by S. J. Hodge
Yet scholars continue to debate the existence and importance of Hiram of Tyre. The main issue is not whether he existed, but whether he worked alone as master architect of the project, or whether he was simply one of several artisans. In his Discourse of 1737, Andrew Michael Ramsay (1686–1743), one of the first Freemasons, declared that Solomon recorded magical knowledge in a secret book which was later laid in the foundations of the Second Temple. In Masonic legend, three men kidnapped Hiram Abiff and threatened him with death if he did not disclose the secrets he held about the building of Solomon’s Temple. When Hiram refused to reveal his knowledge, his assailants murdered him. If they existed, were these the secrets contained in Solomon’s book? How did Solomon know Hiram’s secrets? Was the book explaining these secrets found by the Templars in the foundations under Temple Mount? Or did they discover the secrets in some other way?
As far as we know, Hiram Abiff’s secrets have never been revealed. And Solomon’s book, if it existed, has never come to light. But from descriptions of Solomon’s Temple, the secrets could have been lost methods of construction, order and ratio that originated from ancient Greek (Pythagorean) and ancient Jewish (Qabbalistic) systems of numbers and letters, as well as from various philosophies of other ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Brahmins. There were certainly multifaceted, mythical and mystical traditions built into the fabric of the Temple. As with most legends, many subsequent layers, theories and speculations have made uncovering the truth extremely difficult. Hiram Abiff might be significant or he might not. If the account of his attack and murder is true, the secrets he would not reveal might have been the smelting techniques used for the brass fountain, dyes and dyeing techniques, or other advanced methods of production that most masons knew nothing of. Comparisons with Hiram’s story and the Egyptian god Osiris can be drawn and links have been made connecting this legend with Jacques de Molay, the last Templar Grand Master, who died maintaining his innocence and refusing to divulge the Order’s secrets. Then again, the story of Hiram Abiff could be an allegory; an illustration of the power of secrecy and of honouring a commitment.
An impression of Solomon’s palace and Temple, made in Italy in the 20th century, by an unknown artist.
The Temple site
The Temple was only one of the major buildings that Solomon constructed on Temple Mount. Adjacent to it, over 13 years, he built a magnificent palace made predominantly of cedar of Lebanon. As well as his dwelling, the palace served as an armoury and treasury. He also built a judgement hall and a palace for the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh, one of the most important of his 700 wives. Nearly four centuries after Solomon had built the Temple, however, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed it, in August 586 BCE. A Second Temple was started in 520 BCE and later vastly enlarged by Herod (c.74–4 BCE), while he ruled the Jews on behalf of the Roman Empire. The location of this Second Temple was identified by those who ordered its construction, and by many since, as the site of the original Temple of Solomon. This Second Temple was destroyed during the First Jewish Revolt against the Romans, which broke out in 66 CE. When the Roman Emperor Titus finally crushed the insurrection four years later, the Second Temple was accidentally destroyed by fire. Over 600 years later, in 691 CE, the Sunni Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ordered a shrine to be built on the site, to honour Muhammad’s Night Journey to heaven. The shrine was called Qubbat Al-Sakhra, or the Dome of the Rock, while the Al-Aqsa mosque, which meant ‘The Furthest Mosque’ as it marked the furthest point from the place where Muhammad ascended to Paradise, was built next to it by 715. The site is the third holiest place in Sunni Islam. After two earthquakes destroyed the original Al-Aqsa mosque, in 1035 the Fatimid Caliph Ali az-Zahir built another, which was the one used by the Templars and which still stands today. Unlike the Dome of the Rock, which reflects the Byzantine architecture of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Al-Aqsa features many characteristics of Islamic architecture, including elaborate enamel-work decoration. The dome of the mosque was originally made of ribbed lead sheeting that glinted silver in the sun. (The lead from 691 remained, but by 1965 it had deteriorated, so it was replaced with a gold-coloured aluminium bronze alloy covering. After this rusted, in 1993, the covering of the roof was replaced with gold.)
In 1869, a year after the American author Mark Twain (1835–1910) had travelled to Jerusalem, he published a compilation of letters he had written called The Innocents Abroad. He believed that the mosque was made from the pieces left over from the First and Second Temples:
Everywhere about the Mosque of Omar are portions of pillars, curiously wrought altars, and fragments of elegantly carved marble – precious remains of Solomon’s Temple. These have been dug from all depths in the soil and rubbish of Mount Moriah, and the Muslims have always shown a disposition to preserve them with the utmost care.
At the end of the 11th century, 770 years before these observations, when the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem, they aimed to restore all the places featured in the Bible as holy sites. Along with the Holy Sepulchre, Temple Mount was the most important as the spot upon which the First and Second Temples were built. To demonstrate its importance to them, relatively early in their existence, an illustration of Solomon’s Temple was featured on the back of Templar Grand Masters’ official seals.
The official Knights Templar seal, showing Solomon’s Temple on the back.
