by Yori Yalon
Multicolored tiles featuring geometric designs were a gift from Roman Caesar Augustus to King Herod • Tiles adorned the Temple compound, surrounding buildings • Researcher Frankie Snyder used geometric principles to reconstruct the designs.
Striking in their modernity: Researchers have
completed the first-ever reconstruction of archaeological elements from
the Second Temple -- a number of floor tiles that are believed to have
adorned the porticos that surrounded the Temple compound, and possibly
other important structures in the area, as well.
The tiles, a gift from the Roman Caesar
Augustus to King Herod (who ruled Judea from 37 to 4 BCE), were created
using different types of colored stone cut and arranged in clean
geometric designs.
The labor of reconstructing the tiles began
with the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which has been in operation since
2004 and is devoted to sorting through the rubble that has been removed
from the Temple Mount during renovations and construction to recover as
many archaeological artifacts as possible.
The project is based at the Emek Tzurim
National Park, on the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem's Old City,
and is funded by the Ir David Foundation and the Israel Archaeology
Foundation. The sifting work turned up fragments of some 600
multicolored floor tiles, nearly 100 of which were positively dated to
the Second Temple era based on their size and on similar findings from
Herod's palaces at Masada, Herodium, Jericho, and other sites. The
dating process also compared the tiles to other similar flooring details
from Italian palaces and villas that date back to the days of Herod.
Most of the marble and other stone used to
create the tiles was imported to Judea from Rome, Asia Minor (modern
Turkey), Tunisia, and Egypt. The stone was cut into geometric shapes.
Recently, project member Frankie Snyder, an expert in Herodian-style
flooring with an academic background in mathematics and Judaic Studies,
used geometric principles to reconstruct a number of the designs that
were used to embellish the Temple courtyard and its surrounding wings.
"We reconstructed seven possible designs of
the decorative tiles that adorned the Temple Mount buildings. The
designs we've reconstructed so far feature combinations of squares,
triangles, a star shaped pattern, and a pattern featuring a four-pointed
shape," Snyder said.
"This type of flooring, called 'opus sectile,'
Latin for 'cut work,' is very expensive and was considered to be far
more prestigious than mosaic tiled floors. So far, we have succeeded in
restoring seven potential designs of the majestic flooring that
decorated the buildings of the Temple Mount.
"The tile segments were perfectly inlaid such that one could not even insert a sharp blade between them."
According to Snyder, there were no cut work
tile floors in Jerusalem prior to the reign of King Herod, a fact that
also helps date the artifacts.
Archaeologist Zachi Dvira, one of the
initiators and managing partners of the Temple Mount Sifting Project,
said that researchers until now have not looked into the kinds of
flooring that existed on the Temple Mount buildings and in the Temple
itself.
Dr. Gabriel Barkay, another co-founder the
project, said: "We might not have had the privilege of seeing the Temple
in all its glory, but now that these special floor [tiles] have been
uncovered, it enables us to get an idea of the Temple's incredible
splendor."
On Thursday, the tiles will be displayed at
the City of David National park at the 17th Annual Archaeological
Conference hosted by the Megalim Institute.
Yori Yalon
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=36227
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