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Southeast Corner of the Temple Mount
Solomon's
Stable
Constructed
With Recycled
Herodian Stones
East of the Triple gates
.....
This structure was made of
recycled Herodian stones. Since Herod would
not let his workers rebuild the eastern cloisters,nor disturb the East
Gate, it would mean that these vaults were built after the time the
Herodian
walls were completed in 66 AD.
Even though it was dubbed Solomon's Stables by the Crusaders, this
arched
area was not built in Solomon's time, nor were they stables before the
time of the Crusaders. They were built with recycled Herodian stones,
dating
them to the post second Temple era.
Solomon's
Stables
at the Southeast Corner
The Hebrew builders always dug
down to bedrock to create a solid base
for large structures. The Romans employed this same method when
constructing
the Southeastern corner of the Temple Mount.
Those industrious Romans!
I'd like to give my "opinion" on
what may have taken place after the
destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 AD. Once the southern portion
of the Jewish Temple compound (enclosed Temple site) was torn down,
then
all the Herodian stones from that section were used for the new
extended
southeast wall. They began by building terraced compartments in the
southeast
corner, which are now called Solomon's Stables.
The southeast corner of the
Temple Mount was a steep hill before these
terraced compartments were added to create the corner. There is a
straight
joint in the East wall where the Hasmonian wall ends and the extended
southeast
corner begins, which means the old wall probably took a 90 degree turn
towards the west at that point. I believe it is quit possible that it
was
the Romans that built the wall even further south from that joint and
continued
west to meet up with Triple Gate (Solomon's Porch). On the other side
of
the Triple Gates they also filled in the gap until meeting up with the
Inner wall of the inner courts.
The Southeast corner of the Mount
is constructed in layers. Each layer
made up of a series of arches, built in the same manner of the Jewish
outer
court. The use of this system was used in many countries. They added
layer
atop layer until the steep hill was brought up to level with the roof
of
the Triple Gate passageways (Solomon's Porch). Then fill dirt was laid
over the top of it all.
The wall itself was made of
recycled Herodian stones.
The last level (compartment) was
found to be full of rubble, much of
it from the second Temple era, i.e. broken stones, marble pieces, and
columns,
etc. One must ask when and how this rubble got hauled in there! I think
the Roman's used it as a rubble dump, so to speak.
The Roman Emperor, Hadrian in 130
AD, is most likely the person that
built up the walls of the Mount and created a flat surface of the Mount
for a temple of jupiter.
Quote from wikapedia: The city of
Aelia Capitolina was built in 130
CE by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony on the
site of Jerusalem, which was still in ruins from the First Jewish
Revolt
in 70 CE. Aelia came from Hadrian's nomen gentile, Aelius, while
Capitolina
meant that the new city was dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus, to whom a
temple was built on the site of the former second Jewish temple, the
Temple
Mount.[15]
Hadrian had intended the construction of the new city as a gift
to the Jews, but since he had constructed a giant statue of himself
in front of the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Jupiter had a huge
statue of Jupiter inside of it, there were now two enormous graven
images
on the Temple Mount. It was also the normal practice of the
adherents
of the Hellenic religion to sacrifice pigs before their deities. In
addition
to this, Hadrian issued a decree prohibiting the practice of
circumcision.
These three factors, the graven images, the sacrifice of pigs before
the
altar, and the prohibition of circumcision, constituted for
non-Hellenized
radical Zealot Jews a new abomination of desolation, and thus Bar
Kochba
launched the Third Jewish Revolt. After the Third Jewish Revolt failed,
all Jews were forbidden on pain of death from entering the city.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount
Herodain Stones
The southeast corner wall
was built without pride of workmanship,
nothing more than mismatched recycled stones. Herod would have been
very
upset that we attribute this wall to him.
Below is an example of the
pattern of a wall built of Herodian stone
properly laid. See how the embossing (cut grooves) when put together
create
a line the length of the wall. These are boss stones cut with a
groove
around the stone so that they create an elegant appearance when placed
in rows. It is like the signature.
