If you believe the Bible, and not the results of conventional methods of archaeological research, the king Solomon was fabulously rich. In the Third Book of kings says that the gold that came to Solomon in one year, the weight was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.... descriptions of the various precious metals and stones, and other luxury and exotic things clearly indicate that Solomon them were taken, and, obviously, from distant countries. On the Egyptian bas-relief depicts the countless treasures looted from the temple and the Palace of Solomon successor of the Queen of Sheba Pharaoh Tuthmosis III.



A significant part of these treasures are considered, in accordance with the list found in the Third Book of kings and Chronicles, was made of copper or bronze. Large-scale copper mining was carried out in the Negev desert, and recently found an Egyptian sign of Tuthmosis III confirms: development of copper was carried out there actively and during that meet the revised chronology Velikovsky.

However the location of the mythical mines still shrouded in a veil of mystery and confusion. The Bible offers tempting, but very subtle clue. It is called two areas - Ofir and Tarshish. Ofir was the land from whence went gold, and Tarshish was associated with going behind the ship. In the same kings says: ...and they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

The ship, which brought gold from Ophir, again mentioned in the legend about the visit of the Queen^avskou in Jerusalem, also brought from Ophir great plenty of red wood and precious stones.

In that way. The Bible gives no clue where was Ophir, it only States that it existed. Texts related to Tarshish, at first glance appear to be more useful, as some of them said about the ships going down to Tarshish, and others on the ships of Tarshish. From the Third Book of the kings follows that Solomon sent expeditions for gold and jewelry in cooperation with the Phoenicians, which is skillful sailors, led by Hiram 1, the king of tyre. The ships left the port Eziongaber on the Red sea. It also States that Solomon was at sea ...Tarshish ship to ship firmowym; every three years once came Tarshish ship, which brought gold and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

But where was located Tarshish? In the book of the prophet Ezekiel says that the Phoenicians conducted trade with silver, iron, wood, and lead.

About a hundred years after Solomon, when the wealth of the Kingdom of Israel has decreased, Jehoshaphat, king of Judah made an attempt from Eziongaber to achieve Ophir, but the storm broke his ships right in the port of shipment. Another (and final) biblical mention of Tarshish contained in the Book of the Prophet Jonah, who tried to run there, when he had his famous adventure. He paid for their transportation in the port of Joppa, situated on the Mediterranean sea, where his ship would sail in Parens. Thus, there is a range of possibilities.

1. There were several places called Tarshish (it can also be translated as foundry), all associated with paragraphs where Solomon exported minerals.

2. Ancient Jewish historian Josephus in the 1st century A.D. in the translation of the old Testament identifies the word Farsi with the name of the famous port of Roman times - Tarsis. His version of floats Solomon is as follows: ...because the king had many ships in Tarascon sea, he ordered to bring all kinds of goods from the most remote countries. This may not be contrary to the first version, if to assume, that Solomon was Tarshish (terziski) a ship that is specially designed for voyages to Tarshish (on different foundries).

3. However, because Solomon was undoubtedly connected with the leading Maritime trade, the Phoenicians, the third version is based on various evidence of their history, determines Tarshish as the Hostal Castillo, the ancient Kingdom located near Cadiz on the territory of modern Spain, vividly described by the ancient Greeks as a storehouse of silver. It is known that the Phoenicians traded with Spain, and then colonized it, so the Hostal Castillo could be one of the sources of minerals, imported to Solomon.

However, none of these three versions (hypotheses) may not be fully acceptable. Tarsis, of course, could be used as a point of origin of ores mined at the Black sea coast, as the Hostal Castillo could put their silver. But how to be with monkeys, ivory, peacocks and Negroes? Dropping from the accounts of the apes of Gibraltar, it can be argued that neither Spain nor Tarsis could not be possible sources of this product.

And why ships Solomon needed three years to make the voyage to one of these places and back?

The meaning of Tarshish is unclear, and if this is the name of the place, it is likely that it was far away and perhaps it was about a few places, but the national Assembly about the same. Excavations in Mand-ad-Dabade in Saudi Arabia have discovered a giant gold mine in force at the time of Solomon. Perhaps it was Ophir, where the last sailed with king Hiram (according to the Bible, the kings themselves there is not sent, and sent his subjects).

As for exotic goods, the Hostal Castillo could be the starting point for a more long and dangerous voyages around Africa and presumably America. Evidence of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus that the Phoenicians, coming from the red sea around 600 B.C. to the South, were able to make the voyage around Africa and back across the Mediterranean sea along the Northern coast of Egypt in the Nile Delta, did not cause the slightest confidence among ancient historians. Their route lay through the Strait of Gibraltar, in the immediate vicinity of the Hostal Castillo. Such trips may be taken in the time of Solomon, during which the ships took on Board monkeys, ivory, peacocks and blacks together with silver from the Hostal Castillo, which gave the name to all such travel in General and the type of ships involved in them.

However, in this respect there is another hypothesis, which can be considered either instead of, or in addition to it. In our days there is more evidence in favor of the possibility to perform in the same period, travel to the New world than against it. Their route could run in the opposite direction, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic through the pillars of Hercules.

Many hypotheses were put forward regarding the location of the mythical Solomon's mines. A new look at keeping a navigational abilities of ancient navigators allows likely to assume that they were in Central or South America.