What Did the Floor of Herod's Temple Complex Look Like?

Dr. Gaby Barkay and his sifting team have found the answer which was revealed today.

The floor was tiled and here are some examples:

And Frankie Snyder reconstructed them:

The materials, marble and colored stone, were imported from Rome, Egypt, Tunisia and Asia Minor.

They were authenticated and were in measurement of the Roman foot which was 29.6 centimeters.


From the official press release of the City of David Foundation

JERUSALEM, September 6^th, 2016 — Archeologists from the Jerusalem-based Temple Mount Sifting Project are confident that they have successfully restored a unique architectural element of the Second Temple. Namely, a series of regally decorated floor tiles that adorned the porticos atop the Temple Mount, and which likely featured prominently in the courtyards of the Second Temple during the period that King Herod ruled (37 to 4 BCE) in Jerusalem.

"It enables us to get an idea of the Temple's incredible splendor," stated Dr. Gabriel Barkay, co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project. 

Frankie Snyder, a member of the Temple Mount Sifting Project's team of researchers and an expert in the study of ancient Herodian style flooring, succeeded in restoring the ornate tile patterns “using geometric principles, and through similarities found in tile design used by Herod at other sites,” said Snyder, who has an academic background in mathematics and Judaic Studies. "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," said Snyder, explaining that there were no opus sectile floors in Israel prior to the time of King Herod. “The tile segments were perfectly inlaid such that one could not even insert a sharp blade between them."

To date, approximately 600 colored stone floor tile segments have been uncovered, with more than 100 of them definitively dated to the Herodian Second Temple period. 

"Now, as a result of Frankie Snyder's mathematical skills, we have succeeded in recreating the actual tile patterns. This represents the first time that we can see with our own eyes the splendor of the flooring that decorated the Second Temple and its annexes 2,000 years ago,” stated Dr. Gabriel Barkay, co-founder and director of the Temple Mount Sifting Project.  “Referring to the Temple that Herod built, the Talmud says that 'Whoever has not seen Herod's building has not seen a beautiful building in his life'. Though we have not merited seeing the Temple in its glory, with the discovery and restoration of these unique floor tiles, we are now able to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Second Temple, even through this one distinctive characteristic."    

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