibbutz Ginosar, Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes, and Capernaum.

A beautiful mosaic floor was found in the dining room (triclinium) of one of the wealthy houses of Sepphoris. At one end of the mosaic floor is the face of a beautiful woman, who was quickly dubbed the "Mona Lisa of Sepphoris".

Another trail is the Israel National Trail:

The Israel National Trail (INT) is a footpath that winds its way nearly 1000 kilometers across Israel, from the Lebanese border in the north to the Red Sea in the south. Because of the way it traverses Israel’s unique physical, ethnic, and religious landscape, the INT is gaining a reputation as one of the world’s great long-distance treks.

The Abraham Path

A new trail is at present being developed by William Ury, of the Harvard University, that will follow in the footsteps of the patriarch Abraham.

The Abraham Path, which is now being marked, begins in Haran and meanders its way to the city Gaziantep. From there, it continues southward, crosses the border into Syria and wends its way to Aleppo. The path then moves south, passes through Damascus before crossing into the kingdom of Jordan and the city Amman. At that point it crosses over to Jericho in the Palestinian Authority, and then to Nablus (Shechem), Jerusalem and Hebron, where Abraham was buried. Additional offshoots of the path follow Abraham’s journeys through Iraq and Israel.

The Israeli archaeologist Avner Goren is preparing a segment between Beersheba and Arad, while other groups are preparing different sections of this trail.

Arad is an ancient Canaanite city in the Negev, mentioned in Numbers 21.1. The Canaanites were initially successful in their fight against Israel, but the tables were soon turned when the Israelites destroyed the city. Arad also features in the list of Canaanite cities that were conquered by the Israelites (Joshua 12.14). The city of Arad extended over a large area and had a sacred precinct. This reconstruction drawing shows the largest of two twin temples that have been excavated. The temple has three rooms, the smaller one of which was the holy of holies. A stone stele was found in the room on the left. In the courtyard stood a large square altar with a stone lined pit, which was used as a ceremonial washing basin, next to it. © Leen Ritmeyer

One can only hope that it will remain peaceful enough in the Middle East to walk on this exciting new historical path.

The Israel Museum welcomes you to the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project, allowing users to examine and explore these most ancient manuscripts from Second Temple times at a level of detail never before possible. Developed in partnership with Google, the new website gives users access to searchable, fast-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history. The Dead Sea Scrolls, which include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence, offer critical insight into Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the Second Temple Period, the time of the birth of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Five complete scrolls from the Israel Museum have been digitized for the project at this stage and are now accessible online.

“We are privileged to house in the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea Scrolls ever discovered,” said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “They are of paramount importance among the touchstones of monotheistic world heritage, and they represent unique highlights of our Museum’s encyclopedic holdings. Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these treasures to the broadest possible public.”

The five Dead Sea Scrolls that have been digitized thus far include the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll, with search queries on Google.com sending users directly to the online scrolls.

The inner Temple complex as described in the Temple Scroll. © Leen Ritmeyer

You need to be able to read Hebrew to make full use of this resource. There is, however, a link that shows the English translation.

A reconstruction of David's Palace in Jerusalem.© Leen Ritmeyer 1995

A press release from TravelVideo.tv lists the evocative tours taking place in and around the City of David this summer. These include:

The Archeological Experience at the Emek Tzurim National Park: Discovering the Past Hidden in the Dust: A unique exploration of the Temple Mount’s glorious past, travelers will be able to sift through rubble that originated in ancient buildings atop the Temple Mount while learning about the artifacts from on-site archeologists and guides.

Tour of the biblical City of David: A tour bringing travelers through Jerusalem’s biblical sites and places where the city’s the most stirring, remarkable artifacts were unearthed. Tour guides will lead travelers through an impressive underground world in Warren’s Shaft, the city’s ancient water system, as well as an illuminated walk in the waters of the Gihon Spring that flows through Hezekiah’s Tunnel.

In the footsteps of the Pilgrims – New Discoveries and Revelations from the Second Temple Period: A tour leading travelers in the footsteps of the architects of the city and incorporating recent archeological discoveries as well as the Shiloah Pool and the Herodian Road.

