War of the Jews, Book 5 Chapter 5
by Flavius Josephus
Description of the Jerusalem Temple
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1. NOW this temple, as I have already said, was built upon a strong
hill. At first the plain at the top was hardly sufficient for the holy
house and the altar, for the ground about it was very uneven, and like
a precipice; but when king Solomon, who was the person that built the
temple, had built a wall to it on its east side, there was then added
one cloister founded on a bank cast up for it, and on the other parts
the holy house stood naked. But in future ages the people added new
banks, and the hill became a larger plain. They then broke down the
wall on the north side, and took in as much as sufficed afterward for
the compass of the entire temple. And when they had built walls on
three sides of the temple round about, from the bottom of the hill, and
had performed a work that was greater than could be hoped for, (in
which work long ages were spent by them, as well as all their sacred
treasures were exhausted, which were still replenished by those
tributes which were sent to God from the whole habitable earth,) they
then encompassed their upper courts with cloisters, as well as they
[afterward] did the lowest [court of the] temple. The lowest part of
this was erected to the height of three hundred cubits, and in some
places more; yet did not the entire depth of the foundations appear,
for they brought earth, and filled up the valleys, as being desirous to
make them on a level with the narrow streets of the city; wherein they
made use of stones of forty cubits in magnitude; for the great plenty
of money they then had, and the liberality of the people, made this
attempt of theirs to succeed to an incredible degree; and what could
not be so much as hoped for as ever to be accomplished, was, by
perseverance and length of time, brought to perfection.
2. Now for the works that were above these foundations, these were not
unworthy of such foundations; for all the cloisters were double, and
the pillars to them belonging were twenty-five cubits in height, and
supported the cloisters. These pillars were of one entire stone each of
them, and that stone was white marble; and the roofs were adorned with
cedar, curiously graven. The natural magnificence, and excellent
polish, and the harmony of the joints in these cloisters, afforded a
prospect that was very remarkable; nor was it on the outside adorned
with any work of the painter or engraver. The cloisters [of the outmost
court] were in breadth thirty cubits, while the entire compass of it
was by measure six furlongs, including the tower of Antonia; those
entire courts that were exposed to the air were laid with stones of all
sorts. When you go through these [first] cloisters, unto the second
[court of the] temple, there was a partition made of stone all round,
whose height was three cubits: its construction was very elegant; upon
it stood pillars, at equal distances from one another, declaring the
law of purity, some in Greek, and some in Roman letters, that "no
foreigner should go within that sanctuary" for that second [court of
the] temple was called "the Sanctuary," and was ascended to by fourteen
steps from the first court. This court was four-square, and had a wall
about it peculiar to itself; the height of its buildings, although it
were on the outside forty cubits, was hidden by the steps, and on the
inside that height was but twenty-five cubits; for it being built over
against a higher part of the hill with steps, it was no further to be
entirely discerned within, being covered by the hill itself. Beyond
these thirteen steps there was the distance of ten cubits; this was all
plain; whence there were other steps, each of five cubits a-piece, that
led to the gates, which gates on the north and south sides were eight,
on each of those sides four, and of necessity two on the east. For
since there was a partition built for the women on that side, as the
proper place wherein they were to worship, there was a necessity for a
second gate for them: this gate was cut out of its wall, over against
the first gate. There was also on the other sides one southern and one
northern gate, through which was a passage into the court of the women;
for as to the other gates, the women were not allowed to pass through
them; nor when they went through their own gate could they go beyond
their own wall. This place was allotted to the women of our own
country, and of other countries, provided they were of the same nation,
and that equally. The western part of this court had no gate at all,
but the wall was built entire on that side. But then the cloisters
which were betwixt the gates extended from the wall inward, before the
chambers; for they were supported by very fine and large pillars. These
cloisters were single, and, excepting their magnitude, were no way
inferior to those of the lower court.
3. Now nine of these gates were on every side covered over with gold
and silver, as were the jambs of their doors and their lintels; but
there was one gate that was without the [inward court of the] holy
house, which was of Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled those that
were only covered over with silver and gold. Each gate had two doors,
whose height was severally thirty cubits, and their breadth fifteen.
