* In the New International Version of the King James bible, in I Kings 10:14, reveals that 25 tons of gold bullion came into
Solomon's treasury every year for 40 years. Based on a modern standard of $400 an ounce, Soloman would have amassed
almost 13 billion in gold bullion during his reign. I Kings also informs us that this wealth does not include "the revenues from
merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land." (Bk-2, 5
* Solomon's gold came from a place called Ophir. He had built a navy to bring back the gold from this legendary place. This is
also evidence in I Kings that the ships of Tarshish brought gold to Solomon from his mines at Ophir. (Bk-2, 5
* When Solomon died, his kingdom divided. Scripture makes no mention of hoards of gold being carried away by conquoring
kings. Only the gold used in building the Temple was taken, and that is far short of what Scripture indicates Solomon
amassed.
* The authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" trace the dispersal of Solomon's wealth centuries later: "In A.D. 70, the temple that
then stood.....was sacked by Roman legions under Titus. It's treasure was plundered and brought to Rome, then plundered
and brought to the Pyrenees (Southern France)." (Bk-1, 8
* "These plunderings would still not exhaust the abundance of wealth described in scripture", argues John Daniel, author of
"Scarlet and the Beast". (Bk-2, 5
* The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1949, provide a clue. One of the Scrolls, the Copper Scroll, "deciphered at
Manchester University in 1955-56, makes explicit reference to great quantities of bullion, sacred vessels, additional
unspecified material, and 'treasure' of an indeterminate kind. It cites 24 different hoards buried beneath the temple itself.
(Bk-1)
* The Templars had quartered their horses in the so-called Stables of Solomon directly beneath the Temple mount itself and
may at first have stumbled across Solomon's ancient treaury. Apparantly, something had been found by 1104, because
Hugh de Payens, soon-to-be-first Grand Master of the Knights Templar, sent word back to the Count of Champagne, his
vassell lord in France. The Count met immediately and secretly with certain high-ranking nobles, one of whom had already
returned from Jerusalem with information of the discovery. (Bk-2, 59)