The City of David Is Not on the Temple Mount After All
In an article published in English by Lipschits, Finkelstein and Koch in 2011 (published in Hebrew in 2014), they made the revolutionary proposal that the ' tl' of ancient Jerusalem lies atop the summit of the eastern ridge, i.e. Mt. Moriah, within the area of the Herodian Temple Mount. Th...
| Published in: | Israel exploration journal |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Soc.
2017
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| In: |
Israel exploration journal
Year: 2017, Volume: 67, Issue: 1, Pages: 32-49 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In an article published in English by Lipschits, Finkelstein and Koch in 2011 (published in Hebrew in 2014), they made the revolutionary proposal that the ' tl' of ancient Jerusalem lies atop the summit of the eastern ridge, i.e. Mt. Moriah, within the area of the Herodian Temple Mount. Their view relies upon their perception of a scarcity of finds from the City of David dated to the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age I, Iron Age IIA, Persian and Early Hellenistic periods. Accordingly, they believe that during the periods in question the city was located on the high part of the eastern ridge, that is, on Mt. Moriah — the Temple Mount, while in the City of David activity centred on the spring. This proposal runs counter to the prevailing view among researchers that the early city, the City of David, lay in the southern part of the eastern ridge next to the spring. No actual archaeological evidence from the area of the Temple Mount is presented to support their view. On the contrary, there is clear, published archaeological data from the City of David regarding the fortifications along the eastern side of the City of David, including a defensive network around the Gihon Spring erected during the Middle Bronze Age, which remained in use during subsequent periods. Furthermore, built remains and finds from the periods in question have recently been uncovered in the City of David and in the Ophel. The unique status of Jerusalem during those periods is also documented by historical sources, in particular the E1-Amarna Letters. At present, no archaeological evidence, direct or indirect, supports the proposal that ancient Jerusalem should be sought within the present-day Temple Mount. Such a proposal, as its authors admit, remains purely hypothetical. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Israel exploration journal
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