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The Temple Mount in the City of David: Ancient Authenticating Descriptions


by Marilyn Sams

The Temple Mount in the City of David: Ancient Authenticating Descriptions


by Marilyn Sams
Ancient descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple Mount are incompatible with the current
identification and location of it in Jerusalem, which is a long-standing tradition only, entirely
dependent on the undocumented proposition that during the time of David or Solomon the
northern walls of the City of David/Jerusalem were broken down to append a large northerly
extension for the temple and acropolis. Instead, ancient descriptions of the boundaries of the
City of David/Jerusalem delimit it to the southeastern hill, with no northerly extension added.
The northern wall of the City of David/Jerusalem was still in place during the siege of Pompey
in 60 B.C. (Antiquities XIV, 4, 57).
In 1909-1910, Parker and Vincent discovered archaeological remains dated to 3000 B.C.
in the Gihon Spring area, affirming the southeastern hill was the original site of the ancient
habitations chronicled in the Bible and history (Reich, 2011). In War VI, 10, 438, Josephus
mentions an early king of Jerusalem, a contemporary of Abraham:
But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our
own tongue called [Melchizedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was;
on which account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple
[there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem.
Another reference in Josephus states the city was called Solyma, but afterwards they named it
Hiersolyma, calling the temple (hieron) Solyma, which, in the Hebrew tongue means security
(Antiquities VII, 3, 67, Loeb translation). The translation of this passage indicates an
amalgamation of the citys former name (Salem) and the word for temple to create the new
name Hierosolyma or Jerusalem, because of the temple there.

Modern archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron uncovered mammoth remains
from the Middle Bronze Age II (possibly the era of Melchizedek) in the area of the Gihon
Spring. These include the Spring Tower surrounding the Gihon Spring, the Pool Tower guarding
the Rock-cut Pool adjacent to it, and the Fortified Passage, which consists of two massive walls
forming a path from the Spring and Rock-cut Pool and heading toward the ridge at the top of the
slope. These fortifications protected citizens while accessing their major water supply. Reich
surmised there was an important fortress at the top of the ridge (Reich, 2011). Since this will be
shown to be where Solomons temple stood, it also qualifies as the likeliest place for
Melchizedeks temple.
Fig. 1. Artists Conception of the Spring Tower, Pool Tower, and Fortified Passage

Fig. 1. The figure shows an artists conception of the Spring Tower, Pool Tower, and Fortified
Passage, dated to the Middle Bronze Age II, possibly in the time of Melchizedek. Note the
installations are lying out in the Kidron Valley, matching later descriptions for the position of
the temple foundations. [Deror Avi, Wikimedia]
The Uru Salem of Abdi-Heba, in the 14th century B.C. and the later city of Jebus also
occupied the southeastern hill (Van der Veen, 2013).i In the 10th century B.C., after David

conquered Jebus, both he and Solomon repaired the existing walls and made them higher and
stronger and Solomon may have built new walls, but there is no description of any walls having
been broken down, nor of any large northerly extension (Antiquities VII, 3, 66; Antiquities VII,
2, 21). Hence, the boundaries of Davids and Solomons City of David/ Jerusalem were limited
to the southeastern hill. In Antiquities VII, 3, 66, Josephus states that David made buildings
around the lower city, which would be defined in this era as the lower half of the southeastern
hill and is called in this article the City of David, because David resided in this area, which was
probably bounded on the north by Kathleen Kenyons Area H excavations at the bottleneck. The
northeastern corner of the City of David/Jerusalem (or the Sheep Gate) probably stood where the
southeastern corner of the traditional temple mount stands, or possibly 105 feet north, at the
seam on the east wall.
Fig. 2. Boundaries for the City of David/Jerusalem

Fig. 2. The City of David is identified in this article as the lower half of the southeastern hill,
with its northern boundary at the bottleneck (Area H). The City of David/Jerusalem occupied the

whole crescent-shaped southeastern hill. The map outlines the ridge area, but the walls were
further down the slopes. A northerly extension did not begin, as illustrated here, until about 134
B.C. when John Hyrcanus built the Baris, which was expanded to become the 36-acre walled
area (indicated by the dotted line).
To understand there was no northerly appendage added to the southeastern hill, one must start
with later descriptions of the City of David/Jerusalem and work back. Although the city had
spread to the western hill in Hezekiahs reign, it shrunk back to the southeastern hill during the
Area

