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A Fascinating Recent Discovery on Temple Mount |
 Offers a Mysterious Link to the Birth of Modern Israel By Sol Aris (Copyright 2006, Sol Aris) work submitted by Author
In August of 2005, a highly interesting find was made by the archeologist Gabriel Barkai, who has been a stalwart and long-standing authority in the Jerusalem archeological world.
In recent years Barkai has been involved in a controversial project - together with his assistant Zachi Zweig he has been sifting through the rubble which the Islamic Waqf ("Keepers of the Holy Places") authorities have been removing from caverns and structures being renovated underneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and dumping in the Kidron Valley under the old city walls.
Scholars usually question the archeological value of finds from such an exploration, due to the difficulty of accurately dating objects, which are not embedded in the surrounding strata. Yet the excavated rubble has already yielded a large amount of fascinating artifacts. The particular find which concerns us was a tiny cross pendant bearing a wealth of curious symbolism, which was originally taken by the two archeologists to be Masonic or "Templar".
The current article is primarily a short compilation of what has been discovered about this pendant so far, with possible avenues for further research in this regard.
The recent popularity of these topics had sparked a certain amount of interest in the find, and it was reported on September 2 in an article by the Israeli daily Haaretz newspaper. The Hebrew version of that article is still available online at the time of the current writing (May 2006) .
The English version was taken offline about a month after it appeared, but has been reprinted in other places, and is available today on Philip Gardiner’s site at http://www.phil.fah-designs.com/gardinerosborn/articles/article_17.html and on Dirk Vander Ploeg’s UFODigest at http://www.ufodigest.com/templemount.html
Below are reproductions of the found pendant, as photographed by Barkai and Zweig, which also show its tiny size, no larger than a thumbnail.
The two archeologists did not relegate much importance to this find beyond curiosity, as they are much more interested in recovering First and Second Temple artifacts, to try and settle the controversy regarding the historical existence of Solomon’s temple. But Zweig was captivated by the tiny intricate symbolism, and, as mentioned in the Haaretz article, had written to Prof. Andrew Prescott of the Freemasonry Research Center at the University of Sheffield, to inquire about a possible Masonic connection.
Prescott did not comment himself on the symbols, but referred Zweig to Mark Dennis, the curator of the Masonic Museum in London. Dennis supplied the following identification of the visible images on the pendant:
On one side in the center is the Cup of Jesus (one accepted name for which is the "Holy Grail"), superimposed on the two Lances bearing the Poisoned Sponges, and surrounded by the Crown of Thorns. On the three surrounding panels are the tools of the Carpenter trade - a hammer, pliers, and three nails (with which Jesus was nailed to the cross.)
On the other side, the letters IHS are seen inside the central sunburst. The bottom panel shows the Lamb reposing on the Book of Revelations sealed by the Seven Seals. Dennis identifies the right panel facing the viewer as showing "wheat stalks", but Zweig says it looks like an inclined bowl or pot. I feel, however, that it is also reminiscent of some depictions of "the Horn of Plenty". The image on the left panel was not identified by either of the two, but from magnification of the photograph appears to me as being a dove perched on a branch.
Dennis wrote back to Zweig that the symbols are very obviously strictly "Christian and not Masonic". Each one of the symbols is very well-known throughout the various Christian denominations, and none of them can be associated with specific Freemason symbolism of any lodge he knows. Zweig also failed to find the symbols in any Masonic catalogue, and lost further interest in this cross as being anything more than another unimportant and comparatively modern curio.
As noted, the dating of any artifact originating in the excavated rubble poses a great problem. It’s unknown when this material was dumped in the caverns beneath Solomon’s Stables, or where it came from. Removed from the strata within which it was originally buried, an object’s age can be usually determined only by its state of preservation and comparison with similar pieces or art forms, both highly unreliable methods.
