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Courtesy Meir Ben-dov

RECAPTURING THE GLORY OF SOLOMON. Based on Procopius’s description and the archaeological remains, our author contends that Justinian designed and built the Nea using Solomon’s Temple as a model. Both buildings were built atop the highest hill in Jerusalem in their times and had roofs spanned with impressive cedars of Lebanon. As shown in these reconstruction drawings of Solomon’s Temple and the Nea, both buildings were designed with a clear division between their outer courtyards and inner sanctuaries. Finally, the two prominent columns that Procopius describes at the entrance to the Nea were likely meant to mimic the famous bronze pillars that stood at the entrance to the covered portico (‘ulam) of Solomon’s Temple, pillars named Boaz and Jachin in the Bible. Also shown in the plan of Solomon’s Temple are the various cultic installations within the Temple complex, including the four-horned altar, the yam (great bronze “sea,” or basin) and the ten bronze carts outfitted with offering bowls, called mekhonot.