Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/180

Rh temple on the. same bill. The upper city on the western hill is ignored, which seems to show that the account was written before the Hasmonean period (comp. JERUSALEM, vol. xiii. p. 641), as has been argued on other grounds in SEPTUAGINT. The Acra, which is often mentioned in the history of the Maccabee wars, seems to have been on the same site as the Baris or castle of the Hasmonean priest-princes, where they put on their priestly robes before doing sacrifice (Ant., xv. 11, 4). That the Baris was close to the temple appears both from this circumstance and from the fact that Anti- fonus was charged with setting fire to the porticoes of the temple uring the siege by Herod (Ant., xiv. 16, 2), an accusation which would have had no plausibility unless the destruction of the porticoes had been useful to isolate the castle. Pseudo-Hecatseus gives the temple precincts a length of 500 feet and a breadth of 100 cubits. The explanation of these numbers will appear in the sequel. Herod s 3. The Temple of Herod. In the eighteenth year of his temple. re i gn (20-19 B.C.) Herod the Great began to rebuild the temple and its precincts from the foundation, doubling the old area (Ant., xv. 11 ; Bell. Jud., i. 21). The works included the reconstruction, on the old site, of the Baris, which now received the name of Antonia, and is generally reckoned by Josephus as forming part of the temple precincts. Apart from the Antonia, the temple area formed a quadrangular plateau supported by retaining walls of great height and strength, and surrounded by porticoes. Three of the porticoes were double walks, 30 cubits broad, with monolith pillars 25 cubits high, and cedar roofs; the fourth or southern portico (the Stoa Basilica) had four rows of Corinthian pillars and three walks, respectively 30, 45, and 30 cubits in breadth. The middle walk was twice the height of the aisles, and the latter were 50 feet high. As regards the size of this enclosure, we are told by Josephus that the Stoa Basilica was a stadium or GOO feet long (Ant., xv. 11, 5) ; and in Ant., xx. 9, 7, the same length is assigned to the eastern colonnade, which was known as Solomon s Porch (comp. John x. 23; Acts iii. 11 and v. 12), because it, and it alone, rested on an ancient substructure held to be the work of Solomon. The whole circuit of the porticoes was therefore 4 stadia, 1 or with the Antonia 6 stadia (B. J., v. 5, 2). The Antonia lay on the north side (Ant., xv. 11, 4) and communicated by stairs with the north and west porticoes at the north-west angle of the enclosure. Fergusson and others suppose that it touched the temple only at this angle, thence stretching north and west. But in this case the Antonia, which, as we shall see below, lay just north of Wilson s arch, would have been built over the hollow of the Tyropceon valley, a supposition absurd in itself and inconsistent with B.J., v. 5, 8, which says that it stood on a cliff. Again, the tower 70 cubits high that stood at the south-east angle of the Antonia overlooked the whole temple, just as we know from Pseudo-Aristaeus that the old Acra overlooked the altar. But, if the south-east angle of the Antonia had been, as Fergusson supposes, at the north-west angle of the temple porticoes, the view from the tower would have been intercepted by the lofty porch in front of the Holy Place. The Antonia, therefore, had its south face along part of the north face of the temple enclosure, and to gain a circuit of 6 stadia for temple and Antonia together we must assign to the latter the length of a stadium from north to south. This is not too much, for Josephus describes it as a little town in itself (B.J., v. 5, 8). The Antonia, the porticoes, and the space immediately within them (the outer court, or, as modern writers call it, the court of the Gentiles) were not holy ground. But in 1 This measurement (Ant., xv. 11, 3) has often been taken to refer to Solomon s temple. But this view is not demanded by the words of Josephus, and is inconsistent with the other measurements he gives and with B.J., v. 5, 1, which states that the plateau was levelled up by Solomon only on the east. This from the lie of the contour lines makes a plateau 600 feet square impossible. The Mishnah makes the &quot;mountain of the house&quot; a square of 500 cubits, apparently borrowing from Ezekiel. the middle of the enclosure there was a platform raised 15 cubits above the court of the Gentiles and fenced off by a barrier, with inscriptions, one of which still exists (Palestine E. F. Quarterly Statement, 1871, p. 132), forbid ding aliens to pass on pain of death. The platform was approached by steps on all sides but the west (B.J., v. 1, 5, and 5, 2), and was surrounded by a wall, rising 25 cubits above the inner level, and pierced by four gates on the north side and as many on the south. On the west there was no gate, but on the east that is, in front of the fane there were two, one within the other; for the eastern end of the platform was walled off to form a separate court for the women, at a somewhat lower level. One of the northern and one of the southern gates belonged to the court of the women, but it was also entered directly from the east by a very splendid gate of Corinthian brass, much more costly than the others, though they were overlaid with silver and gold. An enormous gate, 40 cubits wide and 50 high (gate Nicanor), connected the women s court with the higher part of the platform, or court of the men of Israel. The beautiful gate of Acts iii. 2 is variously identified with the first or second of these eastern portals. The walls of the platform were lined within with chambers, in front of which ran a splendid colonnade ; and the gate ways were connected with the colonnade by small lofty halls (exedrse), which from without had a tower-like aspect. It is doubtful whether all the gates had exedrae, ; but, on the other hand, there was such a hall also at the west end where no gate opened. In the court of the men i.e., in the upper and western part of the platform just described stood the fane or temple proper raised twelve steps above the court. For the ground plan of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies the ancient dimensions of Solomon s temple were preserved, and the external size demanded by the scale of the surroundings was gained by increasing their height, placing a lofty second story above them, making their walls and those of the surrounding chambers (corresponding to the chambers in the first temple) enor mously thick, and placing at the front or east end a porch 100 cubits wide and 100 cubits high. The open doorway of this porch was overlaid with gold, as was also the door of the fane and the wall round it. To the ornament of the entrance belonged also a golden vine with clusters of grapes as big as a man. In front of the fane beneath the steps was the great altar of stone, 50 (or, according to the Middoth, 32) cubits square and 15 high; it was as cended by a flight of steps from the south. The part of the court round the fane and the altar was fenced off for the use of the priests, and other Israelites were admitted only when the sacrificial ritual required the presence of the sacrificer. Besides the descriptions in Josephus, we have for Herod s temple a mass of details and measurements in the Mishnic treatise Middoth. Josephus was himself a priest, while the Mishnah was not written till a century after the destruction of the temple, though it uses traditions that go back to Levites who had served in the temple. The two sources differ in many measurements, and the Middoth appears to be possessed of detailed traditions only for the inner temple. The state of the evidence is not such as to allow a plan of the temple to be formed with architectural precision. The above account rests almost entirely on Josephus, who, apart from certain exaggerations in detail, gives a satisfactory general account, such as could be written from memory without notes and drawings. Herod s gigantic and costly structures were still in building, forty-six years after their commencement, when our Lord began His ministry (John ii. 20), and the works were not completed till the procuratorship of Albinus (62- 64 A.D.). In 66 the great revolt against Rome broke out, and in August 70 Jerusalem was taken by Titus and the temple perished in a great conflagration. 2 2 On 10 Ab ; but Jewish tradition celebrates 9 Ab as the day of the destruction of the temple.