Herod the Great did not finish Temple Mount, archeologists say

Dec 5, 2011, 10:54 GMT

Jerusalem - Contrary to long-standing belief, Herod the Great did not finish the walls of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, Israeli archeologists have said.

For decades it had been thought the 1st century BCE biblical king had both started and completed the second Jewish Biblical Temple, including the walls holding up the artificial platform on which it stood. The platform's western retaining wall is the only surviving remnant of the Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Jews refer to it as either the Western or the Wailing Wall, and it is their holiest existing prayer site.

Muslims built the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque on the plateau after conquering the area in the 7th century. They believe it marks the spot where their prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Herod, known by many Christians for massacring the infants of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth, according to the New Testament, is thought to have died in 4 AD. But Israeli archeologists told a news conference in Jerusalem he could not have finished his best-known project, because they found artifacts under the Western Wall, dated to after his death.

The wall was built over a residential neighbourhood which was demolished to allow the temple's construction. Ronny Reich, a professor at Haifa University's archeology department, and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said that in recent excavations, they found a Jewish ritual bath which had stood in the way, so the ancient builders filled the bath with earth, covered it with three large flat stones, and built the wall on top.

Clay oil lamps common for the first century AD, and coins struck by Roman governor Valerius Gratus in 17/18 AD were found inside the sealed bath. That section of the Western Wall therefore must have been built after Herod's death in 4 AD, said Reich and Shukron.

The IAA called the find 'dramatic,' because it confirmed the words of the not-always reliable 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote 'it was only during the reign of King Agrippa II (Herod's great-grandson) that the work was finished.'

The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as Harem al-Sharif or Holy Sanctuary, is sacred to both Muslims and Jews and has been a flashpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Muslims have often protested against excavations in the area.