However, they had large spaces within of thirty cubits, and had on each
side rooms, and those, both in breadth and in length, built like
towers, and their height was above forty cubits. Two pillars did also
support these rooms, and were in circumference twelve cubits. Now the
magnitudes of the other gates were equal one to another; but that over
the Corinthian gate, which opened on the east over against the gate of
the holy house itself, was much larger; for its height was fifty
cubits; and its doors were forty cubits; and it was adorned after a
most costly manner, as having much richer and thicker plates of silver
and gold upon them than the other. These nine gates had that silver and
gold poured upon them by Alexander, the father of Tiberius. Now there
were fifteen steps, which led away from the wall of the court of the
women to this greater gate; whereas those that led thither from the
other gates were five steps shorter.
4. As to the holy house itself, which was placed in the midst [of the
inmost court], that most sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to
by twelve steps; and in front its height and its breadth were equal,
and each a hundred cubits, though it was behind forty cubits narrower;
for on its front it had what may be styled shoulders on each side, that
passed twenty cubits further. Its first gate was seventy cubits high,
and twenty-five cubits broad; but this gate had no doors; for it
represented the universal visibility of heaven, and that it cannot be
excluded from any place. Its front was covered with gold all over, and
through it the first part of the house, that was more inward, did all
of it appear; which, as it was very large, so did all the parts about
the more inward gate appear to shine to those that saw them; but then,
as the entire house was divided into two parts within, it was only the
first part of it that was open to our view. Its height extended all
along to ninety cubits in height, and its length was fifty cubits, and
its breadth twenty. But that gate which was at this end of the first
part of the house was, as we have already observed, all over covered
with gold, as was its whole wall about it; it had also golden vines
above it, from which clusters of grapes hung as tall as a man's height.
But then this house, as it was divided into two parts, the inner part
was lower than the appearance of the outer, and had golden doors of
fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in breadth; but before these
doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It was a
Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet,
and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this
mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation, but was a kind
of image of the universe; for by the scarlet there seemed to be
enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue
the air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors the
foundation of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have
their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one, and
the sea the other. This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that
was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the [twelve] signs,
representing living creatures.
5. When any persons entered into the temple, its floor received them.
This part of the temple therefore was in height sixty cubits, and its
length the same; whereas its breadth was but twenty cubits: but still
that sixty cubits in length was divided again, and the first part of it
was cut off at forty cubits, and had in it three things that were very
wonderful and famous among all mankind, the candlestick, the table [of
shew-bread], and the altar of incense. Now the seven lamps signified
the seven planets; for so many there were springing out of the
candlestick. Now the twelve loaves that were upon the table signified
the circle of the zodiac and the year; but the altar of incense, by its
thirteen kinds of sweet-smelling spices with which the sea replenished
it, signified that God is the possessor of all things that are both in
the uninhabitable and habitable parts of the earth, and that they are
all to be dedicated to his use. But the inmost part of the temple of
all was of twenty cubits. This was also separated from the outer part
by a veil. In this there was nothing at all. It was inaccessible and
inviolable, and not to be seen by any; and was called the Holy of
Holies. Now, about the sides of the lower part of the temple, there
were little houses, with passages out of one into another; there were a
great many of them, and they were of three stories high; there were
also entrances on each side into them from the gate of the temple. But
the superior part of the temple had no such little houses any further,
because the temple was there narrower, and forty cubits higher, and of
a smaller body than the lower parts of it. Thus we collect that the
whole height, including the sixty cubits from the floor, amounted to a
hundred cubits.
6. Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing that
was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was
covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first
rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made those
who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as
they would have done at the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to
strangers, when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain
covered with snow; for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they
were exceeding white. On its top it had spikes with sharp points, to
prevent any pollution of it by birds sitting upon it. Of its stones,
some of them were forty-five cubits in length, five in height, and six
in breadth. Before this temple stood the altar, fifteen cubits high,
and equal both in length and breadth; each of which dimensions was
fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was a square, and it had
corners like horns; and the passage up to it was by an insensible
acclivity. It was formed without any iron tool, nor did any such iron
tool so much as touch it at any time. There was also a wall of
partition, about a cubit in height, made of fine stones, and so as to
be grateful to the sight; this encompassed the holy house and the
altar, and kept the people that were on the outside off from the
priests. Moreover, those that had the gonorrhea and the leprosy were
excluded out of the city entirely; women also, when their courses were
upon them, were shut out of the temple; nor when they were free from
that impurity, were they allowed to go beyond the limit
before-mentioned; men also, that were not thoroughly pure, were
prohibited to come into the inner [court of the] temple; nay, the
priests themselves that were not pure were prohibited to come into it
also.