This particular pendant was tentatively dated by the two archeologists to roughly the second half of the 19th Century, primarily because they originally assumed the symbols to have been Masonic, and some well-known Freemason archeologists are known to have been digging around the Temple Mount around that time. Also the style and the condition of the pendant were not indicative of a Medieval artifact. Lastly, although admittedly no expert in iconography, Zweig had told me that as far as they know the various symbols such as the letters IHS were not used in Christian art until 16th or 17th Centuries.
Once again, the two researchers were not greatly interested in this find, and their reasoning can easily be argued against in this case. Because obviously if we accept that the symbols are in fact not "Masonic", this removes the basis for the entire original assumption. And although some of the symbols were admittedly popularized in much later Christian iconography, the trigram IHS itself (which is the Latin rendering of the Greek letters Iota, Heta, and Sigma, and spells IES - short for "Iesus", Jesus) were used in the early Christian communities in the first four centuries CE.
This cross is obviously a Christian artifact, and is thus likely to have found its way to the caverns underneath the Temple Mount either before the late Middle Ages or after mid- 19th Century. Although some Christian presence in Jerusalem continued, Christians were barred from entering the Temple Mount for 600 years, from the Mameluk reconquest of that city in 1250 and until new permissive policies were instituted by the Ottoman Turks in 1839.
So the cross could either be many centuries old or only a hundred and some years, and the difference should be easy to judge by its state of preservation. Therefore, despite the inadequate reasoning, the tendency would be to accept the archeologists’ judgement and view this cross as coming from relatively modern times - not least because the intricate symbolism does accord better with Christian jewelry of later than Medieval periods.
To exhaust the possibility of the symbols being Masonic after all, I wrote to an Israeli Masonic historian and 33 Degree Freemason Leon Zeldis, who was the editor of the Israeli Masonic periodical "Haboneh Hahofshi". Mr. Zeldis has done extensive research into the history of Freemasonry in Palestine, and has written a highly informative monogram on the founding of the First Lodge in the Holy Land.
(http://www.freemasonry.org/leonzeldis/1st%20Lodge.htm)
Zeldis replied in very similar words to Dennis, that all of the depictions on the cross are straightforward Christian and have no connection, which he sees with Freemasonry. All of the symbols are very well-known Christian icons, including the crown of thorns, the cup of Jesus, the dove and the tools of the carpenter’s trade.
Based on these conclusions of two highly respected and knowledgeable Masons, we would therefore have to agree that this pendant is indeed not connected with a Masonic group. And although Freemasons are notoriously secretive about their rituals and symbolism, further inquiry into the extensively available Masonic material and the rituals themselves shows that the two historians were not concealing anything here.
The symbols on the cross may not be specifically Masonic, and yet a possible link with Freemasonry may still exist. The Lamb reposing on the Book with the Seven Seals is a symbol on the Jewel of the 17th Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the degree known as "The Knight of the East and west." (http://www.albertpikedemolay.org/scottishrite/about/chapter.html )
(Though for the sake of precision, it should be noted that the lamb on the Masonic Jewel is facing left, and the seals are arranged four in front and three on the left of the book; where on our pendant the lamb faces right and all seven seals are on the front. Nonetheless, it’s really an identical symbol.)
Admittedly this is a long stretch and is likely a mere coincidence, but this degree was particularly stressed by Albert Pike in his "Morals and Dogma" as having a significant mystical bearing upon the mixing between Eastern and Western philosophies, which symbolized the Templars as "returning" to the Holy Land to continue the spiritual tradition of their Essene forbearers.
(http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/morals_and_dogma/knight_of_the_east_and_west.htm)
The theme of the "returning Templars" could thus be related to what the Christian Pilgrims felt upon returning to the Temple Mount after six hundred years. Moreover, it could represent the belief of many of those Christians that Jews should also return to live in their old homeland, in order to fulfill certain biblical prophecies pertaining to the "Latter Days". The Agnus Dei reposing on the Seals is of course a famous Apocalyptic symbol from the Book of Revelations, which deals precisely with that subject.