Persian era. Even after


H its subsequent re-expansion, the Letter of Aristeas describes the City of
City

David/Jerusalem
as having
its towers arranged in the manner of a theater; Tacitus describes its
Sprin
of
Davi

gg

walls as bending inwards (Histories 5.11, as cited in Dissertation 3); Josephus said it had the
shape of the moon when she is horned (War V, 5, 137); and the Venerable Bede compared it to
an arc,ii each description of the city referring to the crescent shape of the southeastern hill,
without any northerly extension appended. In Antiquities XV, 11, 410, Josephus again uses in
the manner of a theater to describe the temple lying near to the city, adding that its southern
quarter was bounded by a deep valley, both descriptions which refer to the southeastern hill lying
against the western hill in the lower Tyropoeon Valley, with the Hinnom and Kidron Valleys on
the south and southeast. In addition, Antiquities XV, 11, 397 says: "The hill [of the temple plaza
foundations] was a rocky ascent, that declined by degrees towards the east parts of the city, until
it came to an elevated level. This eliminates the traditional site of the temple mount, since there
never has been a city built on its east side, as was the case with the temple mount described by
Josephus.
Several descriptions locating the temple on the southeastern hill derive from its being the lowest
mountain in Jerusalem. The Venerable Bede noted the temple [ruins] were located in the lower
part of the city in the vicinity of the wall from the east, Eudocias 5th century city wall on the
east of the southeastern hill.iii In Special Laws I.XIII.73, Philo of Alexandria gave a similar

topographical description that the temple being very large and very lofty, although built in a
very low situationis not inferior to any of the greatest mountains around.iv In his letter to
Faustus, Eucherius (5th Century C.E.), the Bishop of Lyons, said: The Temple, which was
situated in the lower city near the eastern wall, was once a world wonder, but of its ruins there
stands today only the pinnacle of one wall, and the rest are destroyed down to their
foundations.v Further, the Cairo Geniza documents explain that when Omar granted permission
to seventy households of Jews to return to Jerusalem, they requested to be near the site of the
temple and the water of Shiloah, in the southern section of the city.vi The accounts of the temple
ruins standing in the lower city or the temple being built in a low situation or in the south are
consistent with Josephuss descriptions of the temple foundations of the east wall being built
deep within the Kidron Valley,vii not upslope as is the case with the traditional temple mount. In
fact, in Josippon ben Gorions version of War, he says that from the top of the temples east wall,
the water in the Kidron Brook could be seen running at one cubits distance from the wall.
Fig. 4. The Curve of the Southeastern Crescent-Shaped Hill

Fig. 4. The dark green area at the center of the photo is curved or bending back, still showing
today how the southeastern hill is like a moon when she is horned. The Gihon Spring is near
the valley floor where the green area ends, in the middle of the southeastern hill. Note that the
traditional temple mounts east wall cannot be considered within the valley, as described by
Josephus. [Cropped from photo by Godot13, Wikimedia Commons]
The southeastern hill location of the City of David/Jerusalem is also affirmed by descriptions of
both the Gihon Spring and the temple being in the middle of the city. In Contra Apion I, 22, 198,
Hecateus of Abdera (4th Century B.C.) mentioned the temple was a rectangle measuring 150 feet
by 500 feet in the middle of the city. This being the case, a location for the temple on a northerly
extension is not possible. Coincidentally, the Jerusalem Talmud says Shiloah was also in the
middle of the city (Hagigah 76a).viii In the Letter of Aristeas, from his standpoint on the citadel,
looking down into the temple, he describes upper and lower crossroads, implying the city was
bifurcated by the temple. This is also implied by the injunction in the Mishnah (Berachot 9:5)
that the temple should not be used as a shortcut. Several scriptures refer to the temple in the
midst of the city, including Psalm 46:4-5: There is a river, the streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High God is in the midst of
her. (the river being derived from the waters of the Gihon Spring); Psalm 116:18-19: I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, In the courts of the Lords
house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem; Zechariah 8:3: Thus saith the Lord; I am returned
unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth;
and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.ix Hence, these ancient descriptions
verify the city associated with the temple occupied only the southeastern hill.
The Psalms are also part of the many sources describing a natural spring within the temple,
including the Letter of Aristeas, the Book of Enoch 25:1, Tacitus,x Philo,xi the Mishnah, Erubin
10, several biblical passages,xii and Eusebius.xiii The only spring in the City of David/Jerusalem,
the Gihon Spring at the center of the southeastern hill, was presumably named after the river

