Guide
Early Descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple
2nd Century BCE–3rd Century CE
Restricted
By Carol Bakhos
Echoing an established genre found in the Bible (see 1 Kings 5–7 and 2 Chronicles 3–4), several ancient Jewish authors offered descriptions of the Temple, including its dimensions and layout. Each of these authors—or groups of authors, in the case of the rabbis of the Mishnah—paid particular attention to the specific features of the Temple that most impressed them and the details that they considered most important. For images of the Temple Mount and its environs, see THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Letter of Aristeas' Description of the Temple
Letter of Aristeas 83–91, 96–104
An official from Hellenistic Egypt describes the Jerusalem Temple.
Primary Source
Construction and Renovation of the Temple
The Jewish War 5.184–237 (selections)
An eyewitness describes the construction and layout of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Primary Source
The Temple Courts
Against Apion 2.103–107
A priest's describes who was and was not permitted to enter the Temple court.
Primary Source
Herod's Renovation of the Temple
Jewish Antiquities 15.380–425
In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Herod, after the acts recorded above, he undertook a very great task, namely the renovation of the Temple of God at his own expense. He both…
Primary Source
Rabbinic Descriptions of the Second Temple Structure
m. Middot 1–5 (selections)
1:3. There were five gates to the Temple Mount: the two Huldah Gates on the south, which were used for both entrance and exit; the Kiponus Gate on the west, which was used for both entrance and exit…
Primary Source
The Mishnah on the Women’s Balcony
m. Sukkah 5:2
At the conclusion of the first festival day of Sukkot, they [the people] descended to the Women’s Court, and they would make there a great preparation. There were golden candelabras there with four…
Primary Source
The Tosefta on the Women’s Balcony
t. Sukkah 4:1
At first, when [people] would observe the rejoicing of the water-drawing ceremony, the men would see it from inside and the women from outside. When the court saw that they were coming to [behave with…