7. Now all those of the stock of the priests that could not minister by
reason of some defect in their bodies, came within the partition,
together with those that had no such imperfection, and had their share
with them by reason of their stock, but still made use of none except
their own private garments; for nobody but he that officiated had on
his sacred garments; but then those priests that were without any
blemish upon them went up to the altar clothed in fine linen. They
abstained chiefly from wine, out of this fear, lest otherwise they
should transgress some rules of their ministration. The high priest did
also go up with them; not always indeed, but on the seventh days and
new moons, and if any festivals belonging to our nation, which we
celebrate every year, happened. When he officiated, he had on a pair of
breeches that reached beneath his privy parts to his thighs, and had on
an inner garment of linen, together with a blue garment, round, without
seam, with fringe work, and reaching to the feet. There were also
golden bells that hung upon the fringes, and pomegranates intermixed
among them. The bells signified thunder, and the pomegranates
lightning. But that girdle that tied the garment to the breast was
embroidered with five rows of various colors, of gold, and purple, and
scarlet, as also of fine linen and blue, with which colors we told you
before the veils of the temple were embroidered also. The like
embroidery was upon the ephod; but the quantity of gold therein was
greater. Its figure was that of a stomacher for the breast. There were
upon it two golden buttons like small shields, which buttoned the ephod
to the garment; in these buttons were enclosed two very large and very
excellent sardonyxes, having the names of the tribes of that nation
engraved upon them: on the other part there hung twelve stones, three
in a row one way, and four in the other; a sardius, a topaz, and an
emerald; a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sapphire; an agate, an amethyst,
and a ligure; an onyx, a beryl, and a chrysolite; upon every one of
which was again engraved one of the forementioned names of the tribes.
A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a
blue ribbon, about which there was another golden crown, in which was
engraven the sacred name [of God]: it consists of four vowels. However,
the high priest did not wear these garments at other times, but a more
plain habit; he only did it when he went into the most sacred part of
the temple, which he did but once in a year, on that day when our
custom is for all of us to keep a fast to God. And thus much concerning
the city and the temple; but for the customs and laws hereto relating,
we shall speak more accurately another time; for there remain a great
many things thereto relating which have not been here touched upon.
8. Now as to the tower of Antonia, it was situated at the corner of two
cloisters of the court of the temple; of that on the west, and that on
the north; it was erected upon a rock of fifty cubits in height, and
was on a great precipice; it was the work of king Herod, wherein he
demonstrated his natural magnanimity. In the first place, the rock
itself was covered over with smooth pieces of stone, from its
foundation, both for ornament, and that any one who would either try to
get up or to go down it might not be able to hold his feet upon it.
Next to this, and before you come to the edifice of the tower itself,
there was a wall three cubits high; but within that wall all the space
of the tower of Antonia itself was built upon, to the height of forty
cubits. The inward parts had the largeness and form of a palace, it
being parted into all kinds of rooms and other conveniences, such as
courts, and places for bathing, and broad spaces for camps; insomuch
that, by having all conveniences that cities wanted, it might seem to
be composed of several cities, but by its magnificence it seemed a
palace. And as the entire structure resembled that of a tower, it
contained also four other distinct towers at its four corners; whereof
the others were but fifty cubits high; whereas that which lay upon the
southeast corner was seventy cubits high, that from thence the whole
temple might be viewed; but on the corner where it joined to the two
cloisters of the temple, it had passages down to them both, through
which the guard (for there always lay in this tower a Roman legion)
went several ways among the cloisters, with their arms, on the Jewish
festivals, in order to watch the people, that they might not there
attempt to make any innovations; for the temple was a fortress that
guarded the city, as was the tower of Antonia a guard to the temple;
and in that tower were the guards of those three. There was also a
peculiar fortress belonging to the upper city, which was Herod's
palace; but for the hill Bezetha, it was divided from the tower
Antonia, as we have already told you; and as that hill on which the
tower of Antonia stood was the highest of these three, so did it adjoin
to the new city, and was the only place that hindered the sight of the
temple on the north. And this shall suffice at present to have spoken
about the city and the walls about it, because I have proposed to
myself to make a more accurate description of it elsewhere. |
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