Templar tunnels
Baldwin II was the first Crusader king to live in the Al-Aqsa mosque on Temple Mount, but because he had to spend so much time in Antioch, he neglected it. When the Templars moved in, little had been done to modernize it or simply to make it habitable. So after they had been assigned an area within it, they began restoring the building, constructing quarters suitable for their purpose. Over the 70 or so years of their occupation, they expanded the site, adding an apse, cloisters, a church, offices and living accommodation, as well as vaulted annexes to the east and west. They used the extensive vaults beneath the building as stabling for their horses and, although the Muslim dynasty of the Fatimids had cleared out these underground chambers when they occupied Jerusalem during the 10th and 11th centuries, the Templars undertook further investigations even deeper within the foundations.
Although the early existence of the Order is vague and William of Tyre recorded that there were only nine knights for some considerable time, in approximately 1170, a Jewish traveller, Benjamin of Tudela (1130–73), recorded that 300 knights lived in the Temple of Solomon ‘who issue therefrom everyday for military exercise’. Almost two decades later, the Muslim chronicler Imad ad-Din (1125–1201) wrote that after Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187, he ordered every trace of Templar building on Temple Mount to be removed.
In 1867, a team of British Royal Engineers, led by a Captain Wilson and Lieutenant Warren, investigated beneath the Al Aqsa mosque. They found a vertical shaft through solid rock, approximately 25 metres (80 feet) deep, reaching down to a system of tunnels that radiated out under the Dome of the Rock. In the tunnels, the investigators found various indications of Templar occupation, including the remains of a lance, part of a Templar sword, a spur and a small Templar cross. This discovery inspires more questions than it answers. As they built the tunnels so precisely, did the Templars have a purpose, or know what they were looking for? Were they given their quarters in the Al-Aqsa mosque with the express purpose of digging beneath it? Was the Order established purely for this, rather than their well-publicized undertaking of protecting pilgrims? For what other function could the tunnels have been built? And if they were seeking something, did they find it?
Archaeological investigations on Temple Mount
Over the last couple of centuries, although there have been some archaeological excavations at Temple Mount, most have been stopped or prevented. The expedition undertaken by the British Royal Engineers in 1867 was sponsored by Queen Victoria, and although it was restricted because of the religious sensitivities about the location, the men cleared the sit
e of the extensive filth, rubbish and debris that had accumulated over the years. They exposed ancient walls and several architectural surprises, but no mystical secrets. Since 1967, when Israel took over control of the Old City, some archaeological excavations have been organized by Israel and the Waqf, the Muslim authority in charge of the Al-Aqsa mosque. But there have been few of these and they have almost always been stopped early as they have sparked angry demonstrations by those who feel that the holiness of the site means that it should not be tampered with.
Relics
During the Middle Ages, relics became particularly important aspects of Christian worship. The physical remains of a holy person, their belongings or other objects closely linked to their lives were believed to have spiritual powers and were revered as a direct spiritual link or accession to God. Stimulated by the Christian belief in the afterlife and the resurrection, in the immortality of the soul, and in the role of saints interceding for humans in heaven, this worship of relics generated fierce controversies within the Church. Such worship gave rise to various feasts, shrines and pilgrimages. Buying, selling and even stealing bodies or parts of bodies became common. Relics were rarely verified as this would be almost impossible at that time, but it meant that there were often multiple versions of one object, such as several Holy Lances, for instance. Even worse, the stealing of relics from churches became a problem as monasteries and cathedrals sought to obtain the most highly prized objects. The most prestigious relics were those associated with Christ and the Virgin Mary, but because they had both ascended to heaven, this posed a problem as there were no human remains to claim. So the most valued relics soon included such things as the baby teeth of Jesus, a phial of his blood, the nails or wood from the Cross, the Virgin’s milk or remnants of her veil. Considered priceless, all relics were usually stored and displayed in highly crafted reliquaries that were invariably covered in gold, silver, enamel and semi-precious stones. Devout Christians could see and worship some of these relics for a fee, while others were sold by merchants to private individuals, usually at extortionate prices. Religious communities came to rely on the income they generated through charging the faithful to visit their relics. Meanwhile, ‘relic merchants’ often travelled along pilgrims’ routes, preying on those who were keen to do all they could to save their souls and charging them for the honour of praying in front of the relics they carried. Charlatans began robbing graves for human bones to sell as the relics of saints, and ‘relics’ brought back from the Crusades were especially revered. Although the veneration of relics was not directly called for by God or explicitly practised in the Bible, certain biblical passages were interpreted as indications that this was part of Christian belief, such as:
As a man was being buried, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha; as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he came to life and stood on his feet.
2 KINGS 13:21
Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.
MATTHEW 9:20–22
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
ACTS 19:11–12
In the early 12th century, it is highly likely that King Baldwin II, Patriarch Warmund, Hugh de Champagne and Bernard of Clairvaux would all have been interested in obtaining relics from Jerusalem and any of them may have briefed the Templars to search in the holiest sites for the most sacred relics they could find. It may be that well-educated men such as these had heard of possible locations or where certain relics or secrets could be found. So the Templars could have been specifically searching for lost religious texts, objects or bones, or targeting certain objects, following requests or orders from others.