originating in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 22:2), adding to the Garden of Eden symbolism in
the temple above it. In addition, Eusebius called it the high priests fountain,xiv and Philo of
Alexandria believed the pomegranates on the high priests robe symbolized the flowing of the
stream, alluding to the living waters of the Gihon Spring.xv The Jewish Encyclopedia notes that
when the priests were obliged to eat large quantities of sacred meat, they drank of the water of
Shiloah to aid digestion (Ab. R. N. xxxv.), implying its accessibility within the temple.xvi Also of
note is Maimonidess mention that the ark was hidden in deep and winding tunnels underneath
the temple, describing Hezekiahs tunnel and/or the winding tunnels of the Warrens Shaft water
system (Laws of the Temple Service, Book 8).
In 2 Samuel 5:7, it is noted that David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of
David. From Davids conquest forward, the southeastern hill was known as Zion and Mount
Zion, the latter becoming a term for the whole city, the hill on which the temple was built, and
the sanctuary itself. In 1 Chronicles 21:15-16, when a destroying angel of the Lord stood by the
threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, he drew a sword and stretched it out over Jerusalem, before
the idea of a northern extension can be alleged. In Psalm 74:2, the redemption of the
threshingfloor is associated with Mount Zion and the temple: Remember thy congregation,
which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this
mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Hence, the threshingfloor which David redeemed and
which would become the altar of the temple was on Mount Zion, the southeastern hill.
A few scriptures mentioning Mount Zion include Psalm 48:1-2: Great is the Lord, and
greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zionthe city of the great King. Psalm 76:2: In
Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. Isaiah 8:18: Behold, I and the

children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of
hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. In the Greek period, 1 Maccabees 4:36-38 explains the
host assembled themselves, went up into Mount Zion, and saw there the desolated sanctuary,
affirming the sanctuary occupied Mount Zion, the southeastern hill.xvii
Antiquities VII, 3, 65 indicates that after conquering Jebus, David abode in the City of David all
the time of his reign, indicating his palace was built there. Since the royal palace was
immediately south of the temple, the temple must also have been in the City of David. This is
reaffirmed by the incident in 2 Kings 18:17, when Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Assyria
came up from Lachish to stand by the wall near the conduit of the upper pool and called out to
the king in his palace above, while the people witnessed the confrontation from the walls (Isaiah
36:11). This scenario can be reconstructed by identifying the Gihon Spring in the City of David
as the source of the upper pool and the conduit as the Siloam Tunnel, which flowed south of it,
past the royal palace. Two walls of 8th century date have been uncovered in the City of David
which would fit the walls described for the people (Shilohs mid-slope wall) and for the Assyrian
messengers (Reich & Shukrons valley wall).xviii
Descriptions in Nehemiah also affirm the temple/Gihon Spring/royal palace configuration in the
City of David. In Nehemiah 12:37, 39, the water and prison gates immediately north of the
palace are mentioned, so it logically follows that the water gate gave access to the Gihon Spring,
while the prison gate gave access to the prison in the royal palace (Nehemiah 3:25-26). When
the choirs celebrating the completion of the building of the walls halted at the water and prison
gates, the scripture says they halted at the house of God, indicating it stood in the City of David,
immediately adjacent to these gates (Nehemiah 12:40-41). Hecateus affirms this supposition in
his description of the double passages by which the temple was accessed in the middle of the

