Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/219

 ( 20I ) CHAPTER IV. THE TEMPLE OF EZEKIEL. i. — Plan. The end of chapter forty-two and beginning of chapter forty-five in the version of the Seventy, contain the statement that the temple, in its comprehensive meaning, is a square of 500 cubits on the side, enclosed by a wall six cubits in thickness. These figures may be checked and the same result obtained by adding up the dimensions of the various structures comprised in the area 1 (Fig. 126). The cubit used here is generally supposed to have measured 18 inches. This, however, is of little importance, and adopted solely as a mutule which serves to note the points of touch, and bring out the proportions of the different parts in the composition. The next item specified by the prophet is the Eastern Gate, 50 cubits in length by 25 in width (chap. xl. 6-16), which should be placed in the axis of the monument, i.e. in the middle of the east face of the square. Facing the eastern gate, 2 at a distance of too cubits, is another doorway of exactly the same dimensions, which opens into an inner court or square, followed by a second or temple square, then by a third, which for convenience sake, we will call after court. Each square measures 100 cubits on the side. 3 Fig. 126. — Square of Sacred Area. Ezek. xl. 5. Ibid., xl. 23. 3 Ibid. xli. 12.