OD.
Under the sons of Herod the Temple remained ap- parently iti good order, and Herod Agrippa, who was appointed by the emperor Claudius its guardian, even planned the repair of tiie eastern part, whieli iiad prob- ably been destroyed during one of the contiicts between tiie Jews and l>omans of which tlie Temple was repeat- edly the scene (.loseidins, Ant. xvii, 10). During the final struggle of the Jews against the Romans, A.D. 70, the Temple was the last scene of the tug of war. The Koraans rushed from the Tower of Antonia into the sa- cred precincts, tiie luUls of which were set on fire by the Jews themselves. It was .igainst the will of Titus that a IJoman soldier tlirew a firebrand into liie north- ern out-buildings of the Temple, which caused the con- flagration of the wiiole structure, althougli Titus him- self endeavored to extinguisii the fire (ll'ff, vi, 4). Josephus remarks," One cannot but wonder at the accu- racy of this period thereto relating; for the same month and day were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burned formerly by the Babylonians. Xow the number of j-ears that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by king Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one huiulred and thirty, besides seven months and fif- teen days ; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai in the second year of Cyrus the king, till its destruction under Vespasian there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days."
The sacred utensils, the golden table of the shew- bread, the book of the law, and the golden candlestick were displayed in the triumidi at Home. Representa- tions of them are still to be seen sculptured in relief on the triumphal arch of Titus (see Fleck, Wissenschaft- licke Heine, i, 1, plate i-iv; and Reland, De Spoliis Tem- pli Hiernsolymitani in Arcu Titiiino, ed. E. A. Schulze [Traj. ad Rh. 1775]). The place where the Temple had stood seemed to be a dangerous centre for the rebell- ious population, until, in A.D. 136, the etnperor Hadrian founded a Roman colony under the name /Elia Capito- lina on the ruins of Jerusalem, and dedicated a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the ruins of the Temple of Jehovali. Henceforth no Jew was permitted to ap- proach the site of the ancient Temple, although the worshippers of Jehovah were, in derision, compelled to pay a tax for the maintenance of the Temple of Jupiter (see Dion Cassius [Xiphil.J, Ixix, 12; Jerome, Ad Jes. ii, 9; vi, 11 sq. ; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iv, 6 ; Demon- stratio Eviinfjelico, viii, 18). Under the reign of Con- staiitine the Great some Jews were severely punished for having attempted to restore the Temple (see F'abri- cii Lux Ecdiir/elii, p. 124).
The emperor JuHan undertook, in 3G3, to rebuild the Temple; but, after considerable preparation and much expense, he was compelled to desist by fiames which burst forth from the foundations (see Ammianus Mar- cellinus, xxiii, 1; Socrates, /Juf. Kecks, in, 20; Sozomen, " V, 22; Tlieodoret, iii, 15; Schriickh, Kirchengeschichte, vi, 3x5 sq.). Rejieated attempts have been made to account for these igneous explosions by natural causes; for instance, by the ignition of gases which had long been pent up in subterraneous vaults (see Michaelis, Zerstr. kl. Schrift. iii, 453 sq.). A similar event is men- tioned by Josephus (^Ant. xvi, 7, 1), where we are in- formed that Herod, while plundering the tombs of Da- vid and Solomon, was suddenly frightened by flames whicii burst out and killed two of his soldiers. Bishop Warburton contends for the miraculousnessof the event in his discfuirse Concerninrj the EarthqiKike and Fiery Eruption triiich Ihfeated .Julians A ttempt to Rebuild the Temple of Jernsalem, See also Lotter, llistoria In- staunttionis Teinpli Uicrosolyruilaiu sub Juliano (Lips.
1728, 4to); Michaelis (F. Holzfuss), Zim. rfe TempH ffi- erosulyniitani .Juliani Mandato per Judtnosjrustra Ten' lata liestitutiotui (\.\a\. 1751, 4to) ; Lardner, Collection of Ancient .Ictcish and Heathen Testimonies, iv, 57 sq. ; Ernesti, Theol. Bibl. ix, ()04 sq. R. Tourlet's French translation of the works of Julian (Paris, 1821). ii, 435 sq., contains an examination of the evidence concern- ing tliis remarkable event. See also Jost, Gesehichte der Israeliten, iv, 211, 254 sq. ; and id., Allt/emeine Ge- sehichte lies jiidischen Vol/ccs, ii, 158. See Jri.iAX.
A splendid mosfpie now stands on the site of the Temple. This moscpie was erected by the caliph Omar after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Saracens in G36. Some think that Omar changed a Christian church which stood on the ground of the Temjile into the mosque which is now called El Aksa, the outer, or northern, because it is the third of the most celelirated mosques, two of which, namely, those of Mecca and ^le- dina, are in a more soutliern latitude. See IMosque.
in. Situation and Accessories of the Temple. — 1. The site of the Temple is clearly stated in 2 Cliron. iii, 1 : '•Then Solomon began to build the ho'use of the Lord at Jerusalem in jVIount Moriah, where the Lord ai)pear- ed unto David, his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman (or Araunah) tlie .Jebusite." In south-eastern countries the site of the threshing-floors is selected according to the same principles w^hich might guide us in the selection of the site of windmills. We find them usually on the tops of hills which are on all sides exposed to the winds, the current of which is required in order to separate the grain from the chaff. It seems that the summit of Mo- riah, although large enough for the agricultural pur- poses of Araunah, had no level sufficient for the plans of Solomon, According to Josephus {War, v, 5), the foundations of the Temple were laid on a steep emi- nence, the summit of which was at first insufKcient for the Temple and altar. As it was surrounded by preci- pices, it became necessarj' to build up walls and but- tresses in order to gain more ground by filling up the interval Avith earth. The hill was also fortified by a threefold wall, the lowest tier of which was in some places more than three hundred cubits high ; and the depth of the foundation was not visible, because it had been necessary in some parts to dig deep into the ground in order to obtain sufficient support. The dimensions of the stones of which the walls were composed were enormous; Josephus mentions a length of forty cubits. It is, however, likely that some parts of the fortifica- tions of Moriah were added at a later period.