Biblical king and builder of the First Temple
Solomon
Active
c. 970 BCE to c. 930 BCE
The Bible associates his reign with wealth, expansion and Temple building. The historical scale of that kingdom remains disputed.
What the sources say
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3 statements
Tradition or narrative
According to the Bible, David was the turning point: he made Jerusalem the capital and, unlike Saul, passed power to a son, Solomon, though not without violent family conflict that killed Solomon's older brothers Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah. Solomon, described as a ruler of extraordinary wisdom, organized the tribes into one political unit, amassed a great fortune, dominated neighboring kingdoms and undertook building works, among them the Temple in Jerusalem.
During the twentieth century's first five or six decades, archaeologists believed several discoveries attested Solomon: Megiddo stables, a Red Sea port and Hazor fortifications. These finds appeared to make Solomon's age Israel's earliest securely historical period, until scholarly agreement broke down.
The reconstruction of Solomon's Temple rests on 1 Kings 6 and 7, but we do not know what it looked like, since there are no contemporary images or archaeological evidence. Between 1909 and 1911 the British adventurer Montagu Parker tried to find the temple and its treasures beneath the Temple Mount, encroaching on a site sacred to Muslims; the attempt sparked rioting, and no archaeologist has continued the search.