According to pottery finds at the Temple Mount
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif and the Al Aqsa Compound is a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem that for thousands of years has been venerated as a holy site, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike.
Full Answer
Where is the Temple Mount located today?
Today the Temple Mount, a walled compound within the Old City of Jerusalem, is the site of two magnificent structures: the Dome of the Rock to the north and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the south.
Why is the Temple Mount so important to Jews?
To the Jews the Temple Mount is the holiest place on Earth, the place where God manifested himself to King David and where two Jewish temples - Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple - were located. ^ Marshall J., Breger; Ahimeir, Ora (2002).
What happened to the Temple Mount?
In October 1986, an agreement between the Temple Mount Faithful, the Supreme Muslim Council and police, which would allow short visits in small groups, was exercised once and never repeated, after 2,000 Muslims armed with stones and bottles attacked the group and stoned worshipers at the Western Wall.
Was Israel considering altering status-quo at the Temple Mount?
Palestinian leaders spread false rumors in late 2015 that Israeli authorities were considering altering the status-quo at the Temple Mount and allowing Jews to pray in the mosques, which stoked the flames of violence. Palestinian Muslim protestors and Israeli police clashed on the Temple Mount during the weekend of September 12, 2015.
Who does Temple Mount belong to?
IsraelThe site, along with the whole of East Jerusalem (which includes the Old City), was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967, and has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967.
What is the Temple Mount and why is it significant?
The Temple Mount is believed by Jews to be the site of two biblical temples. It is Judaism's holiest site, but Jews are not allowed to pray there. It is located above the Western Wall, part of an old temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray.
Who controls access to the Temple Mount?
Following Israel's capture of the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six Day War, the government handed day-to-day control of the area to the Muslim Waqf religious authorities, overseen by the Jordanian government. Israel retains security control of the area.
Why is the Temple Mount a source of argument?
The Temple Mount has been a source of contention since before the founding of the modern state of Israel. Due to religious reasons, Jews and Muslims cannot agree on who would get to control the site.
Who owns the Dome of the Rock?
the Ministry of AwqafThe Dome is maintained by the Ministry of Awqaf in Amman, Jordan. Until the mid-20th century, non-Muslims were not permitted in the area.
What is the rock under the Dome of the Rock?
'The Noble Stone') is the rock at the center of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is also known as the Pierced Stone because it has a small hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock, known as the Well of Souls.
What is buried under the Temple Mount?
According to Jewish tradition, the stone is the “navel of the Earth”—the place where creation began, and the site where Abraham was poised to sacrifice Isaac. For Muslims, the stone marks the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the Divine Presence.
When did Muslims take over Temple Mount?
Early Muslim period The Islamization of the Temple Mount climaxed at the end of the seventh century, with the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the early 690s when Abd al-Malik was developing his program of Islamization. It was built over the Foundation Stone, the site of the historic Jewish Temple.
Is the Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock the same?
Temple Mount is one of the most important religious sites in the world. Located on Temple Mount is the Dome of the Rock, one of the most recognizable structures in Jerusalem. The golden dome of Dome of the Rock is seen from the Western Wall, Mount of Olives, Tower of David, and many of Jerusalem's city streets.
What is the significance of the temple?
The temple was a sacred place to the ancient Israelites. There, Israel's priestly representatives entered into God's presence on behalf of the people to offer sacrifices and be in the presence of Yahweh. The temple attracted Israelite pilgrims for centuries and was a cornerstone of their covenant relationship with God.
Why is the Temple Mount important to the three major religions?
Temple Mount is said to be the holiest place in Judaism. This is the area that Jews refer to as the sacrificial site of Abraham's son Isaac.
How many times was the Temple in Jerusalem destroyed and rebuilt?
Terminology. Although the Temple is referred to as a single institution here, it is important to note that the Jerusalem Temple was rebuilt at least three times in antiquity.
Why is the Temple Mount significant to Christians?
Significance of the Temple Mount in Christianity The Temple Mount holds significance for Christians as the place where Jesus issued his challenge against the Temple authorities, an act which can be seen as leading directly to his arrest and crucifixion.
What did Jesus do at the Temple Mount?
Significance of the Temple Mount in Christianity According to the gospel of Mark, Jesus performed a “cleansing” of the Temple, whereby he chased away the merchants and moneychangers in the Temple's vicinity. The Temple Mount also holds significance for Christians as the place where Jesus attended festivals as a child.
What is the significance of the temple?
The temple was a sacred place to the ancient Israelites. There, Israel's priestly representatives entered into God's presence on behalf of the people to offer sacrifices and be in the presence of Yahweh. The temple attracted Israelite pilgrims for centuries and was a cornerstone of their covenant relationship with God.