Priceless rubble
A news story reported by various sources, including The Israel National News, tells of rubble from Temple Mount that is being investigated by archaeologists. Starting in November 1999, the Islamic Waqf conducted a construction project on Temple Mount, removing vast amounts of rubble, which they dumped in the Kidron Valley. Since 2004, Israeli archaeologists have been working on the rubble, sifting through it painstakingly to ascertain more about the history of Temple Mount. The many artefacts they have found there have included such things as: coins from the Jewish revolt against the Romans that resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple; pottery and a figurine from the period of the First Temple; ceramic oil lamps from the Second Temple period and a Crusader arrowhead. These, and the many other items that have been found so far, are beginning to establish a clearer picture about the history of the site, but they also tellingly demonstrate that there were many artefacts from all significant historical periods present when the Templars were living there.
The Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The Ark of the Covenant
One of the most legendary objects in history, the Ark of the Covenant has inspired perhaps more conjecture than any other biblical artefact. As soon as he had established the city’s safety for his people, King David took the Ark to Jerusalem. A wooden box overlaid with pure gold, large enough to contain the stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, the Ark had been passed down to him for safekeeping and was believed by many to have supernatural powers. Accounts abounded of it bringing victory in battle, bestowing blessings on the worthy, and sending plagues to enemies, although it was not usually seen as a kind of magical talisman, more as a revered – and somewhat feared – object that physically embodied God’s communion with Moses when he was leading the Israelites to their own land. As it represented this agreement made directly with God, the Ark of the Covenant is one of the most important objects in the Bible, yet its ultimate fate is unknown. For nearly four centuries, following the building of Solomon’s Temple, it is believed to have remained untouched in its inner sanctuary, even though it was worth a fortune with its covering of gold, and later kings of Israel experienced many troubled times and crises. It is not mentioned during the pillage and destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, but it is often assumed to have been destroyed at that time. The last time it is referred to in the Bible is in 2 Chronicles 35:1–4:
Josiah kept a passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; they slaughtered the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, ‘Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, King of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. Make preparations by your ancestral houses by your divisions, following the written directions of King David of Israel and the written directions of his son Solomon.
Forty years after this, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon captured Jerusalem and raided the Temple. He returned within ten years, took what was left in the Temple and then burnt the entire city. This prompts numerous questions. What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? Was it still there when Nebuchadnezzar came, or had it been removed previously by the Jews? If not, did Nebuchadnezzar take it, or even burn it? An account in the Second Book of Maccabees states that the prophet Jeremiah hid it in a cave before Nebuchadnezzar arrived, but Maccabees is only recognized as part of the authentic Bible by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, and not by Protestants or Jews. Yet the Maccabees story is not the only mention of this occurrence. The Mishnah, part of the Talmud, ancient Jewish oral traditions that descended from Moses and were written down by rabbis in about 220 CE (often called the ‘Oral Torah’), gives details about many of the Biblica
l people and places, from 536 BCE to the first century CE. The Mishnah does not claim to give new messages or laws but, rather, it presents further information about existing traditions. Like the Maccabees account, it mentions that Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant before the Babylonian attack. There is another more tangible reason that makes it unlikely that the Babylonians took the Ark, alongside the many other objects they took from the Temple – they wrote detailed lists of what they took, but made no mention of the Ark. According to some sources, King Josiah, one of the final kings of the First Temple period, learned of the imminent invasion of the Babylonians and hid the Ark. One account states that he dug a hole under the place they used for storing wood on Temple Mount and buried it there. Yet another account states that Solomon anticipated the eventual destruction of the Temple, and so had an underground chamber prepared in the rock directly below his Temple, and it was there that Josiah eventually hid the Ark.
From the workshop of Giovanni di Benedetto (1385–90), this illustration depicts the Holy Ark of the Covenant being carried to Jerusalem, followed by King David playing the stringed psaltery.
In 1952, an archaeologist found a copper scroll in a cave near Khirbet, Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. Accepted as one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Copper Scroll differs from the other scrolls which are written on parchment or papyrus. Between 1947 and 1956, thousands of fragments of biblical and early Jewish documents were discovered in 11 caves near Khirbet, and these proved to be extremely important in helping our understanding of the Bible and in illuminating the cultural and religious background that gave rise to both Judaism and Christianity. The Copper Scroll is written in Hebrew on copper mixed with a little tin and, unlike the other scrolls which are extra biblical documents, it features a list of locations at which various invaluable treasures are buried or hidden. Dating from c.50–100 CE, the list is an inventory of items that were taken from Solomon’s Temple before its destruction – valuables that have not been seen or accounted for since. Among other things, the Copper Scroll claims that the ‘Tabernacle of the Lord’ was hidden in a desolate valley – 40 stones deep under a hill on its east side. Through this, it is speculated that the Jewish sect who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls may have buried the Ark in the Jordanian desert before they were overpowered, or placed it in a carved-out secret chamber ‘40 stones’ under Temple Mount.