Enchanted Jerusalem-the New Nighttime Experience at the City of David: The new evening tour of the City of David begins at the Hatzofeh lookout point emphasizing the unique, low position of the biblical City of David in comparison with Jerusalem’s Old City walls. The tour will conclude with an innovative light show projected onto various antiquities, telling the story of the City of David through movement and sound.

Twilight at the City of David: A magical three-hour tour in a special nighttime ambiance allowing travelers to view the city through a course of excavations including David’s Palace and Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The tour concludes with harp music under the ancient olive trees in the King’s Garden.

Following the Water to Jerusalem – Hasmonean Aqueduct Tour: A flashlight tour highlighting the two 2,000-year-old aqueducts constructed to bring water from the Pools of Solomon to the Temple Mount and Upper City. Travelers will also witness the incredible views of ancient Jerusalem and the sophisticated water system built by King Herod on 150 BCE.

Kidron Monuments Tour: A tour of the massive, elaborate monuments in the Kidron Valley around the Old City’s original municipal border between the City of David and the Mount of Olives.

The full story is at http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/

It is now easy to look up most of the early rabbinic legal texts. The rabbinic texts were among the first to be digitised and there are some wonderful tools, but the good ones cost a lot of money and aren’t very friendly.

So I made the RabbinicTraditions.com site for myself. It is quick to use and more powerful than most, and has proved so valuable that I’m making it available to everyone.

You can freely read the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the Mishnah, Tosephta and the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. For a small fee per year or for life, you can fully search these texts.

The study of the Mishnah, in particular the tractate Middot, has helped enormously in my study of the Temple Mount and has made it possible to locate the pre-Herodian Square Temple Mount, shown in yellow in the illustration below:

King Solomon built the First Temple on the top of Mount Moriah which is visible in the centre of this cut-away drawing. This mountain top can be seen today, inside the Islamic Dome of the Rock. King Hezekiah built a square Temple Mount (yellow walls) around the site of the Temple, which he also renewed. © Leen Ritmeyer

The Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society (AIAS) was founded in 1961 by Professor Yigal Yadin, Dr Alec Lerner, Leon Shalit and Dr Richard Barnett. The aims of the society are to:

• Make recent developments in the archaeology of Israel and neighbouring countries more widely known in the UK
• Provide a series of illustrated public presentations explaining and informing on recent archaeological findings and new theories
• Regularly publish Strata, an internationally respected journal consisting of original research papers
• Provide grants for students of Middle Eastern Archaeology

Ami is one of Israel’s most outstanding archaeologists, with an impressive record of research and excavations. He has been a good friend since 1973, when we participated in an IDF archaeological survey of the Bashan region, southeast of Mount Hermon. After producing publication plans of his excavations at Tel Qasileh, I worked as surveyor for Ami at Tel Batash (Timnah of the Philstines) from 1978 till 1989.

His lecture will be of great interest to lovers of Israel and its history.

The Virtual World Project is designed for educational purposes, with teachers and students in mind. The project offers two modes for viewing the archaeological sites (Tour and Presentation mode). See the help screens for further information on using the project. Audio commentary is being added to many of the sites (see Herodium, Dan, Qasr Bshir, and Ramm, among others).

The project is continually being updated. Find out what is new in the project by visiting the project’s Blog. Click on the “Project Blog” link here or below. The project should be linked and accessed through its own domain at www.virtualworldproject.org

HT: Jack Sasson

The Jordan Museum is expected to open in June 2011.

The Jordan Museum has the following aims:

• Research and documentation of Jordan’s archeology, folklore and modern history,
• Education and information dissemination programmes to the public,
• Collection, conservation and protection of artifacts and materials,
• Exhibition, permanent or temporary, of artifacts and cultural heritage materials of Jordan.

The Archaeological and Historical Gallery is the largest gallery in the museum and will present Jordan’s history and culture from the Lithic Ages up to the Islamic periods (including the Rashidi and Ottoman Caliphates).

The Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls are being moved from the old Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman to this new museum.

It is to be hoped that some of the most important artefacts in the old museum will be moved as well, such as the Copper Scroll, the Balaam inscription and the tables and benches from Qumran.

This bench and table from Qumran are in need of conservation and deserve a better display. Photo: Leen Ritmeyer

The benches and tables were part of the Scriptorium at Qumran:

A reconstruction of the Scriptorium at Qumran showing the benches and tables in the upper story. © Leen Ritmeyer