Second Temple
Second Temple Herod's Temple | |
---|---|
בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי | |
Religion | |
Affiliation | Judaism |
Region | Land of Israel |
Deity | Yahweh |
Leadership | High Priest of Israel |
Location | |
Location | Temple Mount |
Municipality | Jerusalem |
State | Yehud Medinata (first) Judaea (last) |
Country | Achaemenid Empire (first) Roman Empire (last) |
Location within the Old City of Jerusalem Location within Jerusalem (modern municipal borders) Location within the State of Israel | |
Geographic coordinates | 31°46′41″N 35°14′7″E / 31.77806°N 35.23528°E |
Architecture | |
Founder | Zerubbabel; refurbished by Herod the Great |
Completed | c. 516 BCE (original) c. 18 CE (Herodian) |
Destroyed | 70 CE (Roman siege) |
Specifications | |
Height (max) | c. 46 metres (151 ft) |
Materials | Jerusalem limestone |
Excavation dates | 1930, 1967, 1968, 1970–1978, 1996–1999, 2007 |
Archaeologists | Charles Warren, Benjamin Mazar, Ronny Reich, Eli Shukron, Yaakov Billig |
Present-day site | Dome of the Rock |
Public access | Limited; see Temple Mount entry restrictions |
The Second Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי Bēṯ hamMīqdāš hašŠēnī, transl. 'Second House of the Sanctum'), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between c. 516 BCE and 70 CE. Defining the Second Temple period, it stood as a pivotal symbol of Jewish identity and was central to Second Temple Judaism; it was the chief place of worship, ritual sacrifice (korban), and communal gathering for Jews. As such, it attracted Jewish pilgrims from distant lands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
Construction on the Second Temple began in the aftermath of the Persian conquest of Babylon; the Second Temple's predecessor, known as Solomon's Temple, had been destroyed alongside the Kingdom of Judah as a whole by the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem around 587 BCE.[1] After the Neo-Babylonian Empire was annexed by the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the so-called Edict of Cyrus, which is described in the Hebrew Bible as having authorized and encouraged the return to Zion—a biblical event in which the Jewish people returned to the former Kingdom of Judah, which the Persians had recently restructured as the self-governing Jewish province of Yehud Medinata. The completion of the Second Temple at the time of the Persian king Darius I signified a period of renewed Jewish hope and religious revival. According to biblical sources, the Second Temple was originally a relatively modest structure built under the authority of the Persian-appointed Jewish governor Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah, the penultimate king of Judah.[2]
In the 1st century BCE, the Second Temple was refurbished and expanded under the reign of Herod the Great, hence the alternative eponymous name for the structure. Herod's transformation efforts resulted in a grand and imposing structure and courtyard, including the large edifices and façades shown in modern models, such as the Holyland Model of Jerusalem in the Israel Museum. The Temple Mount, where both Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple stood, was also significantly expanded, doubling in size to become the ancient world's largest religious sanctuary.[3]
In 70 CE, at the height of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman siege of Jerusalem,[a] marking a cataclysmic and transformative point in Jewish history.[4] The loss of the Second Temple prompted the development of Rabbinic Judaism, which remains the mainstream form of Jewish religious practices globally.
Biblical narrative
The accession of
The original core of the book of Nehemiah, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era.[8]
Based on the biblical account, after the return from Babylonian captivity, arrangements were immediately made to reorganize the desolated
On the invitation of
The
Seven years later,
The Book of Haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the Second Temple would be greater than that of the first.[15][10] While the Temple may well have been consecrated in 516, construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 BCE.[16]
Some of the original artifacts from the Temple of Solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 586 BCE, and are presumed lost. The Second Temple lacked various holy articles, including the
No detailed description of the Temple's architecture is given in the Hebrew Bible, save that it was sixty
Rabbinical literature
Traditional rabbinic literature states that the Second Temple stood for 420 years, and, based on the 2nd-century work Seder Olam Rabbah, placed construction in 356 BCE (3824 AM), 164 years later than academic estimates, and destruction in 68 CE (3828 AM).[19][b]
According to the
Rededication by the Maccabees
Following the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great, it became part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BCE, when the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great of Syria defeated Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes at the Battle of Paneion.
In 167 BCE,
Hasmonean dynasty and Roman conquest
There is some evidence from archaeology that further changes to the structure of the Temple and its surroundings were made during the Hasmonean rule.
