War of the Jews, Book 5 Chapter 5
by Flavius Josephus
Description of the Jerusalem Temple
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1. NOW this temple, as I have already said, was built upon a strong hill.
At first the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for the holy house and
the altar, for the ground about it was very uneven, and like a precipice;
but when king Solomon, who was the person that built the temple, had built
a wall to it on its east side, there was then added one cloister founded
on a bank cast up for it, and on the other parts the holy house stood naked.
But in future ages the people added new banks, and the hill became a larger
plain. They then broke down the wall on the north side, and took in as much
as sufficed afterward for the compass of the entire temple. And when they
had built walls on three sides of the temple round about, from the bottom
of the hill, and had performed a work that was greater than could be hoped
for, (in which work long ages were spent by them, as well as all their sacred
treasures were exhausted, which were still replenished by those tributes
which were sent to God from the whole habitable earth,) they then encompassed
their upper courts with cloisters, as well as they [afterward] did the lowest
[court of the] temple. The lowest part of this was erected to the height
of three hundred cubits, and in some places more; yet did not the entire
depth of the foundations appear, for they brought earth, and filled up the
valleys, as being desirous to make them on a level with the narrow streets
of the city; wherein they made use of stones of forty cubits in magnitude;
for the great plenty of money they then had, and the liberality of the people,
made this attempt of theirs to succeed to an incredible degree; and what
could not be so much as hoped for as ever to be accomplished, was, by
perseverance and length of time, brought to perfection.
2. Now for the works that were above these foundations, these were not unworthy
of such foundations; for all the cloisters were double, and the pillars to
them belonging were twenty-five cubits in height, and supported the cloisters.
These pillars were of one entire stone each of them, and that stone was white
marble; and the roofs were adorned with cedar, curiously graven. The natural
magnificence, and excellent polish, and the harmony of the joints in these
cloisters, afforded a prospect that was very remarkable; nor was it on the
outside adorned with any work of the painter or engraver. The cloisters [of
the outmost court] were in breadth thirty cubits, while the entire compass
of it was by measure six furlongs, including the tower of Antonia; those
entire courts that were exposed to the air were laid with stones of all sorts.
When you go through these [first] cloisters, unto the second [court of the]
temple, there was a partition made of stone all round, whose height was three
cubits: its construction was very elegant; upon it stood pillars, at equal
distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek, and
some in Roman letters, that "no foreigner should go within that sanctuary"
for that second [court of the] temple was called "the Sanctuary," and was
ascended to by fourteen steps from the first court. This court was four-square,
and had a wall about it peculiar to itself; the height of its buildings,
although it were on the outside forty cubits, was hidden by the steps, and
on the inside that height was but twenty-five cubits; for it being built
over against a higher part of the hill with steps, it was no further to be
entirely discerned within, being covered by the hill itself. Beyond these
thirteen steps there was the distance of ten cubits; this was all plain;
whence there were other steps, each of five cubits a-piece, that led to the
gates, which gates on the north and south sides were eight, on each of those
sides four, and of necessity two on the east. For since there was a partition
built for the women on that side, as the proper place wherein they were to
worship, there was a necessity for a second gate for them: this gate was
cut out of its wall, over against the first gate. There was also on the other
sides one southern and one northern gate, through which was a passage into
the court of the women; for as to the other gates, the women were not allowed
to pass through them; nor when they went through their own gate could they
go beyond their own wall. This place was allotted to the women of our own
country, and of other countries, provided they were of the same nation, and
that equally. The western part of this court had no gate at all, but the
wall was built entire on that side. But then the cloisters which were betwixt
the gates extended from the wall inward, before the chambers; for they were
supported by very fine and large pillars. These cloisters were single, and,
excepting their magnitude, were no way inferior to those of the lower court.
3. Now nine of these gates were on every side covered over with gold and
silver, as were the jambs of their doors and their lintels; but there was
one gate that was without the [inward court of the] holy house, which was
of Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those that were only covered over
with silver and gold. Each gate had two doors, whose height was severally
thirty cubits, and their breadth fifteen. However, they had large spaces
within of thirty cubits, and had on each side rooms, and those, both in breadth
and in length, built like towers, and their height was above forty cubits.
