Tyropoeon Valley
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Tyropoeon Valley (i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historian to the valley or rugged ravine which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion. This valley, now filled up with a vast accumulation of rubbish, and almost a plain, was spanned by bridges, the most noted of which was Zion Bridge, which was probably the ordinary means of communication between the royal palace on Zion and the temple. A fragment of the arch of this bridge (called "Robinson's Arch"), where it projects from the sanctuary wall, was discovered by Edward Robinson in 1839. This arch was destroyed by the Romans when Jerusalem was taken.
The western wall of the temple area rose up from the bottom of this valley to the height of 84 feet, where it was on a level with the area, and above this, and as a continuance of it, the wall of Solomon's cloister rose to the height of about 50 feet, "so that this section of the wall would originally present to view a stupendous mass of masonry scarcely to be surpassed by any mural masonry in the world."
In the Copper Scroll this valley is called the Outer Valley. The name "Tyropoiōn" likeliest arose as an ancient mistranslation from Hebrew to Greek of Josephus's book; Semitic languages use the same root for "outer" and "congeal".
[edit] References
- This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.
