RECONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

A reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem built by Herod the Great

At the beginning of Herod’s reign, the Temple was a sorry sight. Over the years it had been desecrated, looted, restored, damaged again, and pillaged. It was clearly time for renewal.

But it was not a question of restoring one shrine. This  was not a single building, but three separate components: the large sacred enclosure with its separate courtyards, the main altar, and the cella or house of God.

What was the site like?  In its original form, the mountain on which it stood had been shaped like half of a pear, cut in two from the  stalk downwards, and then laid on a plate with the cut underneath. The fruit was the rounded, rather oblong hill, with its broadest part towards the south, nearest Orphel  and the old Jebusite city, and the stalk was the narrow neck which attached the hill to the general massif.

19th century aerial photograph of Jerusalem and the Kidron Valley, showing land shape
Most of this land has since been built over

The work of renewal began in January of the year 19 BC. In a year and a half, the new cella was finished. This was the portion which, with the altar, was essential for Temple services.

Eight more years passed in building the courts and the outer enclosure. The final touches were not made until nearly three-quarters of a century later.

By the time Herod finished work, the total area of the stone platform on which the Temple stood was double what it was when he started.

Courts of the Temple of Jerusalem

Owing to the failure of a part of the foundations, some of the work done by the priests which Herod's architects could not personally direct, collapsed in the reign of Nero, and it was only in 64 AD that the building was really finished.

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It is hard to comprehend the enormous labour that Herod's plan entailed. To double the area of the esplanade, it was necessary to push the northern boundary back over 100yards, digging away the living rock on the north-west, and filling in the deep valley which ran obliquely from the Antonia to the Golden Gate on the north-east.

At the other end of the 'pear', the labour was no less imposing. Here it was a question not of scooping the rock away, but of building the ground up. This could be done only by constructing great retaining walls on the sides of the Kidron and Tyropoeon valleys.

One of the towers on the northern end of the enclosure was the Pinnacle of the Temple mentioned in the story of the Temptation of Christ (Matthew 4:5). It stood 450 feet above the Kedron. Josephus says that it was so high it was not possible to see the bottom of the valley. He makes the same observation about the view from Machaerus and from Masada - which can only mean the poor man was near-sighted.

The south-west corner was similarly built up. Thus, round three sides of the whole area, and along that part of the north side which was not occupied by the Antonia, a continuous wall now ran, 1,140 yards in length.

Each of the great stones in this wall was finished with a drafted margin and a light central boss. This in itself, while stressing the enormous size of the stones and the strength of the building, gave variety to the surface.

The 2,000 year old stone wall at the Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron.
This wall was built by Herod at the same time as the Temple of Jerusalem.
The same ashlar pattern was used on the Temple of Jerusalem.

At the angles, each corner-stone was set back slightly from the one below it, which distributed the load and produced a hardly perceptible and very graceful batter. The whole composition had an air of simple majesty in keeping with its sacred nature.

At Jerusalem, only two vestiges of this upper wall remain; but the almost perfectly preserved outer wall of the Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron (see photograh above) gives an idea of how the exterior of Herod's Temple looked.

Extraordinary care was given to the interior of the Enclosure.The periphery of the sacred area was adorned with a con­tinuous portico similar to the one shown in the photograph of the Temple of Bel at Palmyra (below), built only a little later than Herod's Temple.

Part of the double colonnaded portico at Palmyra (see above)

So it was at Jerusalem, only on a far larger scale. Those of the north, east and west sides were alike. Each of them consisted, as at Palmyra, of a double colonnade, which formed twin aisles, covered with a roof or a terrace, closed on the outer side and open on the inner side. The porticoes were 45 feet wide, and the supporting pillars, gleaming white monoliths, nearly 30 feet high.

On the north, the Antonia broke the line, and was connected with the porticoes to the south and east of it by two separate stairways.

The eastern portico was an older struc­ture. It seems on this occasion to have been reconstructed to harmonize with the remainder.

On the south side, between the valleys of the Tyropoeon and the Kedron, the Temple area seemed to ride upon the hill high above the green gardens of Siloam.

It was this side therefore that Herod chose for his master­piece. Above the ruins of the palace of the kings of Judah he erected a Royal Portico. It had three aisles instead of two, and was two storeys high. The two side aisles were 3o feet wide and nearly 50 feet high; the middle one half as wide again and double the height, the extra elevation being obtained by a second range of columns engaged in walls which rested on the architraves of the two inner rows of the lower colonnade. The whole edifice com­prised 162 columns surmounted by Corinthian capitals.

It is almost impossible to realize the effect this produced, especially in a country which had few monumental buildings. It was longer and higher than the largest cathedral, standing on a solid mass of masonry almost equal in height to the tallest church spire. To this, add the dazzling whiteness of marble fresh from the mason’s hands, and you have some idea of the magnificence of Herod's Temple.

Reconstruction of the Temple, the fortress towers
and the royal palace in Jerusalem