King Solomon of Israel used to be a mining “tycoon” in Spain?

A marine archaeologist has hypothesized that King Solomon, a wealthy king of Israel, financed Phoenician mining expeditions to Spain.
Sean Kingsley, director of consulting firm Wreck Watch, posted this hypothesis in Wreckwatch Journal, a publication in which he made some arguments in support of the idea.

His arguments include Phoenician mining activities along rivers, Biblical names in mining-related areas, to passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that seem to be related. to King Solomon and the seafaring Phoenicians, a potential Spanish city famous for its rich mineral wealth in the Hebrew Bible. King Salomon, a rich king according to the Hebrew Scriptures. If this claim is true, it means King Solomon was an ancient shipping tycoon. The Hebrew Bible says that King Salomon was extremely rich and undertook many construction projects and his role in transportation could explain his wealth. Arguments for the Solomon’s mining expeditions The Phoenicians flourished throughout the Mediterranean world from about 1,500 BC to 300 BC. According to present-day Lebanon, they sailed across the Mediterranean, establishing settlements and trading networks as far back as Portugal. Kingsley started his research about 10 years ago. It seemed that King Salomon had been wise in his maritime plans, he noticed. He recorded the trips from Jerusalem and the Phoenician sailors took all risks at sea. Archaeological excavations over the past century have unearthed remains of Phenicia mining operations near the Rio Tinto River in southwest Spain, he said. Some places today along the river of Spain have biblical names – such as “Solomon’s Hill”, says Kingsley. Furthermore, he claims, silver artifacts found in Israel contain lead isotope patterns suggesting that silver came from Spain. However, researchers have done the analysis that silver from Spain did not come to Israel during King Solomon’s time, but after he ruled. Then there is a Hebrew Bible, which describes how David and his son Solomon took raw materials for construction projects from a man named Hiram, the king of a Phenicia city named Tire in present-day Lebanon. . Kingsley hypothesized that Hiram would send mining expeditions to Spain with the financial assistance of Solomon. Passages in the Hebrew Bible also mention a place called Tarshish, where the Bible says there are many minerals. This is also the place where Johna tried to run away when God told him to come to Nineveh, according to the Hebrew Bible. Tarshish claimed that Tarshish was located in what is now Spain and Solomon financed Phenicia’s travels to the area. Kingsley argued that passages in the Hebrew Bible discuss how Hiram provided materials for David and Solomon for their construction projects, giving the idea that Solomon had sponsored Phoenician journeys. . Confirming Tarshish’s place in the Bible, Kingsley notes that a Phoenician inscription, dating back to the ninth century BC and found in Sardinia, refers to a Phenicia military force fleeing to Tarshish. after a failure. Ancient Greek records also mention a city called Tartessos – sounding similar to Tarshish – thrived in southern Spain, Kingsley wrote in an article in Spain. From historical research, Kingsley said he could say that biblical landmarks (like the Solomon Hills) were in use since at least the 17th century and possibly much earlier. Skeptic scholars Some archaeologists and historians believe they were skeptical of Kingsley’s claims. While no one doubts that the Phoenicians were present in Spain, scholars note that there is no direct evidence regarding King Solomon to the region. “It’s still not clear that there is a Solomon kingdom,” said Steven Weitzman, director of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Morphological Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “I don’t know any evidence of an Israeli presence in Spain at this time,” Weitzman said. There are Phoenician settlements in Spain as early as around 1100 [trước Công nguyên] and certainly for many centuries to come, but it would be too much to argue that the source of Salomon’s wealth came from there. ” In fact, the Bible says that King Salomon sent ships to the East, not to the West. Solomon’s ships were dispatched from a place called Ezion-Geber, a port town on the Red Sea, and they returned from a place called Ophir, filled with gold and other treasures. Wherever the Ophir was located, the ships Weitzman explained would go in the opposite direction from Spain, east not west. Archaeologists also rejected Kingsley’s arguments regarding silver artifacts found in Israel and Spain. “Based on all available scientific data, silver in the Solomon era,” said Ayelet Gilboa, professor of archeology at the University of Haifa, Israel. [thế kỷ 10 trước Công nguyên] not coming east from Iberia ”. Only after that, after King Salomon ruled, did silver from Spain begin to reach Israel. Gilboa worked with Tzilla Eshel, a researcher specializing in antique silver analysis at the University of Haifa, to determine the origin of ancient silver in Israel, and they published an article on this topic in 2019. that silver came from Sardinia to Israel in the 10th century BC but it was not until the ninth century BC that silver came from Spain.