by S. J. Hodge
During their occupation, the Templars spent a great deal of time excavating beneath Temple Mount, and it is widely alleged that they found something of great significance there. While not conclusive, ideas about what this could have been range from lost religious texts to holy relics, variously claimed to have been: the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, a fragment of the Holy Lance or Holy Spear, the ‘True Cross’, secret information relating to lost building skills, and even legacies about Jesus. The hypotheses about what this could have been are fuelled by the many mystical stories that have emerged about Solomon himself.
Mystic, wise man, architect, king
The legendary lost temple built by King Solomon and from which the Templars derived their full name was the first permanent temple in the history of the Jews. Before it was built, the nomadic Jews worshipped in tents and tabernacles, which they carried with them as they travelled. Then King David, the second king of the Jews (after Saul) made Jerusalem the nation’s capital and determined to build a permanent house for God where everyone could pray. David had unified Israel and built up the military, the treasury and national pride. He conquered all surrounding enemies and established an extremely powerful empire. But because he had fought and killed so many in battle, God would not allow him to build the temple. In the First Book of Chronicles, David reports:
But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth.
1 CHRONICLES 22:8
Because of the foundations that David had laid down, his son and successor, Solomon, never had to fight a war, so God permitted him to follow his father’s instructions. In approximately 957 BCE, using the site David had selected, Solomon built the Temple. Originally built to house the Ark of the Covenant which contained the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments given by Moses to the Jews, the Temple of Solomon has always been especially revered by the Jewish people. Although it no longer remains, the legendary building has captured the collective imagination probably more than any other structure in the world.
But Solomon is a problem for historians. Apart from the Bible, the Qur’an and the Talmud (Jewish law, ethics, customs, philosophy and history), there is almost no mention of him or proof that he even existed. For centuries it was thought that he lived during the Iron Age. Yet archaeologists have not been able to find evidence of his life from that period and, crucially, nothing of his impressive building projects relating to that time. If, however, he lived during the Bronze Age, then substantiation could be more forthcoming as the remains of Phoenician-style architecture have been found in areas associated with his life. Several historians have worked out that he probably did exist and that his dates were c.961–922 BCE. There are so many legends about him that the stories have become intertwined and it is difficult to unravel authenticity from falsehood. For instance, the 17th-century textbook of magic The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon, which developed from medieval books about magic, suggests that Solomon was alive during the 10th century BCE, or the late Bronze Age. Although the author of The Goetia is anonymous, the text asserts that it was originally written by King Solomon, although this has been proved to be untrue. The book is essentially a manual that claims to give instructions for summoning 72 different spirits in particular, the spirits that Solomon is said to have evoked and confined in his bronze vessel. Respected figures such as Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) believed wholly in the notion of Solomon being a magician. What this means now is clearly not what it has meant to those living in past eras. Certain legends describe him as having a flying carpet that could travel so fast that it could get from Damascus to Medina within a day. Clearly some of these concepts are not to be taken literally, but it is possible that Solomon understood various things that many others of his time did not. According to the Talmud, Solomon understood the mysteries of the Qabbalah. He was also believed to be an alchemist and to understand the power of the spirit world. It was said that he could control demons and spirits. A Roman-Jewish historian, Titus Flavius Josephus (37–c.100 CE) wrote, in his Eighth Book of the Antiquities of the Jews (c.94) of the magical works ascribed to Solomon, for example:
Now so great was the prudence and wisdom which God granted Solomon that he surpassed the ancients, and even the Egyptians … He composed a thousand and five books of odes and songs, and three thousand books of parables and similitudes, for he spoke a parable about every kind of tree from the hyssop to the cedar … There was no form of nature with which he was not acquainted or which he passed over without examining, but he studied them all philosophically and revealed the most complete knowledge of their several properties. And God granted him knowledge of the art used against demons for the benefit and healing of men …
Solomon (pronounced Suleiman in the Qur’an) is legendary for several things, but most of all for his great wisdom. In both the Jewish Talmud and the Muslim Qur’an, he is an important prophet. Over his 40-year reign, he built on and consolidated his father’s achievements: expanding trade and political contacts, weakening tribal affiliations, building a powerful army and fleet, and engaging in an extensive building programme, which included, predominantly, his palace and Temple. Because he was such a powerful figure, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave Solomon his daughter as a bride (one of his many foreign wives, but clearly an important one).
Solomon is the hero of many tales, most of them based on his great wisdom and sound judgements, but some refer more specifically to his mystical powers. According to Manly P. Hall in his encyclopaedia of 1928, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, the name Solomon means ‘Light, Glory and Truth’. Hall writes that medieval alchemists were convinced that Solomon understood ‘the secret processes of Hermes by means of which is was possible to multiply metals’. This could be one of the factors that gave him the reputation of possessing great wisdom. In the Bible, after becoming King of Israel and Judah, Solomon has a dream in which God asks him if there is anything he desires. Instead of saying wealth, a powerful army or long life, as many rulers would have done, Solomon asked for wisdom. This pleased God who immediately granted his request, and to show his approval, also bestowed riches upon him. The Bible relates that Solomon’s wisdom was so great that people came from distant nations to hear his advice. The Queen of Sheba was possibly the most famous of these. It is recorded that she travelled with a train of attendants, carrying much wealth, from southwestern Arabia, to test this great wisdom.