Why is the Temple Mount important to the three major religions?
Temple Mount is said to be the holiest place in Judaism. This is the area that Jews refer to as the sacrificial site of Abraham's son Isaac.
Who cleared the Temple Mount?
Following the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in May 638, which Jews supported, Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab ordered the clearing of the site and the building of a house of prayer. The Temple Mount was again opened to Jewish worshippers.
How big is the Temple Mount?
The dimensions of the Temple Mount extend considerably beyond those given in the Mishnah (Mid. 2:1), which describes a square of approximately 250 × 250 m., referring only to the sanctified area within the Temple Mount as known today.
Why was the Dome of the Rock built?
In 680, the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock to enshrine the outcrop of bedrock believed to be the place of the sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Nadav Shragai quotes Professor Dan Bahat who found “‘it was the Jewish elders who showed the Muslims the boundaries of the Foundation Stone,’ which was covered with garbage and sewage – boundaries from which the Muslims derived the dimensions of the Dome of the Rock, which was built above the ancient Rock.”
How many cisterns are there in the Temple Mount?
Underneath the present-day surface, in the artificial parts of the mount, there are 34 cisterns. There are also other substructures, the largest of which is known as Solomon’s stables.
What are the deep valleys in the Temple Mount?
Deep valleys (now partly filled by debris) run outside the walls (northeast, east, south, west), thus separating the Temple Mount from and elevating it above its surroundings, both inside and outside the city.
What was the purpose of the gaps between the walls and the mount?
The gaps between the walls and the mount were filled in to create a large surface area around the Temple. Its eastern wall and the eastern half of its southern wall form part of the city wall on those sides.
When was the Temple of Herod completed?
King Herod began remodeling the building in 19 BCE, but it was not completed until 63 CE , long after his death at the beginning of the century. In reaction to the “ Great Revolt ” in 70 CE, the temple was destroyed by the Romans and deliberately left in ruins.
Where is the Temple Mount?
Today the Temple Mount, a walled compound within the Old City of Jerusalem, is the site of two magnificent structures: the Dome of the Rock to the north and the Al-Aqsa Mosque to the south. In the southwest stands the Western Wall—a remnant of the Second Temple and the holiest site in Judaism.
What is the name of the temple where Muhammad climbed the Divine Presence?
Among Muslims, the Temple Mount is called Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary). They believe it was here that the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the “Divine Presence” on the back of a winged horse—the Miraculous Night Journey, commemorated by one of Islam’s architectural triumphs, the Dome of the Rock shrine.
Why did the Byzantines not build the Golden Gate?
The Byzantines, scholars say, saw the destruction of the Second Temple as vindication of Jesus’ prophecy that “not one stone shall be left here upon another” and as a symbol of Judaism’s downfall. But other historians counter that the eastern entrance to the Mount, where the Golden Gate was built, was important to the Byzantines because their interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew holds that Jesus entered the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives to the east when he joined his disciples for the Passover meal. And in A.D. 614, when the Persian Empire conquered and briefly ruled Jerusalem, they took back to Persia parts of the True Cross (believed to be the cross of the Crucifixion) from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Fifteen years later, after defeating the Persians, Heraclius, a Byzantine emperor, is said to have brought the True Cross back to the holy city—passing from the Mount of Olives to the Temple Mount, and then to the Holy Sepulchre. “Thus you had two triumphant entrances: Jesus and Heraclius,” says Meiron. “That’s enough to explain why the Byzantines would invest in building that gate.”
Who urged Barkay to do something about the artifacts?
Zweig urged Barkay to do something about the artifacts. In 2004, Barkay got permission to search the soil dumped in the Kidron Valley. He and Zweig hired trucks to cart it from there to Emek Tzurim National Park at the foot of Mount Scopus, collected donations to support the project and recruited people to undertake the sifting. The Temple Mount Sifting Project, as it is sometimes called, marks the first time archaeologists have systematically studied material removed from beneath the sacred compound.
What do non-Muslims use to enter the Temple?
Non-Muslims use a wood ramp to enter the complex, home to the gilded Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine, and the Western Wall, holy to Jews. (Polaris) My stint as an amateur archaeologist began one morning on the southern slope of Mount Scopus, a hill on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem.
Where are Solomon's stables?
Some 300 feet from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the southeast corner of the compound, a wide plaza leads to underground vaulted archways that have been known for centuries as Solomon’s Stables—probably because the Templars, an order of knights, are said to have kept their horses there when the Crusaders occupied Jerusalem.
Who was the chief archaeologist of the Waqf?
