The Jerusalem Temple

The Role of the Jerusalem Temple

Jewish experience in antiquity was marked by two institutions of the utmost importance: the Temple and the synagogue. By the late Hellenistic period, the centrality of the Jerusalem Temple for the performance of sacrificial worship was firmly established among the majority of Jews in the land of Israel and the diaspora, even if the Temple and its cultic personnel were subject to critique from some circles, and despite the existence of an alternative temple in Leontopolis, Egypt. 

In Ancient Literary Sources

Most of the extant material pertains to Herod’s renovated complex, from the late first century BCE. Literary sources mention that the whole edifice was magnificent, and we are particularly lucky to have Josephus’ detailed description. However, the archaeological record bears no evidence of Temple cultic space, the result of its total destruction in 70 CE and the construction carried out on the Temple Mount in subsequent centuries.

Still, echoes of the Temple reverberate in the surrounding landscape. The Temple Mount, for instance, is a visible presence in Jerusalem and is its most recognizable landmark. While the mount now accommodates the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, many of the original Herodian (late first-century BCE) blocks are still in place, topped off with smaller blocks from later periods. 

The Archaeological Record

Archaeologically, we know very little about the Second Temple, which stood in Jerusalem from 515 BCE to 70 CE. In the area around the Temple Mount, archaeologists have unearthed a paved street, shops (probably associated with the economic activity generated by the Temple), gates, arches, and stairs leading up to the Temple Mount, as well as numerous mikvaot for pilgrims and worshipers to ritually purify themselves as they ascended to the Temple Mount. 

Decorated architectural elements, most likely originating from the monumental structures on top of the mount, have been found in the destruction debris around the Temple platform and on the paved street along the western wall, as have two inscriptions warning gentiles not to cross the balustrade around the Temple, lest they be subject to capital punishment. Another inscription found close to the Temple Mount refers to the “place of trumpeting,” possibly attesting to a nearby structure from which priests blew the shofar to announce the oncoming Sabbath. These inscriptions, mentioned by Josephus, are the clearest surviving remnants of the actual Temple structure.