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city. The temples proximity to these gates is also attested by the nearness of the high priests
residence and that of the Nethinim (temple servants) in the same vicinity (Nehemiah 3:21 and
3:26). From these descriptions, it can easily be deduced that the great tower lying out
(Nehemiah 3:27) was the tower of the temple, enclosing the Gihon Spring (though its outlets
could be accessed).
Another clue regarding the temples location is in the Book of Ezekiel, where the Lord
expresses offense at the defiling of his sanctuary by the kings building their tombs only a wall
away from his sanctuary (Ezekiel 43:7-9). Since the kings were buried in the City of David, this
also affirms a City of David location for the temple.xix
Post-destruction accounts from Eusebius and Jerome mention the temple mount became a
site for quarrying and a garbage dump.xx Archaeological findings have affirmed the latter two
features on the southeastern hill, but they have not been noted on the traditional temple mount or
underneath.xxi Eusebius also commented that he had seen bulls plowing at the temple site, such
that it was a Roman farm like the rest of the country (Proof of the Gospel, 8.3. 405-406)
The 36-acre walled edifice could not realistically be described as like the rest of the country, as
could the middle of the southeastern hill during this period.
Byzantine pilgrimage descriptions associate the Praetorium with two churches, the
Church of St. Sophia, built by Eudocia over a large square rock, and the Church of Our Blessed
Lady (over the ruins of which Omar built his first house of prayer).xxii On the other hand, these
same descriptions associate the temple ruins with features on the southeastern hill, such as
Mount Zion, Eudocias east wall of the city, the waters of Shiloah, and a cave or crypt below the
ruins.xxiii
If the traditional temple mount is identified as Fort Antonia, the Roman camp, then the

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description of the two 600-foot aerial bridges connecting Fort Antonia to the temple in the City
of David fits, as extending these bridges from the southern wall of the alleged temple mount
places the temple in the City of David.xxiv It also explains Josephus description of the temple as
a rectangle of six furlongs (Antiquities V, 5, 192), and why the destruction of the aerial bridges
caused the temple to become a four-furlong square, fulfilling the ominous prophecy that when
square the walls, the temple falls (War VI, 5, 311). This topographical scenario is duplicated in
the description of Burchard of Sion (c. 1283 A.D.), a resident of the western hill, who said that
Mount Zion lay south of the Tower of David, which some called Antonys Tower.xxv Tacitus
also described the walls of the tower of Antonia as being beneath the royal palace (on the
western hill),xxvi but such a description does not apply to the current models of Antonia, which
place it on the 394 x 147 foot plateau at the northwest corner of the traditional temple mount, a
position too far north to be beneath Herods palace.
References
Antoninus Martyr. (n.d./1896). Of the Holy Places visited by Antoninus Martyr. (A. Stewart,
Trans.). London: Palestine Pilgrims Text Society.
Babylonian Talmud. Trans. Michael Rodkinson. Retrieved from Sacred Texts website:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t02/index.htm
Burchard of Sion. (n.d./ 1897). (A. Stewart, Trans.) In Palestine Pilgrims Text Society (Vol. 12).
London, Palestine Pilgrims Text Society. Retrieved July 1, 2013, from http://books
.google.com /books?id=7q8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR2&lpg=PR3&output=text#c_top

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Cahill, J. M., & Tarler, D. (1994). Excavations directed by Yigal Shiloh at the City of David,
1978-1985. In H. Geva, (Ed.), Ancient Jerusalem Revealed. (pp. 3l-45). Jerusalem:
Israel Exploration Society.
Eusebius of Caesarea. (c. 312 A.D./1903). Preparation for the Gospel. Trans. E. Gifford.
Retrieved from Early Christian Writings website: http://www.earlychristianwritings
.com/fathers /eusebius _pe _00_intro.html find specific citation
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 310 A.D./1920). Proof of the Gospel. W. J. Ferrar, Trans. Retrieved
from the Preterist Archive website: http://www.preteristarchive.com /ChurchHistory/
0312_eusebius_proof.html
Gibson, S., & Jacobson, D. M. (1996). Below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem: A
sourcebook on the cisterns, subterranean chambers and conduits of the Haram al Sharif.
BAR International Series 637. Oxford, England: Tempvs Reparatvm Archaeological and
Historical Associates Limited.
Hammer, R. (1995). The Jerusalem anthology. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication
Society.
Jewish Encylopedia. (1906). Retrieved from Jewish Encyclopedia website: http://www
.jewishencyclopedia.com/
Josippon ben Gorion. (c. 9th or 10th century A.D./1684 A.D.). The wonderful, and most
deplorable history of the latter times of the Jews: with the destruction of the city of
Jerusalem (Trans. James Howell). London: Printed for William Thackeray in Duck-lane.
Presented by Early English Books Online.
Maccabees. (n. d.). Apocrypha. Cambridge, England: The Cambridge University Press.
Mazar, B. (1975). The mountain of the Lord. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company.