Yusuf Natsheh, the Waqf’s chief archaeologist, was not present during the operation. But he told the Jerusalem Post that archaeological colleagues had examined the excavated material and had found nothing of significance. The Israelis, he told me, were “exaggerating” the value of the found artifacts. And he bristled at the suggestion the Waqf sought to destroy Jewish history. “Every stone is a Muslim development,” he says. “If anything was destroyed, it was Muslim heritage.”
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Religion
- In Muslim tradition, the place is also identified as the furthermost sanctuary (Arabic, masjid al-aksa) from which the Prophet Mohammed, accompanied by the Angel Gabriel, made the Night Journey to the Throne of God (The Koran, Sura Al-Isra 17:1).
Legacy
- Some 50 years later, the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock to enshrine the outcrop of bedrock believed to be the place of the sacrifice on Mount Moriah. He (or his son, the Caliph al-Walid I) also built in 1033 the large mosque at the southern end of the Haram, which came to be called al-Aqsa after the Koranic name attributed to the entire area.
Background
- During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, Jordan retained control over Jerusalem's Old City and the Temple Mount and subsequently refused entry to the area to any Jewish person. During the 1967 Six-Day War, the Israeli Defense Forces captured Jerusalem and liberated the Temple Mount, reclaiming Jewish control over the area for the first time since the destruction of the Sec…
Controversy
- For Jews, visiting the Temple Mount is a very controversial subject- both in terms of religious allowance and because non-Muslim prayer is prohibited at the site. Although freedom of access to the site is enshrined as law, Israel does not allow non-Muslim prayer on the Mount so as not to offend Muslim worshippers. Beyond this, many rabbi's say that since the Jewish Temple's Holy o…
Access
- Arabs can enter the Temple Mount through one of ten different Muslim-only gates from various sites in the Old City. Tourists and Jews are only allowed access to the site through the Mugrabi Gate which is located just above to the left of the Kotel, or Western Wall plaza.
Security
- Because of the sensitivity of the Temple Mount, Israelis enforce strict security measures for Jews and Muslims alike. For instance, during Friday prayers, any Muslim under the age of 45 is prohibited from ascending the mount; a rule put in place in response to young demonstrators throwing stones at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall. Additionally, no Jewish groups can p…
Archaeology
- The Temple Mount sifting project began in 2004, with the goal of unearthing the hidden history of one of the holiest places in the world. Since it's inception over 170,000 tourists and locals have participated in the project, sifting through mounds of rubble and dirt in attempts to find ancient coins and other items. Archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay oversees the excavation, and claims tha…
Activities
- In early 2015, Palestinian women began to protect the al-Aqsa Mosque from Jews, with one woman stating that everybody must protect Al Aqsa so the Jews dont take it. They have their eyes on it. The dean of Islamic studies at Al-Quds University, Mustafa Abu Sway, stated that there is no similar situation in Islamic history where women had taken such an active role in the gaurding o…
Incidents
- A large group of masked Palestinian protestors attacked Israeli security forces at the Temple Mount with rocks, molotov cocktails, homemade explosives, firecrackers, and peices of wood during the weekend of July 25, 2015. The protestors brought these dangerous items with them to the al-Aqsa Mosque, with the intention of using them to attack Israelis who had gathered at the …
Aftermath
- Fatah subsequently incited violent protests and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced he was cancelling all cooperative activities with Israel until the detectors were removed. Meanwhile, the Waqf called for worshippers to avoid the Temple Mount if the security measures remained in place.
Architecture
- The Dome of the Rock (Arabic, Qubbat al-Sakhra) is one of the most recognizable architectural glories of the world. The design of the building is basically Byzantine - double octagonal ambulatories encircling the Holy Rock. A shrine and not a mosque, it is the third holiest place in Islam after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophets Mosque in Medina. The Dome of the Rock is a…
Location
- The shrine stands on or near the approximate site of the Jewish Temple (though scholars disagree whether it was the Holy of Holies or the Altar that stood on the site of the rock). It has even been suggested that the Temple building stood 80 meters further north, on the site of the small 16th-century Qubbat al-Arwah (Arabic, Dome of the Winds or Spirits) on an east-west axis …
Landmarks
- The al-Aqsa Mosque, at the south end of the Temple Mount platform, was last rebuilt in 1035 and has since undergone several restorations - most recently in 1938-42; and again beginning in 1969 to repair extensive damage from a fire deliberately set by a deranged Christian tourist.
Early history
- During the Mamluk and Ottoman periods and until the mid-19th century, non-Muslims were not permitted onto the Haram. The first known exception was made by order of the Ottoman Sultan in 1862, during the visit of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII.
Other sources
- Lazar Berman, Rioters hole up in mosque amid fierce Temple Mount melee, Times of Israel, (October 8, 2014);