(f/.) Behind this, we are told, was the inner court, adorned w'ith gardens and fountains, and surrounded by cloisters for shade; and besides this were other courts for the residence of the attendants and guards, and, in Solomon's case, for the three hundred women of his harem : all of which are shown in the plan (fig. 1) with more clearness than can be conveyed by a verbal de- scription.
(e.) Apart from this palace, but attached, as Josephus tells us, to the Hall of Judgment, was the palace of Pharaoh's daughter — too proud and important a person- age to be grouped with the ladies of the harem, and re- cpiiring a residence of her own.
(f.) There is still another building mentioned by Josephus, as a naos or temple, supported by massive columns, and situated opposite the Ilall of Judgment. It may thus have been outside, in front of the palace in the city; but more probably was, as shown in the plan, in the centre of the great court. Fergusson thinks it could not have been a temple, in the ordinary accep- tation of the term, as the Jews had only one temple, and that was situated on the other side of the valley ; but it may have been an aUar covered by a baldachi- no. This would equally meet the exigencies of the de- scription as well as the probabilities of the case; and so it has been represented in the plan above (fig. 1, " altar").
If the site and disposition of the palace were as above indicated, it would require two great portals : one leading from the city to the great court, shown at 31 ; the other to
the Temple and the king's garden, at N. This last, Fer- gusson supposes, was situated where tJie stairs then were which led up to the City of David, and where the bridge afterwards joined the Temple to the city and palace.
The recent discoveries at Nineveh have enabled us to understand many of the architectural details of this palace, which before they were made were almost wholly inexplicable. (See the Jour, of Sac. Lit. Jan. 1852, p. 4-22.) We are told, for instance, that the walls of the halls of the palace Avere wainscoted with three tiers of stone, apparently versicolored marbles, hewn and pol- ished, and surmounted by a fourth course, elaborately carved with representations of leafage and flowers. Above this the walls were plastered and ornamented with colored arabesques. At Nineveh the walls were, like these, wainscoted to a height of about eight feet, but with alabaster, a peculiar product of the country, and these were separated from the painted space above by an architectural band; the real difference being that the Assyrians revelled in sculptural representations of men and animals, as we now know from the sculptures brought home, as well as from the passage in Ezekiel (xxiii, 14), where he describes "men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chakteans portrayed with ver- milion," etc. Tiiese modes of decoration were forbid- den to the Jews by the second commandment, given to them in consequence of their residence in Egypt and their consequent tendency to that multiform idolatry. Some difference may also be due to the fact that the soft alabaster, though admirably suited to bassi-relievi, was not suited for sharp, deeply cut foliage sculpture, like that described b}' Josephus; w^hile, at the same time, the hard material used by the Jews might induce them to limit their ornamentation to one band only. It is probable, however, that a considerable amount of color was used in the decoration of these palaces, not only from the constant reference to gold and gilding in Solomon's buildings, and because that as a color could hardly be used alone, but also from such passages as the following: "Build me a wide house and large" — or through-aired — " chambers, and cutteth out windows ; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion" (Jer. xxii, 14). It may also be added that in the East all buildings, with scarcely an exception, are adorned with color internally, generally the three primitive col- ors used in all their intensity, but so balanced as to pro- duce the most harmonious results. See Assyria.
2. Quite diflfercnt is the scheme proposed by Thenius in the J'Jxeff. Ihmdb. zum. A . T., of which the following is substantially a reproduction :
(«.) On this plan, proceeding from without, the first part was " the House of the Forest of Lebanon," so called, probably, because it was constructed of cedar- wood from Lebanon. Tliis served as an audience- chamber or hall of state (Joseph. I. c), and was hung around with costly armor (1 Kings x, 16, 17). The Targum calls it " the house of the cooling of the king," probably because of the refreshing air which its size, its elevated site, and its open construction secured for it. Some have thought it was a sort of winter -garden or conservator}- ; but this is less probable. Its proportions, 100 cubits of length, 50 of breadth, and 30 of height, must be understood of the inner measurement; so that the area of this hall was larger than that of the temple, the height of both being the same (vi, 2). A solid wall of masonry enclosed the wood-work (ver. 9). The area of this hall was sur- rounded by four rows of cedar pillars. The statement in ver. 2 is commonly taken to indicate four straight lines of pillars, and much perplexity has been caused on this supposition by the subsequent statement (ver. 3) that there were 45 pillars, 15 in a row. If there were 4 rows intersecting the hall lengthways, and 15 inter- secting its breadth, there must have been 60 pillars in all. This has led some arbitrarily to read three furjour; contrary to all the codices and all the versions, the Sept. excepted. But "IIU does not signify a series in line,