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Peters, F. E. (1985). Jerusalem: The Holy City in the eyes of chroniclers, visitors, pilgrims, and
prophets from the days of Abraham to the beginnings of modern times. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.
Philo of Alexandria. (n.d.). Special laws. Retrieved from Early Jewish Writings website:
http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/index.html
Reich, R. (2011). Excavating the City of David where Jerusalems history began. Jerusalem:
Israel Exploration Society.
Sams, M. (2014). The Jerusalem Temple Mount myth. ASIN#B00TECQK18. Amazon Kindle
Direct Publishers.
Shiloh, Y. & Kaplan, M. (1979/JulyAug). Digging in the City of David. Biblical Archaeology
Review 5(4). 36-49.
The Book of Enoch the Prophet. (n.d./1821). R. Laurence, Trans. Thousand Oaks, CA: Artisan
Sales.
The Bordeaux Pilgrim. (n.d. /2001). Itinerary of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (A. vander
Nat, Trans.). Retrieved from Early Accounts of the Temple of Jerusalem website:
http://orion.it.luc.edu /~avande1/jerusalem/sources/bordeauxJerus.htm
The Breviary of Jerusalem. (6th Century A.D.). B.E. Whalen, Trans. In Pilgrimage in
the Middle Ages, A Reader. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
The Letter of Aristeas. (n.d./1913). R. H. Charles, Trans. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Theodosius. (n.d./1893). J. H. Bernard, Trans. London: Palestine Pilgrims Text Society.
Retrieved June 14, 2013 from Cornell University Internet Archive website: http://archive
.org/details/cu31924028534216

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The new complete works of Josephus. (1737/1999). W. Whiston, Trans. Grand Rapids, MI:
Kregel Publications.
The Venerable Bede. (n.d./2001). De Loctis Sanctis (A. vander Nat, Trans.). Retrieved from
Loyola University Chicago website: http://orion.it.luc.edu/~avande /jerusalem
/sources/bede.htm
Van der Veen, P. (2013, Mar/Apr). When Pharoahs ruled Jerusalem. Biblical Archaeology
Review, 39(2), 42-48, 67
End Notes

i The dates of the components are disputed among archaeologists, but Cahill & Tarler (1994) dated the

whole structure to the end of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of Iron Age I.
ii

As noted in De Loctis Sanctis (A. vander Nat, Trans.).

iii

As noted in De Loctis Sanctis (A. vander Nat, Trans.).

iv Retrieved from the Early Jewish Writings website: http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com /index.html

As cited in F. E. Peters Jerusalem (1985), p. 153. The ruins were likely a combination of the
Constantine/Julian/Bar Kochba attempts to rebuild the temple.
v

vi

From Reuven Hammers The Jerusalem Anthology, p. 148.

vii The east wall foundations being within the Kidron Valley is attested in Antiquities XV, 11, 398; War

I, 7, 141, War VI, 3, 192, Josippon Ben Gorion, p. 62.


viii

From the 1906 online Jewish Encyclopedia, under Jerusalem: Synagogues and Schools.

ix Additional scriptures regarding the temple being in the middle of the city include Psalm 2:6-7, Psalm

48:9-13, Psalm 51:18, Psalm 64:1-4, Psalm 87:1-2, 5, Psalm 99:1-2, Psalm 132:13-14, Isaiah 2:2-3,
Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah, 31:4, Isaiah 33:5, Isaiah: 33:14, Isaiah 35:10, Isaiah 37:32, Isaiah
51:3, Isaiah 64:9-10: Joel 3:17, Obadiah 17, Obadiah 21, Zechariah 8:3, Hebrews 12:22, Revelation
14:1
x As cited in Josephus, Dissertation 3.5.11.
xi

As quoted in Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, 9.37.

xii Psalms mentioning water: Psalm 29:3, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 36:9, Psalm 42:7, Psalm 46:4, Psalm

68:26, Psalm 87:7, Psalm 93:l, 2-4, Psalm 104:3, Psalm 104:13. Additional scriptures mentioning
water coming forth from the temple: Ezekiel 47: 1, 2, 8; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 13:1; Revelation 21:2, 6;
22:1, 17.