The Judgement of Solomon, Peter Paul Rubens, c.1617, relays the story of Solomon’s sagacity when two prostitutes both claimed motherhood of one child. Solomon ordered the child to be cut in two so that the women could share it. When one woman gave up her half to save the child’s life, the real mother was revealed.
As well as possessing wisdom, the Bible says that Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. In the Qur’an, Suleiman is described as being in communion with nature and also with the spirit world. He commands the spirits or jinn (spirits of Arabian folklore) to build his temple. Both Jewish and Islamic histories record him as being a unique figure, possessing extraordinary powers and a personality that demonstrates fortitude and charisma. In several Qabbalistic legends he is portrayed as being both magical and mystical. For instance, the Seal of Solomon, a device he allegedly wore on a signet ring, is said to have come to him from heaven. Consisting of two overlapping triangles, one pointing up, the other pointing down, inside two concentric circles with the words ‘the most great God’ inscribed within, the seal has been credited with various qualities. The ring itself was purportedly made of brass and iron: the brass part enabled him to call upon good spirits, while the iron part allowed him to evoke bad spirits. This legend was especially developed by Arabic writers, who wrote that he also received four jewels from four different angels, and that he set them in his ring which enabled him to control the four elements of earth, wind, fire and water. In Islamic legends, the six-pointed star tha
t these two triangles made was used to symbolize Suleiman’s God-given powers, but once the Jews began using it as the Star of David, Muslims reverted to the five-pointed star.
Solomon’s genie
A Thousand and One Nights is a collection of ancient stories and folk tales written in Arabic, and often called The Arabian Nights after the first English translation in 1706. Collected over centuries by various writers and scholars, the tales can be traced back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian traditions. In one of the stories, a genie – or jinn – had angered King Solomon who had punished him by shutting him in a bottle and then throwing it into the sea. As the bottle was closed with Solomon’s seal, the genie could never free himself. Five centuries later, a poor fisherman found the bottle in his net and noticed the mark of King Solomon. He opened the bottle easily and the genie emerged, furious at having been trapped inside for so long. On seeing the fisherman, he angrily declared that he had made up his mind to kill whoever released him. Thinking quickly, the fisherman said he could not believe that such a large genie could fit into so small a bottle, to which the genie replied: ‘I’ll show you!’ As he disappeared back into the bottle, the fisherman quickly replaced the top and threw it back into the sea.
A late 19th-century illustration of the story of the fisherman and the genie, from A Thousand and One Nights.
Temple of Kings
Until David’s reign, the Jews had been nomadic people, with no tradition of building for permanence. Taking into account that Biblical numbers are often symbolic, the Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles records that Solomon employed an immense amount of labour over the seven and a half years it took to build the Temple. This included 30,000 Israelites divided into groups of 10,000 working in shifts, cutting wood in Lebanon, then transporting and building with it. He employed 80,000 more to quarry stone, and a further 70,000 to carry the stone to the site and construct the Temple. There were 3,300 supervisors overseeing the work. The completed building was described as a rectangular stone structure of three storeys, divided into three sections: the portico, the main sanctuary and the inner sanctuary, and measuring 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Although these measurements are no longer precisely understood, it is believed that this translates to approximately 30 metres (99 feet) long, 10 metres (33 feet) wide and 15 metres (49 feet) high. Further rooms were built around the outside walls of the Temple. Despite the simple structure, it was decorated inside and out with lavish opulence. The inner sanctuary, which was known as the Holy of Holies, housed the Ark of the Covenant. It was panelled with cedar of Lebanon, overlaid with gold and encrusted with jewels. It also contained two huge cherubim made of olive-wood, signifying the zodiac, each with outspread wings of 10 cubits span (approximately 5 metres or 16 feet), which touched the walls on either side and met in the centre of the room. A veil of blue, purple and crimson swathed the room, denoting the meeting of heaven and earth. On the altar was a golden candlestick with seven holders, corresponding to the sun, the moon and the five major planets. Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and even then only on certain days of the year.
This relief from the palace of King Sargon II in Khorsabad (now Dur Sharrukin, Iraq) shows boats transporting cedar wood, as Solomon’s workers did from Lebanon to Jerusalem.
