King Solomon's Mines Found

posted October 28, 2008 - 12:13pm

King Solomon's Mines Found

In a discovery straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, archaeologists believe they have uncovered one of the lost mines of King Solomon.

The vast copper mine lies in an arid valley in modern-day Jordan and was created in the 10th century BC - around the time Solomon is believed to have ruled over the ancient Hebrews.

The mines are enormous and would have generated a huge income for the king, who is famed for bringing extraordinary wealth and stability to the newly-united kingdom of Israel and Judah.

The announcement will today reopen the debate about how much of the Old Testament is myth and how much is history.

According to the Bible, Solomon was the third king of Israel. The son of King David, he was renowned for his wisdom, the size of his harem and the splendour of his kingdom.

Dr Levy said: 'We have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in the 10th and 9th centuries BC and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Bible narratives related to this period.

'We can't believe everything ancient writings tell us. But this research represents a confluence between the archaeological and scientific data and the Bible.'
(Daily Mail)

So, all that glitters is not gold - it's copper! OK, looks similar, and at the time metallurgy was extremely important not only in trade but to make armour to lessen the chances of getting killed in battle, plus imagine all those bangles needed for the harem. Three cheers for the Copper King!

Author: Rycharde Manne

Comments

assimilation

Rycharde Manne - Wed, 2008-29-10 6:21 am

Yeah, well, things are often more complex and more interesting than our little compartmentalized ideas. This link http://www.mailstar.net/gordon.html although a bit disjointed to read does try to show that our view of ancient Egypt, Israel and Greece as separate bits of history is just not true, and the similarities in stories are due to assimilations - and in this case to the spread of similar ideas nested within different cultures. Money for your Thoughts - join now OWO-BV

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I know

Darrell Curts - Tue, 2008-28-10 2:53 pm

I knows me many a folk from Georgia and they doesn't like them there Jews very much. As a matter fact I doesn't even recall seeing a Jew in Georgia although I sures some exist. Thank you! Thank you! Yes I know - I nailed the southern hillbilly dialect. So where are the Old Testament Jews? In California - Whew! I kill myself?

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Sephardic vs. Ashkenazic

jdubhub - Tue, 2008-28-10 2:21 pm

I used to know more about this a few years back but my understanding is that very few of the modern Israeli Jews are descended from the Old Testament Jews but are actually from the Ashkenazic Empire located where Georgia is today, which is why Israel and Georgia have such close ties. There are people who can trace their bloodlines back that far, but not certainly not all or even most. At the collapse of the Ashkenazic Empire, many of those converted Jews fled to Eastern Europe. I find it interesting, not from a racial or ethnic view necessarily, but from an historical view of the group migration in Europe. JOIN XOMBA IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD!

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Akhnaten

Rycharde Manne - Tue, 2008-28-10 1:59 pm

thanks jd, yeah those really long URLs I usually insert them as hyperlinks. I've also sometimes seen the BBCode misformat if the link is in the opening paragraph. Nothing to do with Solomon (perhaps) but I recall one of the most interesting theories that Jews are descended from Egyptians - quite specifically from the pharaoh Akhnaten, who founded his own monotheistic solar religion to then suddenly disappear from his new capital. The whole city seemed to have fled. The link is to Moses who, in his wisdom, headed in the wrong direction when left Egypt. I'll have to find an online source of the documentary. Needless to say that the few jews interviewed were disgusted at the suggestion. Money for your Thoughts - join now OWO-BV

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