xiii Eusebius cites an unknown author of the Metrical Survey of Syria, who claims there is in Jerusalem

a spring which spouts up an abundance of water (Preparation for the Gospel, 9.36).
xiv

Preparation for the Gospel, 9.37

xvIn

Special Laws I.XVII.93.

xvi In the 1906 online Jewish Encyclopedia, under Shiloah.


xvii Additional scriptures for Zion and Mount Zion: Psalm 48:9-13, Psalm 51:18, Psalm 76:2, Psalm

87:1-2, 5, Psalm 132:13-14, Isaiah 10:24, Isaiah: 33:14, Isaiah 35:10, Isaiah 37:32, Isaiah 51: 3, Isaiah
64:9-10, Psalm 2:6-7, Psalm 64:1-4, Psalm 74:2, Isaiah 2:2-3, Isaiah 10:32, Isaiah 33: 5, Joel 3:17,
Obadiah 17, Obadiah 21, Micah 3:12, Zechariah 8:3, Hebrews 12:22, Revelation 14:1.
xviii A discussion of Shilohs mid-slope wall may be found in Shiloh & Kaplan (1979), Digging in the

City of David. A discussion of Reich and Shukrons valley wall may be found in Excavating the City
of David where Jerusalems history began (2011).
Biblical passages mentioning the burial of the kings in the City of David are 1 Kings 2:10, 11:43,
14:31, 15:8, 2 Kings 8:24.
xix

Eusebius mentions the temple site being plowed as a Roman farm and a stone quarry in Proof of
the Gospel, 8.3. 405-406. In Commentary on Isaiah 64:11, Jerome refers to the temple site as a place
for refuse.
xx

xxi Benjamin Mazar remarked on the extensive Roman and Byzantine quarrying on the southeastern

hill (1975, p. 189) and Ronny Reich identified two dump site areas--the Gihon Spring and an area north
of it (Reich, 2011). Gibson and Jacobson (1996) wrote that During the course of the explorations of
the surface of the Haram [by C. W. Wilson and the Royal Engineers in 1864], there was growing
awareness that little, if anything, of the original walls of the Jewish Temple were ever going to be
found there (p. 4). Benjamin Mazar (1975) noted there was no accumulation of debris and stone
fragments resulting from destruction (p. 22) within a trench dug around the Dome of the Rock which
he inspected. He also noticed that under the alleged temple mount: Vast underground reservoirs,
passages, halls, and ancient structures seem to have survived in one form or another. (p. 22),
indicating minimal destruction occurred there.

xxii Theodosius (530 C.E.), Antoninus Martyr (the Piacenza Pilgrim--560-570 C.E.), and the

Breviarius of Jerusalem (late 5th or early 6th century C.E.) describe the Church of St. Sophia over the
large rock. Arnold von Harff (1496 C.E.) said the Al Aqsa Mosque was built over the ruins of the
Church of Our Blessed Lady. See article by Marilyn Sams entitled The Byzantine Presence on the
Temple Mount at Academia.edu, or for a fuller discussion, The Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth, by
Marilyn Sams.
xxiii The Bordeaux Pilgrim associated the temple ruins with a crypt and the pool of Siloam; Eucherius

noted the ruins were in the lower city, by the eastern wall of the city, at Mount Sion, near the fountain
of Siloam; Antoninus Martyr mentioned that in front of the ruins water ran down under the street down
to the Pool of Siloam; the Breviarius mentioned a crypt; Arculf referred to the city wall on the east. For
a fuller discussion, see The Byzantine Presence on the Temple Mount by Marilyn Sams or The
Jerusalem Temple Mount Myth by Marilyn Sams.
These two aerial bridges are mentioned in War VI, 2, 144 (the original Greek or the Thackeray or
Cornfeld translations must be consulted, as Whiston entirely suppresses the stade length of the
roadways); War V, 5, 243; Antiquities XX, 8, 11; War II, 12, 224, 226; War VI, 1, 81-91; War II, 15,
330; War II, 16, 403-404; War VI, 1, 74-80; War VI, 2, 131; War VI, 2, 164-167; War VI, 5, 311.
xxiv

xxv

Burchard quoted Jacques de Vitry, but his mention of Antonys Tower is his own insertion.

xxvi As quoted in Josephus, Dissertation 3.11 (Whiston version).

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