King Solomon’s Mines: Real or Make-believe?

Author: Kimberly Gentry

King Solomon, a figure in the bible, is well known for his extreme wealth and wisdom. With his abundance of wealth he was able to build the first Temple in Jerusalem and adorn it with many high-value fixtures. According to the Holy Bible in 1 Chronicles 29:2, Solomon is supplied with an abundant supply of precious metals and materials to build his temple.  

“² With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities.” (1 Chronicles 29:2)

The Holy Bible also mentions a place called Ophir. It was at Ophir that Solomon was supplied with most of his valuable materials to use in building the temple. Archaeologists have wondered for years whether or not Ophir really exists and where it is. The most common belief is that all of King Solomon’s riches are located in Africa.

            The book King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard sparked many people’s interest as it detailed the finding of King Solomon’s mines. In King Solomon’s Mines a group of three men set out to find the brother of one of the group members. The brother was searching for King Solomon’s mines. The group encountered many hardships along the way, including rough terrain, fighting battles, and dehydration. In the end they all find the mines and get rich from the treasure inside. Published in 1885, this book influenced many people into going to Africa to search for the alleged mines.

An ancient copper mine in Southern Jordan

Currently, people are still searching for King Solomon’s mines. Archaeologists have, however, found large copper mines close to the area to where King Solomon might have lived. According to Rebecca Carroll for National Geographic News, metal production was happening in these mines in the tenth century B.C. This is when King Solomon supposedly lived (Carroll). Thomas Levy, an anthropologist, was interviewed by Rebecca Carroll for her article. He said that “According to the Bible, God chose King Solomon to build Jerusalem's first temple. Hundreds of tons of copper were given to the project, as well as smaller amounts of gold and silver, the Bible says. Some English versions of the Old Testament use the word bronze instead of copper as a result of a mistranslation.” With that information we can infer that Jerusalem’s first temple was built using a lot of copper. Coincidentally, large copper mines that have been dated back to King Solomon’s time are located close to the site of the temple. Though not the Ophir that everyone hoped it would be, these copper mines did provide more information on life during King Solomon’s reign.

Some people believe the copper mines that have been found are indeed King Solomon’s. But others believe that the copper mines are just one piece of the puzzle. Somewhere, King Solomon’s treasure is hidden out of sight. The mystery of King Solomon’s mines will live on forever. There is no record of the location of Ophir , and the copper mines that have been found don’t exactly fit the description of Ophir. It is even possible that King Solomon didn’t exist. That is why King Solomon’s mines will remain a mystery.  

 Works Cited:

Carroll, Rebecca. “King Solomon’s Mines Rediscovered?” National Geographic. National Geographic, 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Haggard, H. Rider. King Solomon’s Mines. 1885. London: Penguin, 1994. Print.

“King Solomon’s Mines Rediscovered?” National Geographic.  National Geographic, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.

Links for Further Research:

Internet Movie Database

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042646/

The link above takes you to the Internet Movie Database listing for the feature-length film, King Solomon’s Mines.

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4jL-MISXV4

The link above takes you to Youtube.com where the documentary Quest for Solomon’s Mines is shown.

Popular Archaeology

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/april-2011/article/archaeologists-return-to-king-solomon-s-mines-of-biblical-edom

The link above takes you to an informative article about an excavation done by archaeologists relating to King Solomon. 

The Mysteries of King Solomon’s Mines

Author:  Christian Nunnley

The biblical figure, King Solomon , was the ruler of the first great Israel kingdom and builder of the first temple in Jerusalem. According to the bible, it states that Solomon was the richest and wisest man of his time. The historical documentary entitled, Quest to Solomon’s Mines, tells us about legends of Solomon’s magnificent gold mine, Ophir ,which is thought to be the source of gold that King Solomon used to build his great temple (“Quest for…”). Although, the mines were never mentioned in the bible, there have been Hollywood movies such as King Solomon’s Mines, which provided great speculation that the mines existed. Despite Hollywood efforts, the archeologists have constantly revisited the site and found nothing. This site still remains a mystery because there is little evidence to prove the existence Solomon or his gold mines.

There is very little evidence about the existence of Solomon outside of the bible. In the bible, it discusses how the most important achievement that Solomon accomplished was building the temple of God in Jerusalem. About three thousand talents of gold from Ophir and seven thousand talents of silver were used to build the enormous temple (New International Version, I Chronicles. 29. 3-4).  The building took about seven years; however, it stood for about four hundred years. According to the Holy Bible, The International Version,

“The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. Solomon covered the inside with pure gold, and extended gold chains across the front of inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold” (New International Version, I Kings. 6. 20-21).

Once the temple was completed, Solomon dedicated the Temple in a public ceremony of prayers and sacrifices. Eventually, the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians around 587 B.C. The question that has perplexed archaeologists is where the amount of gold used to help build the temple came from. Unfortunately, the location of Ophir was never mentioned in the bible; however, there is some speculation that it is located in Africa.  

Picture of broken ceramic bowl found by Muslim workers.

There were very few ancient artifacts present after the temple was destroyed. However, archeologists recently found artifacts from the time of biblical King David and Solomon's Temple.  According to Michele Chabin, Israel correspondent at Religion News Service, “archaeologists have unearthed a trove of artifacts dating back to the time of biblical King David that they say closely correspond to the description of Solomon’s Temple found in the Book of Kings.” The artifacts that were found at the site were pottery, stone and metal tools, and art objects. In Chabin’s article, Yosef Garfinkel, Hebrew University archaeologist, states “these findings are extraordinary because it marks the first time that shrines from the time of the early Israelite kings were found.” Unfortunately, while some artifacts were present at the site, they were no different from other artifacts found in other various places. Therefore, these findings might not be connected back to any biblical references or provide an exact location to where the temple once was. Also, there were no human remains present at the site to prove the existence of King Solomon.

In my opinion, I believe that King Solomon was a real character based off the bible.

Even though, there is little physical evidence to prove the reigns of King Solomon, archeologists have found ancient artifacts that were made of copper dating back to his reign. As far as the location of Ophir, it still remains a mystery because the exact location was never mentioned in the bible. There still is some dispute over whether King Solomon was an actual historical figure, the gold mines exist, and if the bible is an accurate record of events. However, archaeologists are continuing to look for ways to validate the Bible.

Works Cited:

“Quest for Solomon’s Mines.” Nova. Dir. Graham Townsley. PBS. 2010. Youtube. Youtube, 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

Chabin, Michele. “Khirbet Qeiyafa Excavations Find Evidence of Solomon’s Temple, Archeologists Say” Huffingtonpost.com. The Huffington Post, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

I Kings. 6. 20-21. New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 280-281. Print.

I Chronicles. 29. 3-4. New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. 358. Print.

Israel Antiquities Authority. "Solomon’s Temple Artifact Found." Photograph.
NationalGeographic. National Geographic Society, 23 Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Oct. 2012.

Schoenberg, Shira.  “Solomon: Biblical Jewish King.” Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. The American-Isreali Cooperative Enterprise, 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2012.

Links for further research:

Jewish Virtual Library

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Solomon.html

Provides a lot of prominent information on Solomon’s life and the construction of the First Jewish Temple. 

Quest for Solomon’s Mines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICv34HL2oc

Archeologists find the truth about the Bible’s most famous king and his legendary riches.

King Solomons Mines Rediscovered

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081028-king-solomon-copper-mine-missions_2.html

New study suggests the site Jordan has been producing metal possibly during King Solomon’s reign.