Solomon's Temple Location Theories

    The First Temple of Jerusalem (also known as Solomon's Temple) was a temple believed to have existed in the era of the Davidic monarchy, before the civil war that split Israel and Judah into two. As spelled out in the historical account delivered by Karen Armstrong in One City, Three Faiths, after receiving instructions from a visiting angel to build a temple for Yahweh to house the Ark of the Covenant, he "collected the materials" and "passed on these divine instructions", revealed to him in "minute detail", to his son, Solomon (Armstrong 44). 

    Under Solomon's reign, this temple was supposedly constructed, and though no archeological evidence has survived and "our knowledge of the Temple ... is derived entirely from the biblical writers" (Armstrong 48), it is widely believed this temple did exist regardless because of evidence of similarly ambitious structures in the area at the time. However, it did bring the question to mind of where in Jerusalem, if anywhere, this temple may have been constructed. One article I found written by Lambert Dolphin and Michael Kollen examines several different potential theories about the First Temple's location and reasons why it remains up for debate to this day, which I will summarize here.

These four locations include:

  

1. A site 330 feet to the north of Dome of the Rock, pinpointed by research by Dr. Asher Kaufman. Association and proximity to a smaller Islamic shrine whose names suggest Jewish association ("Dome of the Tablets", "Dome of the Spirits") are part of what led Kaufman to this conclusion (Dolphin, Kollen).

2. The "traditional" theory - that it lay directly beneath or very near the Dome of the Rock; several older historical accounts claim the Dome of the Rock was built by Muslims to "overlay" the original temple site. Some more recent researchers still support this view (Dolphin, Kollen).

3. The third view, the "Southern Conjecture", highlighted by Tuvia Sagiv, proposes that the previously-mentioned views had several problems and highlights a potential alternative location. This view posits that historical evidence points towards the idea that other structures, such as the Antonia Fortress and a Roman Temple to Jupiter, were more likely to precede the Dome of the Rock, and that the proposed temple would not have lined up well with the location of waterways such as the Ancient North Moat and the Jerusalem Water Aqueduct (Dolphin, Kollen).

This is referred to as a "conjecture" because Sagiv used this disproval to highlight his own proposal, that the temple instead lay under the group of trees between the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque:

4. The final theory listed, proposed by Norma Robertson, expands on the Southern Conjecture and proposes that the temple was built "beyond the south wall of Temple Mount", where the Herodian southern court was later built. Robertson cites archeological evidence such as the find of the Acra fortress nearby and an archeological dig of Solomon's city wall, gate, and royal area. This theory proposes that the Herodian southern court was built over where the temple was, similar to the theories that Muslims built the Dome of the Rock over the temple (Dolphin, Kollen). 

While all of these theories bring a unique perspective, there remains a lack of true archeological evidence pinpointing the First Temple at one particular spot. As such, it remains a fascinating topic in which to explore the different potential possibilities.

Dolphin, L., & Kollen, M. (2018, August 24). On the location of the first and second temples in Jerusalem. Four Temple Location Theories by Lambert Dolphin. https://www.templemount.org/theories.html