Herod's Temple
The writings of Flavius Josephus and the information in tractate Middot of the Mishnah had for long been used for proposing possible designs for the Temple up to 70 CE.[1] The discovery of the Temple Scroll as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century provided another possible source. Lawrence Schiffman states that after studying Josephus and the Temple Scroll, he found Josephus to be historically more reliable than the Temple Scroll.[29]
Temenos expansion, date and duration
Reconstruction of the temple under Herod began with a massive expansion of the Temple Mount temenos. For example, the Temple Mount complex initially measured 7 hectares (17 acres) in size, but Herod expanded it to 14.4 hectares (36 acres) and so doubled its area.[30] Herod's work on the Temple is generally dated from 20/19 BCE until 12/11 or 10 BCE. Writer Bieke Mahieu dates the work on the Temple enclosures from 25 BCE and that on the Temple building in 19 BCE, and situates the dedication of both in November 18 BCE.[31]
Religious worship and temple rituals continued during the construction process.[32]
Extent and financing
The old temple built by Zerubbabel was replaced by a magnificent edifice. Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE.[33] Josephus records that Herod was interested in perpetuating his name through building projects, that his construction programs were extensive and paid for by heavy taxes, but that his masterpiece was the Temple of Jerusalem.[33]
Later, the
Elements
Platform, substructures, retaining walls
Mt. Moriah had a plateau at the northern end, and steeply declined on the southern slope. It was Herod's plan that the entire mountain be turned into a giant square platform. The Temple Mount was originally intended[by whom?] to be 1,600 feet (490 m) wide by 900 feet (270 m) broad by 9 stories high, with walls up to 16 feet (4.9 m) thick, but had never been finished. To complete it, a trench was dug around the mountain, and huge stone blocks were laid. Some of these weighed well over 100 tons, the largest measuring 44.6 by 11 by 16.5 feet (13.6 m × 3.4 m × 5.0 m) and weighing approximately 567–628 tons.[35][unreliable source?]
Court of the Gentiles
The Court of the Gentiles was primarily a
Above the Huldah Gates, on top the Temple walls, was the Royal Stoa, a large basilica praised by Josephus as "more worthy of mention than any other [structure] under the sun"; its main part was a lengthy Hall of Columns which includes 162 columns, structured in four rows.[38]
The Royal Stoa is widely accepted to be part of Herod's work; however, recent archaeological finds in the Western Wall tunnels suggest that it was built in the first century during the reign of Agripas, as opposed to the 1st century BCE.[39]
Pinnacle
The accounts of the temptation of Christ in the gospels of Matthew and Luke both suggest that the Second Temple had one or more 'pinnacles':
Then he [Satan] brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here."[40]
The Greek word used is πτερύγιον (pterugion), which literally means a tower, rampart, or pinnacle.[41] According to Strong's Concordance, it can mean little wing, or by extension anything like a wing such as a battlement or parapet.[42] The archaeologist Benjamin Mazar thought it referred to the southeast corner of the Temple overlooking the Kidron Valley.[43]
Inner courts
According to Josephus, there were ten entrances into the inner courts, four on the south, four on the north, one on the east and one leading east to west from the Court of Women to the court of the Israelites, named the Nicanor Gate.[44] According to Josephus, Herod the Great erected a golden eagle over the great gate of the Temple.[45]
Roofs
Joachim Bouflet states that "the teams of archaeologists Nahman Avigad in 1969–1980 in the Herodian city of Jerusalem, and Yigael Shiloh in 1978–1982, in the city of David" have proven that the roofs of the Second Temple had no dome. In this, they support Josephus' description of the Second Temple.[46]
Pilgrimages
Jews from distant parts of the Roman Empire would arrive by boat at the port of
Destruction
In 66 CE the Jewish population
The sects of Judaism that had their base in the Temple dwindled in importance, including the
The Temple was on the site of what today is the
Historical accounts relate that not only the Jewish Temple was destroyed, but also the entire Lower city of Jerusalem.[54] Even so, according to Josephus, Titus did not totally raze the towers (such as the Tower of Phasael, now erroneously called the Tower of David), keeping them as a memorial of the city's strength.[55][56] The Midrash Rabba (Eikha Rabba 1:32) recounts a similar episode related to the destruction of the city, according to which Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, requested of Vespasian that he spare the westernmost gates of the city (Hebrew: פילי מערבאה) that lead to Lydda (Lod). When the city was eventually taken, the Arab auxiliaries who had fought alongside the Romans under their general, Fanjar, also spared that westernmost wall from destruction.[57]
Jewish eschatology includes a belief that the Second Temple will be replaced by a future Third Temple in Jerusalem.[58]
Archaeology of the Temple
Temple warning inscriptions
In 1871, a hewn stone measuring 60 cm × 90 cm (24 in × 35 in) and engraved with Greek uncials was discovered near a court on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and identified by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau as being the Temple Warning inscription. The stone inscription outlined the prohibition extended to those who were not of the Jewish nation to proceed beyond the soreg separating the larger Court of the Gentiles and the inner courts. The inscription read in seven lines:
ΜΗΟΕΝΑΑΛΛΟΓΕΝΗΕΙΣΠΟ
ΡΕΥΕΣΟΑΙΕΝΤΟΣΤΟΥΠΕ
ΡΙΤΟΙΕΡΟΝΤΡΥΦΑΚΤΟΥΚΑΙ
ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΥΟΣΔΑΝΛΗ
ΦΘΗΕΑΥΤΩΙΑΙΤΙΟΣΕΣ
ΤΑΙΔΙΑΤΟΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥ
ΘΕΙΝΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ
Translation: "Let no foreigner enter within the parapet and the partition which surrounds the Temple precincts. Anyone caught [violating] will be held accountable for his ensuing death."
