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Jerusalem - Ancient Quarry Used to Build Second Bais Hamikdash Uncovered |
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Jerusalem - A 2,000-year-old stone quarry, likely used by Herod the Great to build the Second Temple, was uncovered in a Jerusalem neighborhood outside the walled Old City, the Israel Antiquities Authority said today.
“The dimensions of the stones that were produced in the quarry that was revealed are suitable for the Temple walls,” Ofer Sion, excavation director, said in an e-mailed statement. He said the quarry was a section of a series spread across a slope.
“Today, with the exposure of this quarry, the intensity of the building projects as described in the historical sources can be proven: Flavius Josephus wrote that before Herod built the Temple he prepared infrastructure for it by quarrying the stones for eight whole years,” Sion said. Josephus was a Jewish historian born in 37 A.D.
The Second Temple, built by Herod, king of Judea from 37 to 4 B.C.E., was destroyed in 70 A.D. The last remaining part of the structure, the Western Wall, is Judaism’s holiest site.
Sion said the quarry find showed that “Herod began quarrying closest to the Temple and worked away from it.”
Among artifacts discovered at the excavation site were metal plates used to sever stones from the bedrock and coins and shards dating back to the end of the Second Temple period, the Antiquities Authority statement said.
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Read Comments (7) — Post Yours »
1
Jul 06, 2009 at 08:42 AM Anonymous Says:
Herod (Hurdus) did not build the second temple, however he repaired and enlarged it.
2
Jul 06, 2009 at 08:41 AM Dovid Says:
So let's use these stones and build the third Bais Hamikdosh now!
3
Jul 06, 2009 at 08:55 AM actions Says:
“ So let's use these stones and build the third Bais Hamikdosh now! ”
Easier said then done. It will be build through our actions and mitzvahs.
4
Jul 06, 2009 at 09:13 AM Anonymous Says:
To #1
Herod dismantled the old Beis Hamikdash and rebuilt it.
5
Jul 06, 2009 at 11:09 AM Anonymous Says:
Metal was not allowed, not even to cut the stones.......
6
Jul 06, 2009 at 12:08 PM Anonymous Says:
The stones for the walls, that were cut and shaped off-site, were allowed to be done with metal tools. No metal tools were allowed on the actual site of the Beis Hamikdash. Also the stones of the Mizbeach were not allowed to be touched with metal at all.
7
Jul 06, 2009 at 04:44 PM Askupeh Says:
“ So let's use these stones and build the third Bais Hamikdosh now! ”
Didn't need to dismantle it to rebuild it or renovate it. The Gemora calls it nevertheless "Binyan Hurdus".