Southwest corner
The drawing below was made
by Charles Warren over 100 years ago
of the southeast corner . He dug a deep tunnel to view these
stones
and an artist made a sketch. They recognized that these stones
were
Herodian stones with mysterious markings on them.
Strange that the people
wondering about these markings didn't
also make note of the disorder in this wall. A hodge-podge of similar
stones
stacked one on another.
However very few of these
stones belong together. I would say that
whoever built this corner of the Mount didn't seem to care what it
looked
like, but only the height of each stone, for the purpose of stacking to
make rows.
The markings on some of these
stones are masons marks. They tell
the builder where to place the stone in a building. Whether it be in a
corner, or part of a certain arch, etc. One can't help but notice that
in the middle of the bottom row the stone with lots of writing on it is
upside down, or the two stones on either side of it are upside down.
You
can tell by the large bossing.
My guess is that some of these
stones that have no mark have a mark
on the other side. My wildest guess is that these recycled stones could
possibly be stones from the Temple building itself. This would explain
why none of the Temple Stones have ever been found. That is just
my opinion.
With
my southern location for the Temple it makes a
big difference in the location of the Southeast and southwest corners
of
the Temple; being that
they would have been
built lower down on the slop of Ophel hill the south wall of Herod's
south wall would have been
the tallest outer walls of the Temple compound.
Pasting the blue line next to
the red shows that southern wall would have
been twice the height of the wall near triple gate. (the original
height of the Temple walls all way round are being determined by
Robinson's
arch and the gate that would have been above it; so around 100
feet).
The Kidron valley was also much deeper 2000 years ago.
So let's see what Josephus says
about the southern corners of the Temple.
Antiquities of the Jews
- Book 15 Ch 11 , 5
but the fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had
indeed
itself gates in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with
three
walks, which reached in length from the east valley unto that on the
west,
for it was impossible it should reach any farther: and this
cloister
deserves to be mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while
the valley was very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if you
looked
from above into the depth, this further vastly high elevation of
the
cloister stood upon that height, insomuch that if any one looked
down
from the top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would
be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.
So according to this the Southeast corner was NOT
built to the bottom of the Kidron Valley and that if one accounts for
the
depth of the Kidron and then adds the height of the south wall to
it
then it made one giddy to look down.
However the
SOUTHWEST corner was built into the Tyropeon
Valley.
(The
Wars Of The Jews 5. 5. 2. )
The lowest part of this (lower court of the temple) was
erected to the height of 300 cubits, and in some places more; yet did
not
the entire depth of the foundations appear, for they as being desirous
to
make them on a level with the narrow streets of the city; wherein
they made use of stones of forty cubits in magnitude; for the great
plenty
of money they then had, and the liberality of the people, made this
attempt
of theirs to succeed to an incredible degree;
The foundation stones of the southwest corner was
built to the bottom of the Tyropeon valley. Josephus says the wall
altogether
was 300 cubits (450 feet from foundation stones to the top of the
wall).
The reason we can know this is speaking of the Tyropeon valley and not
the Kidron valley is because he said the foundation stones were laid on
the bedrock but, only the upper portions showed because Herod
(grandson)
had filled in the valley to bring it up to the level of the narrow
streets
of the city. THERE ARE NO CITY STREETS IN THE KIDRON VALLEY and
it
was never filled in.
(Although it is
generally felt that Josephus exaggerated
the height of some of the walls, towers, etc. as a mater of pride for
the
purpose of making it all greater than that of the Romans and Greeks.)
Josephus said
that the lower courts were built last, this
of course included the Royal Stoa.
Those Terraced
Compartments
of Solomon's Stables are now a Muslim Mosque
Muslim's have dug
the pit and revealed the terraced rooms below the surface.
Here are photos
of a pit the Muslims have dug to expose the upper level of the terraced
rooms under the ground, and some of the rubble being removed from it.
Perhaps
sections of Herod's famous columns. They are making the underground
structures
into places of worship to Allah.
Locating
Solomon's Temple
by Norma Robertson
NOW ON VIDEO!
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"Locating
Solomon's Temple"
by Norma Robertson
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