The Jerusalem acropolis

Diagram 21: The Temple Mount Ridge. Satellite view of the Mount Moriah Ridge. Upon it, the fort-temple complex of Jerusalem can be clearly seen. Google Earth coordinates are: 35.5955 N, 36.0567 E. It is erroneously called the Qal’at Salah ed-Din and is situated 15 miles east of Lattakia in Syria.

Diagram 22 & 23 (above & below): The Temple Mount. Labeled diagram of the of the Mount Moriah complex. The satellite view of the complex on the previous page and the next (close up) may be studied using this diagram.

1. Temple 2. Fort Antonia 3. Original Jebusite tower 4. Needle column 5. Fosse (trench) that separates the Moriah ridge from the parent mount, which was called Bezetha. 6. Temple boundary wall 7. Herod’s  outer parameter wall 8. Mount Moriah Ridge. 9. Tyropoeon Valley 10. Mount Opel 11. Kidron Valley  12. Mount of Olives 13. Bezetha 14. Plinth of old temple? 15. Herod’s observation tower 16. New intrusive construction 17. Passageway from fort to temple 18. Solomon’s palace? 20. Praetorium?

Diagram 24: The Mount Moriah Complex. Aerial view. The Fort Antonia (2) is in the foreground, with original Jebusite tower (3) in the centre. The temple (1) is visible in the background. The needle top (4) and trench (5) too are visible.

Diagram 25: The Temple. The ruins of the temple of Jerusalem upon Mount Moriah. The (insert) should give an idea of its massive size. It is situated south of the fort complex on the ridge, and is on higher ground

Photograph 26: Inside view of Fort Antonia. The stones used in the original tower (left) are bigger than the rest of the construction. The once covered walkway can be seen to the right.

Photograph 30: The needle column.  It once supported a retractable walkway. 31. The massive trench: It separates Mount Moriah from the parent Bezetha Mount  

Table below lists the similarities between the Qalat Salah ed-Din (observable in the ruins) and Jerusalem citadel (as described in Ancient World Textual Sources).

Qal’at Salah ed-Din Complex	The Jerusalem Acropolis (The Mount Moriah Complex)
Qal’at Salah ed-Din complex sits atop a high mountain ridge in the Mountain ranges of Jabal an Nusayriyah	The temple-fort complex of Jerusalem was built on a high mountain ridge in the mountain ranges of the Amorites
A fortress whose walls meanders and enclose a considerable area of the ridges pinnacle surface is seen atop the ridge. The ruins of an imposing temple is seen in its midst of this fortress	Fort Antonia, as the fort of Jerusalem was called, walls meandered and encircled and enclosed a sizable area of the Mount Moriah pinnacle surface.  The temple of Solomon, of grand proportions was within this fort complex
On a clear day, the Mediterranean Sea, which is about 15 miles away, is visible from the Qal’at Salah ed-Din complex	According to Strabo, on a clear day, Jerusalem, which was atop a high ridge in the mountains, was visible from the heights near Iope, a harbor on the coast
Two valleys flank the said mountain ridge. Erosion marks signal that a seasonal river flowed by its sides	Two valleys, the Kidron on the east, and the Tyrepoan on the west flank the Mount Moriah ridge. A river, at times called the Gihon, supplied water to the citadel
Two higher mounts, one to the east and another to the west flanked the ridge upon which Salah ed-Din citadel is built. These two plus the mount ridge itself and the parent portion of the ridge, totaling four separate mounts, appeared to have formed the city proper connected to the Qal’at Salah ed-Din acropolis.	Jerusalem’s was a four mounts city. The Mount Moriah was at the centre, Mount Olives to its east, Mount Opel to the west. Bezetha, which was the parent portion of the Moriah ridge, was to the north. From the Mount of Olives, which was higher that Moriah, one could get an excellent view of or into the Temple
A deep trench (92.4 feet deep, 66 feet wide,  and 514.8 feet long) cut through living rock, separate the ridge from the rest of the mountain	According to Strabo, a trench (60 feet wide and 260 feet long) protected the Temple Mount complex on the north side. He mentions how Pompey had to ‘fill it up, throw ladders across it’ to attack the Fort Antonia
A lone 28 m high ‘needle’ column that supported an elevated pathway still stands in the center of the trench	No mention of a needle column found. However, fosse is mentioned, and Pompey threw ladders across suggesting that a removable pathway complete with needle column did exist
Whitish stones obtained from excavating the fosse have been used to build much of the fort	Strabo mentions that the stones obtained from the trench were used to build the towers on the parameter wall
The Salah ed-Din fort has square towers	The Fort Antonia had ‘square’ towers
One tower is built of larger stones earlier and is differently proportioned, suggesting an earlier construction	The Baris Tower was built earlier by John Hyrcanus or the Jebusites before him. The rest was built by King Herod at a later date
An awkwardly placed (not equidistant) eastern tower from which one can readily peer into the temple arena exists in this complex	A tower (eastern) close to the temple was built as an afterthought, for Herod to peer into the temple complex
Large cisterns with terracotta pipes lead down into the valley below. Erosion marks of a seasonal river are seen at the base of the temple mount	Large water cisterns were an integral part of the Mount Moriah complex. A water source by the temple was a perquisite
A temple ruin of imposing proportion that seems to be the central edifice of the complex is situated on slightly higher ground in the midst. The fort proper is north of the temple	The Solomon’s temple rebuilt by Herod clearly had immense proportions and was the central theme of the complex. It is documented to have been on higher ground and to the south of the Fort Antonia complex
Ruins exist further south of the temple compound upon the ridge	Solomon’s palace and meeting hall were built south of the temple compound