Temple

Temple, the building in which a god is supposed to dwell, The word (Latin templum, akin to Greek temenos, from the root tem, "cut off") originally denoted a sanctuary, but its meaning was afterwards narrowed so as to cover only the edifice erected on a sacred spot. Owing to the connection of the aesthetic impulse with religious sentiment, the development of temple architectnre is important in the history of ancient art. [GREEK ARCHITECTURE.] The temple of Solomon possesses a peculiar interest for those who have inherited the religious beliefs of the Jews. In common with most, or at least very many, ancient temples, the beth elohim ("house of God") or hekal of Jehovah comprised an adytum, inner sanctnary, Dr "oracle," and an ante-chamber, with an altar before the door of the building. The adytum was a cube of twenty cubits (thirty feet), whilst the ante-chamber measured forty cubits in length, twenty in breadth, and thirty in height; in front of it ran a portico of the same breadth with a depth of ten feet. In the adytum was placed the ark, just as in heathen temples it contained a statue of the deity, or some other token of his presence. As the temple was built by workmen from Tyre, a city far in advance of the Hebrews in the arts of civilisation, it is not surprising that it reproduces many of the features of Tyrian architecture. Thus, the walled court (in Solomon's temple there were two, an inner and an outer), the palm-tree, and the cherub which recur so frequently in the ornamentation of the interior, and the cherubs with outstretched wing's which overshadowed the ark, can all be traced to Phoenician sources. The building is supposed bo have terminated in a high-pitched gable, with three storeys of small chambers on each side and at the back. There were probably square-headed windows either above these chambers or in the gable itself. The portico may have been flanked by tall slender turrets, and it is known that there were detached collumns of bronze on each side of the entrance (1 King's vii. 15, seq.): The temple of Zerubbabel, completed after constant interruptions in 520 B.C., stood on the site of Solomon's; it was a much less splendid edifice but the size was probably as large or even larger. The rebuilding of bhe temple by Herod occupied a period of eighty years (from about 19 B.C. to 63 AD.). It covered a quadrangular plateau, the area of which, if Josephus may be believed, was twice that of the original structure. He describes it as six stadia in circumference, the Antonia or citadel rising above the general level on the north side. Within the outer court, or Court of the Gentiles, which was not holy ground, there was an inner court, divided by a wall into the Court of the Women and the Court of the Men, in the midst of which, at the summit of a flight of twelve steps, stood the sacred building. The space immediately surrounding the temple and altar, known as the Court of the Priests, was separated from the adjoining ground by a low fence of stone. The temple and its precincts were wholly consumed by fire when the city was taken by Titus in 70 A.D.