to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, on the second month, which the Macedonians call Artemisius, and the Hebrews Jar, five hundred and ninety two years after the exodus out of Egypt, but after one thousand and twenty years from Abraham's coming out of Mesopotamia into Canaan and after the deluge one thousand four hundred and forty years; and from Adam, the first man who was created, until Solomon built the temple, there had past in all three thousand one hundred and two years." In Against Apion, Josephus mentions that according to the annals of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, Solomon's Temple was built on the 12th year of Hiram I of Tyre and 143 years and 8 months before the Tyrians founded Carthage. The foundation date of Carthage is usually dated to 814 BCE, thus, according to Josephus, the construction of the Temple should be dated to circa 958/9 BCE, a date that lies within the conventional dates of Solomon's reign between 970 and 931 BCE. Archaeology Most scholars today agree that a temple had existed on the Temple Mount by the time of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem (587 BCE), but the identity of its builder and its construction date are strongly debated. Because of the religious and political sensitivities involved, no archaeological excavations and only limited surface surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted since Charles Warren's expedition of 1867–70. As of today, there is no solid archaeological evidence for the existence of Solomon's Temple, and the building is not mentioned in surviving extra-biblical accounts, save for perhaps a single fragmented ostracon that mentions a "house of Yahweh" without any further specification. Artifacts previously believed to prove the existence of Solomon's Temple - an ivory pomegranate and a ninth century BCE stone tablet - have turned out to be modern forgeries. Moreover, starting in the 1980s, biblical minimalists have doubted King Solomon's connection to the temple, sometimes describing him as little more than a hill country chieftain. On the other hand, William G. Dever argues that the biblical description of the Temple itself shows profound similarities with other temples of the time (Phoenician, Assyrian and Philistine), suggesting that this cult structure was actually built by Solomon (whom he sees as an actual king of Israel) in the 10th century BCE, although the biblical description is undoubtedly excessive. These views are shared by