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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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