Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/215

 Enumeration of Documents Consulted. 197 local colour. We know that that generation was not destined to gaze upon the land of promise ; the day of the return had to be waited for another space, but when it did come Nehemiah had materials in abundance to work from. The precision of detail in this part of Ezekiel's plan could not be explained, except on the assumption that he described from working-drawings taken to Babylon, but which had been made at the time of the building and at the successive repairs of the temple. That the drafts and drawings of Hiram's builders were pre- served in the hieratic archives, may be inferred from the countless ground plans, diagrams, etc., recovered in the ancient temples of Egypt, whence we know, the Phoenicians derived their methods and their arts. To the outbuildings shown in the plan of the prophet, already referred to, should be included the porters' lodges, chambers or watch-towers over the great gateways, safes and stores for votive offerings, vestries, sleeping apartments, slaughter-houses, kitchens, tanks here and there on the esplanade for ablutionary purposes, together with altars groaning under ever fresh sacrifices. The splendid proportions and unity of conception which dis- tinguish the scheme of Ezekiel, were in part realized in the second temple built by Herod in one year and six months. The naos or temple was small, and on the traditionary lines ; but its inner porches, colonnades, and gateways, were on a magnificent scale, and testified throughout to Greek influence ; whereas the art of Ezekiel, in so far as may be judged from the scanty orna- mentation of his building, was Oriental — a combination of Egyptian and Assyrian art, such as had been known to Solomon. The historical books of the Old Testament and the vision of Ezekiel are not the only documents that deal with the haram. Circumstantial accounts of it may be read in Josephus, the Talmuds and Targums, and, when properly interpreted, will be found to complete the picture and supplement one another. The Talmuds may briefly be stated as composed of two parts — laws, oral and corollary, which must have existed from the beginning of the Mosaic code, and which rolled on and increased with each succeeding age. Legendary ore, afloat among the various clans or neighbouring people which the doctors of the law, " elders," collected, expounded, and developed during the space of two thousand years. The Talmuds are specially concerned with the