It seemed that the sheer wealth of detail on the cross would lead to a quick identification with a particular group or denomination, but at first the task proved harder than anticipated. I wrote to several other researchers of esoteric subjects, in the hope of obtaining further leads to the meaning of the symbols. Well-known recent authors Philip Gardiner and Crichton Miller offered highly involved interpretations of the mystical significance of the pictured objects.
( http://www.phil.fah-designs.com/gardinerosborn/articles/response.html )
Mr. Miller saw this pendant as a typified representation of a Celtic Cross with the circle in the center, which according to his theory was a most important measuring tool used by some ancients for telling time and navigating at sea. He feels that this was The Secret, which the Order of the Knights Templar had discovered and was guarding in the Middle Ages, and what gave them such a major advantage over their adversaries for a long time. This interpretation does offer an interesting connection between our cross and the Templars, even though we’ve decided that we’re dealing with a much more modern artifact here.
Mr. Gardiner eloquently pointed out that every single symbol on the cross hailed from well-known Pagan origins. The hammer and pliers were tools of the various Thunder Gods, and dealt with the creation of the Universe. The nail is the axis on which the Universe and our lives revolve, as well as symbolic of some Egyptian fertility rites, and three nails also make a Pyramid. The masculine warrior-spears are juxtaposed against the feminine grail/cup, signifying a union of opposites, and the crown of thorns is, in fact, the two intertwined snakes of Chaos and Creation, also indicate such union. The sunburst is of course an ancient symbol of the Sun God, and the word IHS (which was pronounced "ee-yes") denotes the old "cry of Bacchus" from Ancient Greece. The Lamb signifies the end of the Age of Aries, and the seven seals are the Seven Sisters, the constellation of Pleiades that follows Aries in the night sky.
Gardiner had also noted that this is in fact not a "Templar Cross" (the name which was tentatively assigned to our pendant,) as this shape was used by the Vatican only since around the 1400’s, after the destruction of the Templar Order. The typical Templar cross is also equal-sided, but the edges of the sides are either even or flared, and not pointed like on this one.
Other researchers who have looked at the close-ups have pointed out the interesting resemblance between the three nails and the various stylized depictions of mushrooms or even sperms which can be found in the art of various cultures, notably from South America, early England, and the Far East. This would tend to further strengthen the Pagan "fertility rites" symbolism.
And yet, despite the obviously Pagan origins of the different symbols on this pendant, it is clearly a piece of Christian jewelry, a relatively recent cross that belonged to a Christian (as opposed to, for example, an esoteric emblem from Ancient Egypt, which would be a much older object and the metal would be in different condition.) All of those early symbols were absorbed into Christianity, and they have come to mean entirely different things in that religion for a "spiritually honest" believer in Jesus. Their earlier meaning, however, could have a mystical significance, which would be known to members of the sect to which this cross belonged.
I had originally hoped to connect this cross with a group of people who would have had the most opportunity to lose an object like that in caverns under the Temple Mount. This was my chief reason for contacting the Masonic historian Leon Zeldis. As mentioned above, Mr. Zeldis wrote an extensive article about the founding of the First Freemasonry Lodge in Modern Palestine, in a ceremony, which took place in the Zedekiah Caves, underneath the Old City of Jerusalem in 1873.
The Zedekiah Caves are a vast complex of underground passages, which are said to have served as the quarries from which the stones for the original Solomon’s Temple were taken. Tunnels branch off in many directions, some leading under the Temple itself. Here is a painting of caverns underneath the Temple Mount, done in 1870 by an artist accompanying a group of archeologists, which shows the immense proportions of the place:
The location of the Zedekiah Cave and its use as the quarries for the Temple stones would have had immense symbolic significance for Freemasons, which is why that location was chosen for the founding ceremony. Mr. Zeldis has an interesting story on his site about the founders of the First Masonic Lodge getting lost in the dark tunnels after the ceremony and wandering there for hours. The Lodge held meetings in the caves for many years afterwards. It seemed very likely that one of the members may have dropped an object like our cross during one of those times.