In the porch were two huge pillars, made of copper, brass or bronze that were named Boaz (meaning ‘strength’) and Jachin (meaning ‘God establishes’). Their capitals were decorated with carved pomegranates (symbolizing the Jewish people, fruitfulness and hope), and lilies (the eternity of heaven). It is believed that the pillars were made and placed to mark the sun’s furthest risings at the solstices, and through their proportions, positions and ornamentation, they represented the spiritual, material and cosmic worlds. An even more astonishing feature is described in 1 Kings 7, and 2 Chronicles 4, as a large basin filled with a molten bronze (or brass) sea, and in the Qur’an as a ‘fountain of molten brass’ made specifically for the priests’ ablutions:
Then he made the cast sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely. Under its brim were panels all round it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were towards the inside. Its thickness was a hand-breadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.
1 KINGS 7:23–6
Illustration of the Temple of Solomon from the Historia Scholastica, c.1100–80, featuring numerous sacred symbols, including the seven-branched gold candelabra, the menorah; an olive branch, symbolising the fresh oil that was burned daily in the temple lamps; the shofar, a ram’s horn, blown during certain services; and the Torah, or written Jewish law.
Made in c.1075, this fresco of King Solomon is in the church of Sant’Angelo in Formis in Capua, Italy. The detailed patterning on his clothing indicates his significance, as Solomon remains an important figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Most of these spectacular features were produced by methods that were advanced for the time, including smelting, a practice closely associated with alchemy in the ancient mind, while the dyes used in the veil and other Temple fabrics were exceptionally rare. The Temple also allegedly contained thousands of ornately carved columns and pilasters made of pure white Parian marble, quarried on the Greek island of Paros. It was a wonder when it was built, and the impact of its magnificence did not seem to diminish over the centuries it stood. In another unique and advanced feat, every component of the entire Temple was pre-prepared before being transported to Jerusalem. Whether made of stone, wood or metal, every element was cut, shaped, constructed and numbered, and then taken to Temple Mount, where it was fitted into its correct place by means of wooden mauls. There was no loud hammering or sawing on the site as this incredible house of God was constructed. ‘The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built’ (1 Kings 6:7).
Magical dye
The dyes used on the veil in the Temple were red, blue and purple. The red was extracted from the blood of beetles and the blue and purple dyes were extracted from sea snails. This dye is believed to have originally been produced by the ancient Phoenicians (the Phoenicians were a race who lived at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and who became an important society between 900 and 700 BCE). The red, blue and purple dyes were highly valued and Tyrian purple in particular was prized as it did not fade but grew more intense over time, even if exposed to sunlight. Extracted from the glands of particular sea snails that are found in the eastern Mediterranean, it was extremely costly to produce. This meant that few ‘ordinary’ people had seen such colours on fabrics, so when they were used in Solomon’s Temple they were talked about with wonder, as if they were substances acquired by magic or from God.
Hiram Abiff
According to Masonic legend, as there were no architects in Judea, Solomon employed a man called Hiram Abiff from Tyre as his chief architect. Yet the name Hiram Abiff is not found in the Scriptures. In Freemasonry, however, in the section of the master mason’s ritual called The Legend of the Third Degree, three central characters are connected with the building of Solomon’s Temple. They are: King Solomon, King Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abiff. King Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre are mentioned many times in the Old Testament. As Egypt had lessened in importance, Tyre, an ancient city on the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon, had gained strength and independence. It had increased its trading fleet and established commercial colonies in Sicily and North Africa. In exchange for wheat and oil, King Hiram provided Solomon with cedar wood and craftsmen to panel the interior and exterior of his Temple with wood and gold. Perhaps he also provided Hiram Abiff. Wit
h no clear mention of him in the Bible, the closest references seem to be in the Second Book of Chronicles and the First Book of Kings:
I have dispatched Huram-Abi, a skilled artisan endowed with understanding, the son of one of the Danite women, his father a Tyrian. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone and wood, and in purple, blue and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your artisans.
2 CHRONICLES 2:13–14
Hiram is also introduced in the First Book of Kings:
Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.
1 KINGS 7:13–14
Huram (in the Second Book of Chronicles) is a variant of Hiram and it can be seen how, through various translations, Freemasonry could have ended up with the name Hiram Abi-ff, also sometimes spelled Abif or even Chiram Abiff. The two passages above describe Huram-Abi or Hiram as an exceptionally accomplished workman and artisan. Someone of his ability would not usually be an architect as well, but it would be possible. He may have been one of the 3,300 supervisors on Solomon’s Temple, or he may possibly have indeed been the chief architect. Although magnificently ornamented, the dimensions and layout of the building were not complex, so it might be that this one extremely proficient worker oversaw the architecture as well as the decoration. There was a far greater tradition of building in Tyre than in Jerusalem and there were many similarities between the Temple of Melqart in Tyre and Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. It seems that Melqart’s Temple was possibly used as a prototype for Solomon’s Temple and it is feasible that Hiram of Tyre could have worked substantially on the Temple of Melqart before working in Jerusalem for Solomon.
