Editing Temple Mount (section)

=== Israelite period ===
{{Main|First Temple}}

According to archeologists, the Temple Mount served as the center of the religious life of biblical Jerusalem as well as the royal acropolis of the [[Kingdom of Judah]].<ref name=":2">David Ussishkin (2003). The Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the First Temple Period: An Archaeologist's View. In: A.G. Vaughn and A.E. Killebrew (eds.), ''Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology; The First Temple Period'', Atlanta, Georgia, 2003, pp. 103–15.</ref> The [[Solomon's Temple|First Temple]] is believed to have once been a part of a much larger royal complex.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last1=Patrich |first1=Joseph |last2=Edelcopp |first2=Marcos |date=2013 |title=Four Stages in the Evolution of the Temple Mount |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44092217 |journal=Revue Biblique (1946–) |volume=120 |issue=3 |pages=321–61 |issn=0035-0907 |jstor=44092217}}</ref> The Bible also mentions several other buildings constructed by Solomon at the site, including the royal palace, the "House of the Lebanon Forest", the "Hall of Pillars", the "Hall of Throne" and the "House of Pharaoh's Daughter".<ref name=":20" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rocca |first=Samuel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/368020822 |title=The fortifications of ancient Israel and Judah, 1200–586 BC |date=2010 |publisher=Osprey |others=Adam Hook |isbn=978-1-84603-508-1 |location=Oxford, England |pages=28–29 |language=en-uk |oclc=368020822 |quote=Solomon built a palace, and his famous temple on Mount Moriah, which came to be known as the Temple Mount. The Temple was a rectangular-shaped structure, divided into three parts: the Ulam, the Hechal and the Gvir. Two pillars in bronze stood in front of the Temple. Together with the Temple, Solomon erected a palace, described in Kings 7: 1–11. The palace included various halls, the 'House of the Forest of Lebanon', the 'Hall of Pillars', the 'Hall of the Throne', 'his own House', for dwelling, and 'the other court', and was probably inspired by contemporary Cypro-Phoenician architecture.}}</ref> Some scholars believe that, in accordance with biblical accounts, the royal and religious compound on the Temple Mount was built by Solomon during the 10th century BCE as a separate entity, which was later incorporated into the city.<ref name=":2" />&nbsp;Knauf argued that the Temple Mount already served as the cultic and governmental center of Jerusalem as early as in the [[Late Bronze Age]].<ref>Ernst Axel Knauf, “Jerusalem in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages: A Proposal,” TA 27 (2000): 75–90.</ref> Alternatively, Na'aman suggested that Solomon built the Temple on a much smaller scale than the one described in the Bible, which was enlarged or rebuilt during the 8th century BCE.<ref>Na'aman, “Contribution of the Amarna Letters,” p. 23.</ref> In 2014, [[Israel Finkelstein|Finkelstein]], Koch and [[Oded Lipschits|Lipschits]] proposed that the [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] of ancient Jerusalem lies beneath the modern-day compound, rather than the nearby archeological site known as the [[City of David (archaeological site)|City of David]], as mainstream archaeology believes;<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Israel |last2=Koch |first2=Ido |last3=Lipschits |first3=Oded |date=2011-08-22 |title=The Mound on the Mount: A Possible Solution to the Problem with Jerusalem |journal=The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures |volume=11 |doi=10.5508/jhs.2011.v11.a12 |issn=1203-1542|doi-access=free }}</ref> however, this proposal was rejected by other scholars of the subject.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Geva |first1=Hillel |last2=De Groot |first2=Alon |date=2017 |title=The City of David Is Not on the Temple Mount After All |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44474016 |journal=Israel Exploration Journal |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=32–49 |jstor=44474016 |issn=0021-2059}}</ref>
[[File:Imer_bulla.JPG|thumb|The Immer Bulla (7th–6th century BCE), written in the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Paleo-Hebrew script]], was discovered during the [[Temple Mount Sifting Project]]. It bears the name [[Pashhur|Immer]], recorded in the Bible as the name of a major office holder in Solomon's Temple.]]
All scholars agree that the Iron Age Temple Mount was smaller than the Herodian compound still visible today. Some scholars, such as [[Kathleen Kenyon|Kenyon]] and [[Leen Ritmeyer|Ritmeyer]], argued that the walls of the First Temple compound extended eastward as far as the [[Eastern Wall]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6" /> Ritmeyer identifies specific courses of visible [[ashlars]] located to the north and south of the [[Golden Gate (Jerusalem)|Golden Gate]] as Judean Iron Age in style, dating them to the construction of this wall by [[Hezekiah]]. More such stones are supposed to survive underground.<ref name="RitmeyerMount">Leen Ritmeyer, Kathleen Ritmeyer, ''Jerusalem; The Temple Mount,'' Carta, Jerusalem, 2015, {{ISBN|978-965-220-855-2}}.</ref><ref name="ShanksHouse">{{Cite book |last=Shanks |first=Hershel |title=Jerusalem, an Archaeological Biography |publisher=Random House |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-679-44526-5 |pages=47–65}}</ref> Ritmeyer has also suggested that one of the steps leading to the Dome of the Rock is actually the top of a remaining stone course of the western wall of the Iron Age compound.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gershom |first=Gorenberg |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/893162043 |title=The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount |date=2014 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-7432-1621-0 |page=78 |oclc=893162043 |quote=To locate the Temple, Ritmeyer used Mazar’s work, and the explorations of Captain Warren, and more evidence he found himself. A key clue: On the northwest corner of the platform where the Dome of the Rock stands, there’s a set of stairs. The stairs are at an odd angle to the platform{{snd}}because the bottom step, Ritmeyer discovered, is really a building stone marking a pre-Herodian wall. The wall, he found, was precisely parallel to the eastern wall of the Mount, and by one standard measure of a cubit, the two walls are five hundred cubits apart. Ritmeyer was beginning to map out the original Temple Mount, from before the time of Herod. Another clue: In the eastern wall, Warren had found just the slightest bend, marking the point where the wall once ended. That was the southeastern corner of the original Mount.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ritmeyer |first=Leen |date= 24 August 2015|title=Locating the Original Temple Mount |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/18/2/1 |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |publication-date=1992 |volume=18 |issue=2 |quote=Accordingly, the ashlar in this step/wall gave a strong impression of being pre-Herodian. It looked very much like the lowest masonry in the central section of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, near the Golden Gate. I therefore proposed that this step was actually a section of a wall{{snd}}part of the western wall of the pre-Herodian, perhaps First Temple-period, Temple Mount.}}</ref>
[[File:שרידים_מבית_המקדש_בהר_הבית.jpg|thumb|Remains of a wall in the northwest part of the elevated platform; [[Leen Ritmeyer|Ritmeyer]] suggested that it is the top of a remaining stone course of the western wall of the Iron Age compound.]]
The First Temple [[Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)|was destroyed in 587/586 BCE]] by the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]] under [[Nebuchadnezzar II]].