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Wailing at the wrong wall?
Popular Archaeology ^ | Sunday, November 15, 2015 | editors

Posted on 11/16/2015 12:39:48 PM PST by SunkenCiv

"Josephus described it [the fortress] as being "erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height" on a "great precipice," Sams quotes Josephus... With 60-foot walls, four towers (the southeast being 105 feet high), and smooth stones covering the slope on its east side, it dominated the temple to its south, ready to fend off the most formidable attacks."

Given this description, according to Sams, tucking Fortress Antonia north of the temple location in the Temple Mount area subscribed to by most scholars would have been impossible. It simply wouldn't fit.

Moreover, Sams cites the insufficiency or paucity of archaeological evidence for the traditional concept of the Fortress Antonia near the area at the northern periphery location of the Temple Mount, and points to the more abundant evidence unearthed in other locations nearer to the current, traditionally accepted temple location, suggesting that this supports the much larger Roman encampment concept consistent with the standard Roman fortress model of 1st century times...

Sam's arguments have been built on the foundations of research by earlier scholars, most notably that of Dr. Ernest L. Martin... also argued that Fortress Antonia actually encompassed the area traditionally ascribed to the Temple Mount and that the temple was more accurately located on the Ophel mound over the area of the Gihon Spring, in the old City of David to the immediate southeast of the traditional Temple Mount precinct...

In short, argues Sams, Fortress Antonia was much bigger than most scholars have previously thought, and the First and Second Temples, the center of Israelite and Judahite worship in biblical times, were built in the City of David on the Ophel above the Gihon Spring, the area where Jerusalem under King David and the United Monarchy of the biblical account had its beginnings.

(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: cityofdavid; godsgravesglyphs; israel; jerusalem; kotel; letshavejerusalem; templemount; wailingwall; westernwall
The proposed premise, depicted above by noted biblical illustrator Balage Balough, shows the massive Fortress Antonia looming over the Second Temple, placed over the Gihon Spring in the City of David. To the north of the Fortress is the Birket Israel, the former Struthion Pool. Courtesy Balage Balough and Bob Ellsworth

Courtesy Balage Balough and Bob Ellsworth

1 posted on 11/16/2015 12:39:48 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

The Wailing Wall is the last remnant of the Court of the Gentiles, not of the Temple proper.


2 posted on 11/16/2015 12:45:04 PM PST by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: SunkenCiv

Interesting, but conventional scholars and Jewish religious authorities and students all seem unimpressed by Marilyn Sams’ theory.


3 posted on 11/16/2015 12:48:16 PM PST by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: SunkenCiv

“Steven, nothing is higher than an architect.”
STEVEN: “I think I’d really like to be a city planner.”


4 posted on 11/16/2015 12:55:14 PM PST by bunkerhill7 ((("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione."))))))
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Temple Mount keyword:
5 posted on 11/16/2015 12:59:19 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

6 posted on 11/16/2015 12:59:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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7 posted on 11/16/2015 1:04:50 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: SunkenCiv

Squad! Back to the tucking fortress for KP!


8 posted on 11/16/2015 1:15:48 PM PST by DariusBane (Liberty and Risk. Flip sides of the same coin. So how much risk will YOU accept? Vive Deo et Vives)
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To: SunkenCiv

This illustration is a view from the Northeest? The the picture of the mount today is from the south?


9 posted on 11/16/2015 1:31:59 PM PST by the_daug
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To: DariusBane

LOL!


10 posted on 11/16/2015 4:11:14 PM PST by Redcitizen
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To: SunkenCiv
Was the Temple Mount Not the Site of Solomon's Temple?
11 posted on 11/16/2015 7:24:40 PM PST by Pelham (A refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
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To: SunkenCiv

Makes sense. Jesus said that not one stone would be left on another after all.


12 posted on 11/16/2015 7:27:45 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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