Quest for the Lost Ark
Solomon’s Temple
Beneath the site of King Solomon’s Temple and the Second Temple which followed it, which today is the site of Jerusalem’s golden Dome of the Rock, are caves leading to a labyrinth of passages. When the Babylonians captured the Israelites in 586BC, it is believed that many people escaped through these tunnels, so it is possible that the Ark could have been spirited out of Jerusalem by this route. It is fairly certain that the Ark was not captured and taken to Babylon, as such significant booty would surely have been documented by the conquerors, and there is no mention of it in any Babylonian accounts of these events.
Tudor Parfitt’s journey then takes him to the caves where, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. These scrolls were connected with the Second Temple, and in the museum in Amman one of them, made in copper, and with the writing still legible, describes 64 locations where treasure was hidden. The locations are tantalising, but not one of them has ever been found.
