court on the western side (see Jerusalem, vol. ii.
fi. 5'J3'). The ' pri-son gate' of Neh 1'2^* was nmst ikely on the north side (ib.). In later times there was a bridge crossing the Tyropoeon or Cheese- motigers' Valley from the modern Mount Zion to the temi)le hill. When Pompey besieged Jeru- salem, many Jews took refuge on the temple area and broke this bridge, that the Koman soldiers might be hindered from coining to them. This w.as probably where the remains of Wilson's arch are now seen, though Kosen.a thinks the bridge was of Herod's making.
Later history of this temple. — Simon the high priest, son of Onias, repaired and fortilied the temjile ; but the passage in which we have the information^ is very obscure.
In B.C. 168 Antiochus Epiphanes plundered, laid waste, and desecrated the temple, y He placed an altar to Jupiter Olj'inpius on the altar of burnt- oU'ering. Tne brazen vessels taken away by him were given by him to sympathizing Jews at Antioch, and they were transferred to the local synagogue.5 Three years e later Judas Maccab.ijus recovered Jerusalem, cleansed and repaired the house, made a new altar, and also fresh vessels.^ The Feast of Dedication, still observed among Jews, commemor- ates the opening ceremony of the restored and cleansed temple. At this time Judas also adorned the front of the temple by hanging u]);; gilded crowns and shields, 8 and he also fortilied the enclosure by putting high walls around it.i These were razed to the ground by Antiochus Eupator,K but restored by Jonathan Maccakeus ; \ they were strengthened by Simon his brother.^i Reference has already been made to the wall put around the inner court by Alexander Jannteus. In B.C. 63 Pompey conquered Jerusalem, and after a long siege took the well - fortified temple hill. He entered the house, and even, in the face of loud protests, the dibir itself ; but he did not touch the sacred vessels.^ Nine years later (n.c. 54) Crassus plundered the temple of its valuable things most mercilessly, taking away what «as worth two millions of pounds in English money. f Herod, afterwards called the Great, a descendant of the Maccabees, was made king of the Jews by ilecree of the Koman Senate. In B.C. 37 he stormed Jeru- salem,o and burned some of the temple walls, causing a goodly amount of blood to be shed. l'"rom other injury, however, he protected the temple.
iv. HEROD'S Temple.— The sources.— l^\\a prin- ci])al .sources of information in regard to Herod's temple are : (1) Josephus, who in Ant. XV. xi. gives a full account of the outer court with its gates and rooms, and in BJ V. v. describes the inner court and also the liou.se. Josephus was a jiriest, and was therefore familiar with the temple and its services from personal experience. He writes his history, however, from memory, and he is so full of admiration for the sacred enclosure that he falls into obvious exaggeration when giving measurements. (2) The Mishnie tract Middoth preserves valuable Jewish traditions (see Eng. tr. in Barclay's Talmud, reproduced in F'ergusson's Temples of tlie Jews, Appendix i. In Surenhusius' Mislina [vol. vi.] there is a Lat. tr. of the text, as also the text and translation of Bartinora's Com-
• iToramTfT., c(. p. 04. ^SlrSOif-
J. 1 Mac 12"- "f- " 43S, 2 Mao O^-. > Joa BJ vil. ill. 8.
1 1 .Mac 4-*"i*', 2 Mac 103 (two years, according to last passagoX { .njijq ; cf. Jn loaa. See 1 Mao i^^ " 1" ("» ; Jos. AiU. Ju vll. 7. <j Inside the porch. 0 1 Mac 4*7.
1 1 .Mac 4« 07. « 1 Mac GM.
X 1 Mac 003 of. with 6', 2 Mao 123« ; Jos. Ant. xin. v. IL /i 1 Mac 13°3. > Jos. ..int. XIT. tv. L
{ Jos. A nt. XIV. vil. 1 ; fly L vUL 8.
• Jos. Ant. XIV. xvL ti.
712
TEJIPLE
TE]\rPLE
mentary). The Middoth is more modest in its dimensions than Joseplius, and nearer ilie truth ; hut it is also often inaccurate. Kabhi Hilders- heim's Die Bcsvhreibung des Herod. Tempel im Tractate Middut und bei Fl. Joseph, status and examines the divergences between these authorities.
(3) Maimonides in np;n t (part vi.) collects many passages about tlie temple wliich are scattered tlirough the Talmud. These relate especially to the priests, temple furniture, etc., and have Deen put into Latin by Ludwig Compibgne. This tr. is to be met with in Ugolinus' Thesaurus, vol. viii.
(4) Dr. Jolin Lightfoot's work on The Temple, etc. (London, 1823), rests mainly upon Rabbinical sources, and is for that reason valuable.
Was Uerod's temple the gecorui or the third f — It is usual to speak of Herod's temple as the third Jenisalem temple. Modern Jews, however, followed by m.iny Christian writers, re<,'ard it Bs simply the second temple rebuilt and improved, and ko call it the secoDd temple. Christians are led to this coDclusion, or
I Antonia I
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got together all the material before the work ot rebuilding was begun, and tlien pulled down and put tip as gradually as could be (lone. Since only
Eriests could enter the house and the inner court, e engaged a thousand of them to act as masons and carpenters in these parts. The building of the house was hastened on with great vigour, and was finished in a year and a half. Surrounding buildings took eight years, but the work went on, and was not ended until the time of the procurator Albinus (A.D. 62-64). The Jews (see Jn 2-°) said the temple had been forty-six years in buildiitg, and in fact it was still in building then, and was to be for over thirty years more (but see E. A. Abbott in Class. Rec. 1894, p. 8911'.). The building ia spoken of as exceedingly impressive in its grandeur. Its eastern front was covered with plates of gold, which threw back the rays of the rising sun, and formed an object of rare beauty for miles around. The stone of which it was built was white marble.