locating Solomon temple by Norma Robertson the location of the temple platform where both
Solomon and Herod's temples once stood has remained a mystery for almost 2 000 years
there are five theories as to where the temple was once located the most popular is under the dome of
the rock the second theory shows it to be under the dome of the spirits just north of the dome
of the rock the third theory claims it was under the fountain halfway between the dome of the rock
and the al-aqsa mosque the fourth has the temple completely outside the temple mount in the midst
of what was once the city of David the fifth is of course mine which shows the temple to be in
the most southern position on the temple mount deep below and to the west of the al-aqsa mosque
the first four theories have one problem in common lack of physical proof
they feel that if they were able to excavate on the mount then they would find enough ruins of
gates and walls etc to prove the actual location that however is not allowed by the Muslims
i have found that there's a lot of physical proof if you look to the south end of the mount
I will be showing that physical proof in the form of old photos of the ophel area and the survey
maps from the 1800s drawn by the last explorers ever allowed to enter the underground chambers
cisterns and water channels beneath the mount when studying about the location of the temple of god
one of the most important things to do is to begin with the location of Solomon's temple
built around 1000 bc Herod tore down and rebuilt the temple on the exact same location around 19 bc
his descendants then increased the temple fortress or complex that surrounded the temple house
to be double the size according to Herod's plans these walls doubling the size of the temple
were not completed until ad 66 and the city and temple were then destroyed a few years later
in ad-70 Josephus a Jewish historian that lived during the time of the destruction of the temple
and city of Jerusalem is a great source concerning the temple he wrote that Herod's temple complex
was a furlong in length and in width a furlong by a furlong is approximately 600 by 600 feet
this doubled the size of Solomon's temple complex both temple complexes shared the same east wall
Herod felt that the east gate was too beautiful to tear down so refused to let
his builders work on it they merely extended the east wall to the north and to the south
the temple the priests court and the women's court were rebuilt by Herod the great pre-1st century
later as Herod's grandson and great-grandson extended the outer courts during the first century
then parts of the old wall of Solomon's complex were most likely removed notice that
the wailing wall is located on the upper left side of this diagram on the first century wall
this survey map reveals the water channels under the temple mount
it appears that the Muslims closed off the water channels leading to the south when
they built their fountain the aqueduct entered the mount through Wilson's arch it didn't go
uphill from there towards the dome of the rock which would have been the case if the temple
had been located there but instead the channel was laid towards the south downhill from where
it entered the mount further indicating that the temple was located at the south end of the mount
the dome of the rock is approximately 20 feet higher than the aqueduct the aqueduct was
built by Solomon bringing water to the temple from the etan springs ain etan near Solomon's
pools the Jerusalem talmud yama 41 says that a conduit ran from the etan to the temple
from this we can understand that the temple court was cleansed with water being brought
to the temple from the spring of etan near Bethlehem it flowed to the temple by the use of a
conduit or aqueduct the water for cleansing the court did not come out of the Gihon springs
during the second temple period a new way of filling the laver was devised called the muchnie
Ben Katon one of the high priests who served during the era of the second temple devised a
system for retrieving the water each morning using this machinery the laver was submerged into a
specially made pool under the court the laver was then hoisted up by the first priest in the morning
when I laid my temple diagram over the map of the water channels the large pool was right next to
the temple house this was very exciting another branch of this water system ended under what i
believe to be the location of the peace corps for me this was the last piece of the puzzle
this section of water channel could be opened to flood the priests court each evening to cleanse
it of the blood the Mishna tells us that the water fulfilling the copper laver every day was
brought by a conduit from the pools of Bethlehem the water system also branched off towards the
place where the chamber of the hearth would have been located for filling the mikvah below it
there was a drain next to the altar where the water and blood would have drained into the blood