The founders of the First Lodge were mostly British officers and archeologists, as well as members of the American Colony in Jaffa. This colony was started in 1865 by a group of settlers from Maine, led by a Messianic preacher who was a former Mormon and in his younger years a friend of Joseph Smith. Although the colony is usually considered a failure and most of the members returned to the US within two years, some stayed behind and became involved in various local enterprises, which later greatly facilitated the arrival of the Jewish immigrants and the subsequent founding of the State of Israel.
Hoping that the symbols on the cross may be connected with the Mormons, I contacted noted Revised Latter Day Saints researcher Reed M. Holmes, who has written a highly interesting book about the history of the American Colony and its spiritual foundation in the Joseph Smith’s visions of the Jews returning to Zion. (http://www.jaffacolony.com/index.html )
Mr. Holmes was highly taken by the unusual cross, but did not find any of the symbols related to particularly Mormon iconography. His conclusions, taken together with Zeldis’ previous verdict that the symbols are also definitely not Masonic, appears to close the possibility of an obvious link between this cross and the First Lodge founders or the American Colony. It could still have belonged to one of them, but only as a personal curiosity and not as representing membership in a particular group.
A small bit of further research in another direction however, revealed another group, which indeed had consistently used several of the emblems found on this cross in their logos. And interestingly enough, this group plays a part in various strange conspiracy theories perhaps not less than the Freemasons. This is no other than the famous Order of the Society of Jesus, popularly known as the Jesuit Order, which was founded in 1534 in Spain:
The following is taken from http://info.jesuit.org.au/history/the-ihs-logo.php
"Since its earliest days the Society of Jesus has used the letters ’ihs’ as its symbol, or insignia. This is because the letters are the first three letters of the Greek word for Jesus. Other symbols include ... the crown of thorns or the three nails of the cross (to remember Jesus’ crucifixion.)"
Several Jesuit emblems are reproduced below, to illustrate the point.
  
We see the familiar features from our cross - the sunburst with the letters IHS, the Crown of Thorns and the Three Nails. This seems to positively tie it to the Jesuit Order, and that would be our present conclusion at the time of this writing. This is a Jesuit Cross, not a "Templar" one.
A number of questions remain open, however. First, the Jesuits as a group became present in Jerusalem only since 1909, at which time or soon afterwards the Zedekiah Caves and other tunnels beneath the Old City were made not accessible to the public for many years, except by special permission. But our cross is most likely not as recent, as it would’ve been in better condition. An individual Jesuit traveller could have lost the pendant in the caverns earlier in the 19th Century, but such travellers usually liked to leave accounts of their journeys, and we have found none such as yet. The owner of our cross therefore remains a mystery.
Second, we find no indication that the Jesuits used the Holy Grail as a common symbol, and there is no obvious explanation for its highly prominent presence on this cross. The Grail was not the favorite object in traditional Christian iconography, due to its historical legendary "pagan" associations with various heresies, which the Vatican had tried to suppress over the years. It would be unusual to see such a supposedly "heretical" symbol used by the Jesuits, who were founded as a stringently Catholic sect, the military arm of the Vatican and reputed by some to be the "Modern Inquisition". The "Horn of Plenty", if it indeed is shown on this cross, is a symbol deeply related to the Holy Grail legends.
In the eschatological views of many Christian denominations on the 19th Century, the Lamb with the Seven Seals symbolized the return of the Jews to Zion in the Latter Days, to prepare the way for the prophecies foretold in the book of Revelations and the Second Coming of Jesus. These were mostly Evangelical Protestant groups and their various offshoots, such as the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists. The Catholic Jesuits also reportedly came to believe in this vision.
The "Return to Zion" doctrine was born in Scotland and is known as Dispensationalism, and this is not the place to discuss its immense influence on the foundation of modern Israel. But given the recently arisen interest in the Grail’s symbolic significance as the womb of Mary Magdalene and the bloodline dynasty of the actual descendants of Jesus Christ, this cross, which depicts both the Grail and the Lamb, is another interesting indication of the beliefs of Israel’s "spiritual fore bearers", and possibly even of their plans for these "End Times". We are sure to learn more about this in the near future.
Stay tuned.
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