instead of killing his enemies, solomon, we re told, married many of them, including a pharaoh s daughter. in other instances, he disarmed them with his wit and wisdom. like the famously beautiful ethiopian queen of sheba. in the bible, the queen of sheba is drawn to jerusalem for an audience of solomon after hearing of his great wisdom. he greeted here as an equal. he was not surprised by the fact that she is a queen and that she rules a nation. according to ethiopian tradition, during their meeting, solomon and sheba became lovers and the ethiopian royal family descends from their union. when the koran gives you this example of such a powerful female ruler, this inspires me. this tells me that i have a place in the world of politics. and while it s possible that
ark of the covenant and can it be found? back to the beginning with christiane amanpour continues. even today, the truth behind so many biblical stories that took place here in jerusalem is still captivatingly elusive. that s in part because so many answers may be buried underneath what today is a living, breathing, city. it s notoriously difficult to dig under the old city of jerusalem. it s very difficult. it is very sensitive. we are talking about holy places of the three main religions. it s so politically charged? it s so politically charged. this is a biblical scholar and tour guide. she took us to one of the only places where archaeologists, pilgrims, and tourists can explore beneath this storied city.
israel began to unravel. it ushered in a period of nearly constant war for the israelites and it was during this time that voices arose in the land starting to talk about the end times. what today is called armageddon. and now i m about to enter armageddon. believe it or not, the name refers to an actual place. about a three-hour drive north of jerusalem. it s amazing to be here, because according to the bible we re now living in the last days. armageddon is the greek name for this ancient city. in hebrew it s called megido. many believe this plateau will be the staging ground where the armies of the righteous and the wicked gather for the final showdown. so the world as we know it will come to an end and that we ll live in a paradise earth where we won t have to die or
and that temple, of course, was the last known resting place for the mysterious ark of the covenant. the tenth century b.c. is the last time anybody actually really sees it according to the biblical tradition. there are other stories and these all are related to the babylonian destruction of the city in 586 b.c. that maybe somebody s spirited the ark out of the city just ahead of the destruction. many believed these underground tunnels were used to secretly transport the ark out of jerusalem when the city was under siege and when the babylonian invaders took detailed inventory of the treasures they blundered, something was missing. the babylonians took all of the treasures from jerusalem. it was not in the list anymore. the ark? yes, the ark was not on the list. there are all kinds of possibilities as to where it ended up. so we went in search of it.
one famous story suggests the ark was taken from jerusalem to egypt hundreds of years before the babylonian siege began. that s where indiana jones goes and looks for it. we re told that an egyptian pharaoh, he may of attacked jerusalem just after the time of solomon. around 918 b.c. and there is one theory he took away the ark of the covenant. this is where we get the indiana jones theory. they may have taken it to the city of tanis. and believe the ark is no more likely to be buried in the sands of tanis than locked away in a government warehouse. bureaucratic. what did they say? they don t know what they ve got there. strangely enough, our search for the ark also brought us back to jerusalem.