Today, the stone is preserved in Istanbul's Museum of Antiquities.[59]
In 1935 a fragment of another similar Temple warning inscription was found.[59]
The word "foreigner" has an ambiguous meaning. Some scholars believe it referred to all gentiles, regardless of ritual purity status or religion. Others argue that it referred to unconverted Gentiles since
Place of trumpeting
Another
Walls and gates of the Temple complex
After 1967, archaeologists found that the wall extended all the way around the Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the
Underground structures
Inside the walls, the platform was supported by a series of vaulted archways, now called
Quarry
On September 25, 2007,
Floor tiling from courts
More recent findings from the Temple Mount Sifting Project include floor tiling from the Second Temple period.[65]
Magdala stone interpretation
The Magdala stone is thought to be a representation of the Second Temple carved before its destruction in the year 70.[66]
Second Temple Judaism
The period between the construction of the Second Temple in 515 BCE and its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE witnessed major historical upheavals and significant religious changes that would affect most subsequent
See also
- Archaeological remnants of the Jerusalem Temple
- Herodian architecture
- Jerusalem stone
- List of artifacts significant to the Bible
- List of megalithic sites
- Replicas of the Jewish Temple
- Temple of Peace, Rome
- Temple in Jerusalem
- Timeline of Jewish history
Notes
- anno mundi, it is a Seventh Year [of the seven-year cycle], and it is the 21st year of the Jubilee" (END QUOTE). = the destruction occurring in the lunar month of Av, two months preceding the New Year of 3,829 anno mundi.
- BCEto 68 CE, a total of 420 years.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88125-813-4. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ a b Ezra 6:15,16
- OCLC 840438627.
- OCLC 1162305378.
Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. [...] The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-06-130102-5.
- ^ a b c d e Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Temple, The Second". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-3187-1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2022-10-17.)
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help - ISBN 978-0-520-20676-2.
- ^ Ezra 2:65
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Easton, Matthew George (1897). . Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
- ^ Ezra 2
- ^ Haggai 2:3, Zechariah 4:10
- ^ 2 Chronicles 36:22–23
- ^ Ezra 5:6–6:15
- ^ Haggai 2:9
- ISBN 978-0-567-08998-4.
- ^ Ezra 1:7–11
- ^ Ezra 6:3–4
- ISBN 978-0-89906-454-3
- ^ Middot 3:6
- ISBN 978-0-88482-876-1.
- ^ Epstein, Isidore, ed. (1948). "Introduction to Seder Kodashim". The Babylonian Talmud. Vol. 5. Singer, M. H. (translator). London: The Soncino Press. pp. xvii–xxi.
- ^ Arzi, Abraham (1978). "Kodashim". Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 10 (1st ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd. pp. 1126–1127.
- ^ "Yoma 21b:7". www.sefaria.org. Archived from the original on 2022-01-07. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
- ^ Josephus, Flavius (2012-06-29). "The Wars of the Jews". p. i. 34. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2019-01-26.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kaufmann, Kohler (1901–1906). "Ḥanukkah". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ISBN 978-0-684-82389-8.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-567-55248-8. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2015-04-03.
