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reveal the real location of the Temple
We learn of the Place of the
Trumpeting through Josephus as
he describes the towers built by the Jewish Rebels who had taken over
the city
prior to its destruction. The rebels split into two groups and began
warring
against each other. One faction held the Temple and they built towers
on the
corners of the Temple compound to get a higher advantage for their
arrows. One of those towers was built above the Xystus. So first
we need
to find out where that was.
Josephus traces the path of the
northern part of the First
Wall of Jerusalem in The War of the Jews 4.2:
"Now that wall began on the north, at the tower called
"Hippicus," and extended as far as the "Xistus," a place so
called, and then, joining to the council-house, ended at the west
cloister of
the temple."
The Xystus was a plaza used for assembly, to hear public speeches made
from the
west wall of the Temple Mount.
The ruins of the Council House were discovered by Charles Warren in the
1860′s.
It is located near the Western Wall and the bridge over Wilson’s Arch.
The Place of the Trumpeting was
located
at what is now thought to be the southwest corner of the
Temple Mount.
At the base of the southwest corner the remains of “The Place of
the
Trumpeting” stone was found. It lay where it
had landed after the
destruction of the Temple.
Josephus tells the location of the towers that the rebels built.
War of the Jews Book 4, 9.12
one at the north-east corner of the court,
one above the Xystus, the
third at another corner over against the lower city, and the last was
erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests
stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet at the
beginning of every seventh day,
2.The second on the corner of the Temple, across from the Xystus plaza.
3.The third tower was built on the corner overlooking the City of David. (Scholars trying to place these towers have great difficulty with the southern corner tower. Placing it at the southeast corner of the Mount, as it is today, red X on the next map, doesn't work because it overlooks the Kidron Valley not the City. They end up placing it at the southwest corner. This places towers 3 and 4 in the same place!)
4. Josephus places the fourth tower at the corner of the “Place of the Trumpeting.”
Placing the towers on Warren’s map helps us to get our bearings.
To know where the temple was actually located on the Temple Mount we must combine this with what Josephus said about the size of Herod's Temple. It was a furlong in length and a furlong in width. So all we need to do is start at the tower built on the northwest corner above the Xystus of Herod’s Temple and measure a furlong of 600 feet southward.
It wasn't until the Place of the Trumpeting stone was found that the puzzle could be put together, but I didn't use the Trumpeting Place to show the location. Instead I used scripture, ancient survey maps, pictures of the Mount and Ophel, the writings of Josephus and the Jewish writings, such as the Mishnah, etc. to discover this location.
This graphic shows my Temple diagram laid over the map with the towers.
With
the towers built on these corners they were able to protect all of the
entrances to the temple.
……
This is in no way the southwest corner Josephus was speaking of.
The southwest corner would have been further down Ophel hill where the depth was greater. Not only would the wall appearing above the street have to reach the level of the rest of the temple, much taller than any other wall of the temple...but the buried part of the wall below the street would also have to go down much deeper in order to reach the bedrock in the Tyropoeon valley at the place I propose for the southwest corner. The only way this is possible is if the northwest corner of the Temple were at the place above the xystus pre destruction and of course pre Hadrian's reshaping of the temple mount area. This Temple theory is the only one which can account for all 4 towers in their proper places.
This is positive proof that the Temple was once located on the Temple Mount and not in the City of David or the Dome of the Rock.
Titus's Speech
Titus spoke to the surviving rebels giving them a chance to surrender. He stood at the ruins of the NW corner of the Temple and the rebels stood on the Xystus. The rebels refused to surrender, which led to their deaths and the full destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
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7-26-2014