Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 04/08/2005 09:39, Read, James C wrote:

> ...
> 5) As the temple was completely destroyed by the babylonians and then later 
> rebuilt, there
> is no reliale way of archeologically establishing when the original temple 
> was built.
>  

It is unlikely that every trace was destroyed, rather than being built 
over. So there is in fact a good chance that some traces of the first 
Temple remain on the Temple Mount, built over by two later Jewish 
Temples, a Roman one, and the Islamic Dome of the Rock.

> 6) In fact, we cannot archeologically establish if there ever was a first 
> temple.
>  

The problem is more that no one will allow the archaeology to be done.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/