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 19th and 20th 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.
In yesterday’s post, we reported on the large mysterious V-shaped marks found in the City of David Excavations:
The announcement by Eli Shukron that he was puzzled by the marks, brought an enormous response from people who had all sorts of different suggestions. The Jerusalem Post reported that more than 20,000 people had responded:
Among the most interesting ideas: a torture device, drainage for ancient urinals, the original McDonald’s sign, an abbreviation for “veni vidi vici” (Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered”), a footprint from King Solomon’s pet dinosaur, molds for smelting iron to make tools, the Trinity, a representation of mountains or the symbol for water, signs to the exit, an alien cryptogram, or support for a wooden structure.
Here in the UK, BBC 4 aired an interesting program on Jerusalem with Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of “Jerusalem, the biography“. The first part of a series can be seen in the UK on BBC iPlayer. Here is a good review of his book.
Arutz Sheva (Israel National News) has a report on illegal Muslim burials at the Ophel Corner, near the southeast corner of the Temple Mount. It appears to be part of an illegal land-grab.
Jerusalem City engineers have ordered that the ramp to the Mughrabi Gate be closed indefinitely for safety reasons, although there may be political reasons behind the move, i.e. to force the Israel government to build a new bridge despite international pressure to refrain from upsetting the Arabs.
Some members of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) have called for an alternate access for Jews to visit the Temple Mount (what about the tourists)?
The Mughrabi Ramp partly obscures the Herodian Barclay’s Gate. We commented on the problems of the ramp in previous posts, such as this one, containing a diagram:
In today’s Haaretz it is reported that mysterious 2,800 year old V-shaped carvings were found in the City of David.
Mysterious stone carvings made thousands of years ago and recently uncovered in an excavation underneath Jerusalem have archaeologists stumped.
Israeli diggers who uncovered a complex of rooms carved into the bedrock in the oldest section of the city recently found the markings: Three "V'' shapes cut next to each other into the limestone floor of one of the rooms, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) deep and 50 centimeters long. Photo: AP
The archaeologists in charge of the dig know so little that they have been unable even to posit a theory about their nature, said Eli Shukron, one of the two directors of the dig.
“The markings are very strange, and very intriguing. I’ve never seen anything like them,” Shukron said.
It is possible, the dig’s archaeologists say, that when the markings were made at least 2,800 years ago the shapes might have accommodated some kind of wooden structure that stood inside them, or they might have served some other purpose on their own. They might have had a ritual function or one that was entirely mundane. Archaeologists faced by a curious artifact can usually at least venture a guess about its nature, but in this case no one, including outside experts consulted by Shukron and the dig’s co-director, archaeologists with decades of experience between them, has any idea.
In my latest blog post, I tried to show how the Temple Mount may have developed after the death of Herod the Great. This post was written in the wake of the discovery of four coins from the time of the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus (17/18 AD) below the Western Wall as described previously.
Now, a Palestinian “archaeologist”, Dr. Jamal Amro, claims that he was the one who found the 17 (not 4) Roman coins! He rightly states that the coins date from the time of Valerius and then draws the illogical and ridiculous conclusion that:
“All archaeological discoveries that were found before this one in the Arab city of Jerusalem and around the Aqsa Mosque date back to ancient Arab and Islamic eras especially the times of Umayyad and Abbasid reigns (661-1258) up to the Ottoman rule (1520 AD)”
He also stated this discovery left the Jewish archaeologists in a state of shock and frustration because it just proved further their false claims and beliefs about the legend of the temple.
The sad thing is that instead of laughing Amro off the stage, his statements are being parroted all over the world and incorporated into the Arab Narrative, perhaps to become an official UNESCO policy statement. Googling the headline “Archaeologist rebuts Jewish claims about their alleged temple” demonstrates how quickly and easily foolish lies can be spread in our day.
The latest archaeological developments near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount (see my previous post) have caused concern to some who feel that their understanding that King Herod the Great built the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is being undermined. It would mean that the Temple Mount was not finished when Jesus visited the Temple. That, however, does not have to be the case.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
The announcement of the new theory on when the Western Wall was built (see here and here) was not as dramatic as expected. The discovery of coins, the latest of which were struck by the Roman procurator Valeruis Gratus in 17-18 AD, in a mikveh that went out of use when the Western Wall was built over it, suggests that the building of the Temple Mount walls took decades. This is the full report released by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
A picture of the two coins that were found in the mikveh. The coins date from the time of the Roman procurator Valeruis Gratus (17-18 AD). Photo: Vladimir Neichin/IAAThis picture shows that the Western Wall was built over the remains of a mikveh. Photo by Vladimir Neichin/IAAPhoto of the excavation of the mikveh by Vladimir Neichin/IAA
This late date is not surprising, as at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, usually dated to 30 AD, it was said that this Temple complex had been in building already for 46 years (John 2.20).
At the northern end of the Western Wall is a piece of bedrock that wasn’t even removed before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
This doesn’t mean to say that the Western wall is not Herodian. The whole building concept was designed by Herod the Great and completed after his death.
The Spokesperson of the Israel Antiquities Authority “circulated an invitation to journalists to attend a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday, November 23, 2011) at which “A find will be presented that challenges the conventional viewpoint in archaeology regarding the construction of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.”
Although it sounds mysterious, Ronny Reich, whom I met very recently in Jerusalem, said that he has new information about the construction date of Robinson’s Arch. It will be interesting to see what he has to say.
History becomes alive in Israel and other Bible Lands. Not only can well-known Biblical sites that are associated with both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament be visited, one can also sail across the Sea of Galilee and walk on ancient routes.
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.
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".
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.
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.
In the previous post we mentioned the opening of the Herodian sewer in Jerusalem. One can now walk underground from the Siloam Pool to the Temple Mount. Last week, we were one of the first groups to walk through this drain/sewer, that collected the rain water that fell on the street and drained the sewage from the adjacent buildings. Here is a photographic record of the tour:
Don’t fear, the sewer is dry! One can now walk underground through the full length of the 2,000 year old Herodian drainage channel that ran below the street from the Siloam Pool to Robinson’s Arch near the Temple Mount. The route of the street is indicated on the drawing below:
Tom Powers has an excellent description using recent photographs and my map of this drainage system that I used in a previous blog post to explain its construction during the Hasmonean period and the Herodian bypass that was made after the construction of the southwest corner of the Herodian Temple Mount cut the earlier drain.
It will be exciting to walk again through this tunnel, but while doing so, one should also remember that in 70 AD many Jerusalemites tried to escape through this same tunnel, but were cruelly killed by the Romans when they were discovered.