- ISBN 978-90-04-12255-0
- ^ Petrech & Edelcopp, "Four stages in the evolution of the Temple Mount", Revue Biblique (2013), pp. 343–344
- ^ Mahieu, B., Between Rome and Jerusalem, OLA 208, Leuven: Peeters, 2012, pp. 147–165
- ^ a b Leen and Kathleen Ritmeyer (1998). Secrets of Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
- ^ a b Flavius Josephus: The Jewish War
- ^ Exodus 30:13
- ^ Dan Bahat: Touching the Stones of our Heritage, Israeli ministry of Religious Affairs, 2002
- ^ Sanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. p. 249
- ^ Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus. HarperSanFrancisco. 1998.
- JSTOR 3622363.
- ^ "Israel Antiquities Authority". Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
- ^ Luke 4:9
- Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 236.
- ^ Strong's Concordance 4419
- ^ Mazar, Benjamin (1975). The Mountain of the Lord, Doubleday. p. 149.
- ^ Josephus, War 5.5.2; 198; m. Mid. 1.4
- ^ Josephus, War 1.648–655; Ant 17.149–63. On this, see inter alia: Albert Baumgarten, 'Herod's Eagle', in Aren M. Maeir, Jodi Magness and Lawrence H. Schiffman (eds), 'Go Out and Study the Land' (Judges 18:2): Archaeological, Historical and Textual Studies in Honor of Hanan Eshel (JSJ Suppl. 148; Leiden: Brill, 2012), pp. 7–21; Jonathan Bourgel, "Herod's golden eagle on the Temple gate: a reconsideration Archived 2023-08-30 at the Wayback Machine," Journal of Jewish Studies 72 (2021), pp. 23–44.
- ISBN 978-2-204-15520-5.
- ^ Sanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993.
- ISBN 978-0-06-117393-6
- ^ "Hebrew Calendar". www.cgsf.org. Archived from the original on 2018-12-24. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
- ^ Tisha B'Av is a day of mourning, which is considered inappropriate for the joyful atmosphere of the Sabbath. Thus, if its date falls on a Sabbath, it is observed on the 10th of Av instead. If this modern Jewish practice was followed in the Second Temple period, Tisha B'Av would have fallen on Sunday August 5 in 70 CE. Josephus gives the date of 10 Loos for the destruction, in a lunar calendar almost identical to the Hebrew calendar.
- ISBN 978-0-19-510233-8. Archivedfrom the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
- ^ Bruce Johnston (15 June 2001). "Colosseum 'built with loot from sack of Jerusalem temple'". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-11.
- JSTOR 20189648.
- ^ Josephus (The Jewish War 6.6.3. Archived 2023-08-30 at the Wayback Machine). Quote: "...So he (Titus) gave orders to the soldiers both to burn and plunder the city; who did nothing indeed that day; but on the next day they set fire to the repository of the archives, to Acra, to the council-house, and to the place called Ophlas; at which time the fire proceeded as far as the palace of queen Helena, which was in the middle of Acra: the lanes also were burnt down, as were also those houses that were full of the dead bodies of such as were destroyed by famine."
- ^ Josephus (The Jewish War 7.1.1.), Quote: "Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminence; that is, Phasael, and Hippicus, and Mariamme, and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison; as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valour had subdued" (END QUOTE).
- JSTOR 24667712.
- ^ Midrash Rabba (Eikha Rabba 1:32)
- ^ "A Christian view of the coming Temple – opinion". The Jerusalem Post – Christian World. Archived from the original on 2022-08-07. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
- ^ a b Zion, Ilan Ben. "Ancient Temple Mount 'warning' stone is 'closest thing we have to the Temple'". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
- ISBN 9780199914456.
- The Israel Museum. Archivedfrom the original on 30 August 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-965-90299-1-4.
- ^ "Debris removed from Temple Mount sparks controversy". The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
- ^ Gaffney, Sean (2007-09-24). "Herod's Temple quarry found". USA Today.com. Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
- ^ "Second Temple Flooring restored". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Kershner, Isabel (8 December 2015). "A Carved Stone Block Upends Assumptions About Ancient Judaism". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
Further reading
- Grabbe, Lester. 2008. A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period. 2 vols. New York: T&T Clark.
- Nickelsburg, George. 2005. Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress.
- Schiffman, Lawrence, ed. 1998. Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. Hoboken, New Jersey: KTAV.
- Stone, Michael, ed. 1984. The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud. 2 vols. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress.
External links
- Second Temple and Talmudic Era Archived 2021-02-24 at the Wayback Machine The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Temple of Herod
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Temple, The Second
- 4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism
- PBS Frontline: Temple Culture
- Picture gallery of a model of the temple