Two pillars did also support these rooms, and were in circumference twelve
cubits. Now the magnitudes of the other gates were equal one to another;
but that over the Corinthian gate, which opened on the east over against
the gate of the holy house itself, was much larger; for its height was fifty
cubits; and its doors were forty cubits; and it was adorned after a most
costly manner, as having much richer and thicker plates of silver and gold
upon them than the other. These nine gates had that silver and gold poured
upon them by Alexander, the father of Tiberius. Now there were fifteen steps,
which led away from the wall of the court of the women to this greater gate;
whereas those that led thither from the other gates were five steps shorter.
4. As to the holy house itself, which was placed in the midst [of the inmost
court], that most sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to by twelve
steps; and in front its height and its breadth were equal, and each a hundred
cubits, though it was behind forty cubits narrower; for on its front it had
what may be styled shoulders on each side, that passed twenty cubits further.
Its first gate was seventy cubits high, and twenty-five cubits broad; but
this gate had no doors; for it represented the universal visibility of heaven,
and that it cannot be excluded from any place. Its front was covered with
gold all over, and through it the first part of the house, that was more
inward, did all of it appear; which, as it was very large, so did all the
parts about the more inward gate appear to shine to those that saw them;
but then, as the entire house was divided into two parts within, it was only
the first part of it that was open to our view. Its height extended all along
to ninety cubits in height, and its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth
twenty. But that gate which was at this end of the first part of the house
was, as we have already observed, all over covered with gold, as was its
whole wall about it; it had also golden vines above it, from which clusters
of grapes hung as tall as a man's height. But then this house, as it was
divided into two parts, the inner part was lower than the appearance of the
outer, and had golden doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in
breadth; but before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with
the doors. It was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen,
and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor
was this mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation, but was a
kind of image of the universe; for by the scarlet there seemed to be
enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the
air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors the foundation
of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own origin
for that foundation, the earth producing the one, and the sea the other.
This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens,
excepting that of the [twelve] signs, representing living creatures.
5. When any persons entered into the temple, its floor received them. This
part of the temple therefore was in height sixty cubits, and its length the
same; whereas its breadth was but twenty cubits: but still that sixty cubits
in length was divided again, and the first part of it was cut off at forty
cubits, and had in it three things that were very wonderful and famous among
all mankind, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and the altar of
incense. Now the seven lamps signified the seven planets; for so many there
were springing out of the candlestick. Now the twelve loaves that were upon
the table signified the circle of the zodiac and the year; but the altar
of incense, by its thirteen kinds of sweet-smelling spices with which the
sea replenished it, signified that God is the possessor of all things that
are both in the uninhabitable and habitable parts of the earth, and that
they are all to be dedicated to his use. But the inmost part of the temple
of all was of twenty cubits. This was also separated from the outer part
by a veil. In this there was nothing at all. It was inaccessible and inviolable,
and not to be seen by any; and was called the Holy of Holies. Now, about
the sides of the lower part of the temple, there were little houses, with
passages out of one into another; there were a great many of them, and they
were of three stories high; there were also entrances on each side into them
from the gate of the temple. But the superior part of the temple had no such
little houses any further, because the temple was there narrower, and forty
cubits higher, and of a smaller body than the lower parts of it. Thus we
collect that the whole height, including the sixty cubits from the floor,
amounted to a hundred cubits.
6. Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that was
likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was covered all
over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the
sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those who forced themselves
to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as they would have done at
the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were
coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for as to
those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. On its top
it had spikes with sharp points, to prevent any pollution of it by birds
sitting upon it. Of its stones, some of them were forty-five cubits in length,
five in height, and six in breadth. Before this temple stood the altar, fifteen
cubits high, and equal both in length and breadth; each of which dimensions
was fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was a square, and it had corners
like horns; and the passage up to it was by an insensible acclivity. It was
formed without any iron tool, nor did any such iron tool so much as touch
it at any time. There was also a wall of partition, about a cubit in height,
made of fine stones, and so as to be grateful to the sight; this encompassed
the holy house and the altar, and kept the people that were on the outside
off from the priests. Moreover, those that had the gonorrhea and the leprosy
were excluded out of the city entirely; women also, when their courses were
upon them, were shut out of the temple; nor when they were free from that
impurity, were they allowed to go beyond the limit before-mentioned; men
also, that were not thoroughly pure, were prohibited to come into the inner
[court of the] temple; nay, the priests themselves that were not pure were
prohibited to come into it also.
