mcnts : we have examined his authorities and conclusions in detail, and believe that no accurate description can do much more than follow his digest on this subject. We have embodied the results iu our map accompanying this volume. The points in which we have varied from his plan are too few and unimportant to be worth enumerat- ing. One parlicular, however, requires special considera- tion, because its settlement involves the discussion of the few points that have not been determined above; and to this we add such otlier remarks as will convey a sufli- ciently definite idea of the main edifice.
1. The Position of the Great Altar. — Its distance from the northern boundary of the Court of the Israelites is given in the Mishna in the following words: "From north to south [ ihe Israelites' Court was] 135 cubits [wide], as follows: from the ascent to the extremity of the altar [i. e. the whole length of the altar including its inclined ascent] were 62 cubits [i. e. horizontal measure, for the altar is elsewhere given as 32 cubits square, ami the slope of the ascent as another 32 cubits, which would give 04 instead of G2 cubits, measured superficially (see Lightfoot, Works, ix, 413)], from the altar to the rings 8 cubits; the place of the rings was 24 cubits, thence from the rings to the tables were 4 cubits, from the tables to the columns 4, from the columns to the wall of the court 8 cul)its [making ihus 110 cubits] ; the rest [25 cubits] leere as well the space between the ascent and leall as a 2^laee of cobrmns" (Middotli, v, 1). This last clause is somewhat ambiguous, but is generally understood as meaning that there was a space of 25 culiits between the south wall and the foot of the "ascent," which contained some extra posts (like those on the north side) for sacrificing on crowded occasions— an interpretation from which we do not see any good reason for dissenting. So L'Bmpereur (in his sep'araie commentary on the Middoth,]\ 17'i) ex- plains, '■^Partly for an [open] sjiace and ])artly for the place of [extra] columns," assigning 12v. cubits to each portion, which amounts to the same thing as to the point in question. So also Lightfoot ( 11 nd-.s-. ix. 413). The po- sition of the altar from east to west is fixed with regard to the court iu which it lay iu terms which are free from any ambiguity.
In common with most antiquarians, we are disposed to find the native rock, ou which the altar is assumed to have been reared, in the remarkable Sacred Mock under the dome of the central mosque of the Haram. This is 50 or 60 feet broad, occupying nearly the whole space immediately un- der the dome, and rising about 5 feet above the floor of the building, which is 12 feet higher than the rest of the enclosure. The centre of the rock is about VS5 feet frcmi the southern and 610 from the eastern wall of the liaram. The frequent supposition that it stood within the most holy pbice, or at least within the Temple proper, is neir- atived by the relative distances presently to be noticed from the" Talmud. The positive reasons for making the altar coincide with the Sacred Rock may be stated a^ fol- lows :
{a.) Tradition — Jewish, Christian, and Moslem— favors it (see Williams, Holy City, ii, 340-343).
(6.) This rock is primiineiit above all other spots, and we know that the great altar was higher than even the floor of the Templeitself.
(c.) The upper platform of the Haram thus most nearly coincides with that of the sacred enclosure of the Temple, (rf.) The cave and sewer at the south-east corner of the present rock would thus be identical with the ancient cesspool and drain for the blood sprinkled around the altar.
This site of the great altar fixes the general position of the Temple and sacred enclosure generally within the great area, and agrees with Ihe only definite statement in the Mishna on the subject, namely, that "the greatest space between the Temple and the wall of the outer court was on the south side, the next greatest on the east, the next on the north, and the least on the west'' {Middotli, ii, 1). According to our arransremeut, the spaces (at the near- est point) between the chel, or sacred fence, and the inner surface of the outmost wall are respectively on the west about 78 feet, ou the north about SO feet, on the east about 239 feet, on the south about 643 feet. Lightfoot's plan has nearly the same. Dr. Wm. Brown (of Scot- land), in his wcu'k on the Antiquities of the Jetvs (i, 70), lays them down in cubits, as follows: south, 259; east, 90; north, 72; west, 49. Fergusson arbitrarily refers these measurements to the iniwr court of the Temple ('I'eniples of the Jens, p. 118), (m the ground that the Talmud states that "in the place largest in measurement was held most service" {Middoth, ii, 1) ; hut the text obviously means the space in the outer court, as that alone is the subject there treated of.
The position of the altar also fixes the line of the boun- dary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which at this date cut off one cubit from the south-east corner of the altar — a circumstance of which the rabbins take frequent notice (see Lightfoot, Works, ix, Ht'5). This boun- dary (H-iginally ran entirely south of the holy city (Josh. XV, 7-9; xviii, 15-17), but the conquest of Jehus by David appears to have annexed Mount Zion permanently to Judah (2 Sam. iv, 7). The subsequent purchase of the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite by David (xxiv,