channel leading to the Kidron valley Nehemiah's wall gives us some important information that
helps us identify where the temple was not located according to scripture Nehemiah did not rebuild
any of the temple walls he only rebuilt the city walls which means that the east wall
of the mount that we see today was part of the city wall that Nehemiah rebuilt
and not the east wall of Solomon's temple the east gate on that city wall was not the east gate
of the temple complex Nehemiah called this gate the commanders or inspector's gate
there is no way this is the east gate of Solomon's temple nor that of Herod's the true east gate
Solomon's east gate was in the center of the east wall and entered directly into the woman's court
the ruins of the oldest gate in the eastern wall still remain
under the Muslim gate that we see today
leen ritmeyer after finding two stones of what he believes to be part of the old Hezekiah wall
700 bc indicates that the Hasmonine wall joins to the Hezekiah wall this means there would also be
a joint where these two walls meet together the Hezekiah wall that Nehemiah would have rebuilt
extended from the supposed joint and ends just beyond the commander's gate
even though i agree with dr ritmeyer about Hezekiah's wall beginning with these two stones
i disagree that it was a wall of the temple remember Nehemiah rebuilt the city wall only
he did not rebuild any of the outer walls of the temple leon ritmeyer claims this old Hezekiah
city wall was the east wall of the temple compound and so places the location of the temple where the
dome of the rock is now it's very interesting to trace the changes in the area from the time that
Nehemiah rebuilt the city wall all the way up to when Josephus describes fort Antonia
the wall described by Nehemiah had two towers on its north wall
the tower meah and the tower hananeel these towers protected the temple from a northern attack
the maeh fortress was built upon under the Hasmoneans during the late second century bc
and was renamed the Barris it was rectangular and possessed several
high towers the Barris was connected to the temple mount by an underground passageway
the Barris was then besieged by Pompey the great during his siege of Jerusalem in 63 bc
during which one of the towers was destroyed under Herod the great the Baris underwent
extensive reconstruction he named it Fort Antonia in honor of Marc Anthony fort Antonia just as the
Barris and the maeh before it was located on the old north wall that Nehemiah rebuilt
there was a natural land bridge between fort Antonia and the hill to its north the moat
was 200 feet long and to the east of it was a ravine running down into the Kidron valley
the moat was cut for the purpose of separating the two hills
and also making it impossible for catapults to be set up near the north wall of the fortress
for lack of flat land however attacking armies would just fill in the moat and create a flat
surface and break down the north wall taking the fortress from there they could take the temple
it is my belief that the walls of fort Antonia were at a northwest angle to the temple
the reason is because of a step at the northwest corner of the dome of the rock platform
the bottom step is not a step at all it is in fact the top of a very old wall that step
or wall is set as at an angle the red dashed line in the map shows the old west wall
following that same angle as it bends southward forming the northwest corner of fort Antonia
recently coins from the first century were found under the west wall of the temple mount
that we see today this means that Herod the great did not build the southern portion of
the west wall including the bridge called Robinson's arch however this bridge was one
of the west gates Josephus claimed entered directly into the 600 by 600 foot temple
we also know that the walls of the temple were not completed until 66 a.d
and yet Josephus attributes it all to Herod as the builder who died in 4 bc so this work was most
likely completed under Herod Agrippa the first and Herod Agrippa II of the house of Herod hosepipes
describes the temple and fort Antonia after the walls of the extended temple area were completed
the temple courts were extended to the north west and south fort Antonia complex was connected
to the temple complex by two colonnades according to Josephus the temple compound and port Antonia
compound together were six furlong around that makes the temple complex 600 by 600 feet and also
the fort Antonia complex as 600 by 600 feet in this map of the first century Jerusalem
the red square is the location and size of the temple mount today the yellow area would have
been the city walls in the time of Nehemiah Herod rebuilt this wall and also built a wall around the
north quarter of the city in green a third city wall included the city of Bethesda in purple this
third wall connected to the old Hezekiah city wall on the east there wasn't a wall between
Bethesda hill and the moat please continue with locating Solomon's temple part 2. thank you