7. Now all those of the stock of the priests that could not minister by reason
of some defect in their bodies, came within the partition, together with
those that had no such imperfection, and had their share with them by reason
of their stock, but still made use of none except their own private garments;
for nobody but he that officiated had on his sacred garments; but then those
priests that were without any blemish upon them went up to the altar clothed
in fine linen. They abstained chiefly from wine, out of this fear, lest otherwise
they should transgress some rules of their ministration. The high priest
did also go up with them; not always indeed, but on the seventh days and
new moons, and if any festivals belonging to our nation, which we celebrate
every year, happened. When he officiated, he had on a pair of breeches that
reached beneath his privy parts to his thighs, and had on an inner garment
of linen, together with a blue garment, round, without seam, with fringe
work, and reaching to the feet. There were also golden bells that hung upon
the fringes, and pomegranates intermixed among them. The bells signified
thunder, and the pomegranates lightning. But that girdle that tied the garment
to the breast was embroidered with five rows of various colors, of gold,
and purple, and scarlet, as also of fine linen and blue, with which colors
we told you before the veils of the temple were embroidered also. The like
embroidery was upon the ephod; but the quantity of gold therein was greater.
Its figure was that of a stomacher for the breast. There were upon it two
golden buttons like small shields, which buttoned the ephod to the garment;
in these buttons were enclosed two very large and very excellent sardonyxes,
having the names of the tribes of that nation engraved upon them: on the
other part there hung twelve stones, three in a row one way, and four in
the other; a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; a carbuncle, a jasper, and
a sapphire; an agate, an amethyst, and a ligure; an onyx, a beryl, and a
chrysolite; upon every one of which was again engraved one of the forementioned
names of the tribes. A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which
was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in
which was engraven the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels.
However, the high priest did not wear these garments at other times, but
a more plain habit; he only did it when he went into the most sacred part
of the temple, which he did but once in a year, on that day when our custom
is for all of us to keep a fast to God. And thus much concerning the city
and the temple; but for the customs and laws hereto relating, we shall speak
more accurately another time; for there remain a great many things thereto
relating which have not been here touched upon.
8. Now as to the tower of Antonia, it was situated at the corner of two cloisters
of the court of the temple; of that on the west, and that on the north; it
was erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height, and was on a great precipice;
it was the work of king Herod, wherein he demonstrated his natural magnanimity.
In the first place, the rock itself was covered over with smooth pieces of
stone, from its foundation, both for ornament, and that any one who would
either try to get up or to go down it might not be able to hold his feet
upon it. Next to this, and before you come to the edifice of the tower itself,
there was a wall three cubits high; but within that wall all the space of
the tower of Antonia itself was built upon, to the height of forty cubits.
The inward parts had the largeness and form of a palace, it being parted
into all kinds of rooms and other conveniences, such as courts, and places
for bathing, and broad spaces for camps; insomuch that, by having all
conveniences that cities wanted, it might seem to be composed of several
cities, but by its magnificence it seemed a palace. And as the entire structure
resembled that of a tower, it contained also four other distinct towers at
its four corners; whereof the others were but fifty cubits high; whereas
that which lay upon the southeast corner was seventy cubits high, that from
thence the whole temple might be viewed; but on the corner where it joined
to the two cloisters of the temple, it had passages down to them both, through
which the guard (for there always lay in this tower a Roman legion) went
several ways among the cloisters, with their arms, on the Jewish festivals,
in order to watch the people, that they might not there attempt to make any
innovations; for the temple was a fortress that guarded the city, as was
the tower of Antonia a guard to the temple; and in that tower were the guards
of those three. There was also a peculiar fortress belonging to the upper
city, which was Herod's palace; but for the hill Bezetha, it was divided
from the tower Antonia, as we have already told you; and as that hill on
which the tower of Antonia stood was the highest of these three, so did it
adjoin to the new city, and was the only place that hindered the sight of
the temple on the north. And this shall suffice at present to have spoken
about the city and the walls about it, because I have proposed to myself
to make a more accurate description of it elsewhere. |
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