welcome to part 5 of the video tour of Herod's temple in 3D
Walking up the Herodian stepped street to the temple began with the purification ritual at
the 1st century immersion pool at the south end of city of David below the street was the city
drainage ditch from here we could also enter through the south gate
the stepped bridge called Robinson's Arch looms overhead
this led to an upper gate and the new western court of the temple complex
there had never been a western court before this time
the chel now went all the way around the sacred area
prior to this it was just a path on the edge of the tyropoeon valley created for
animals to be brought into the lower court of the first and second temples
there were no western gates in Solomon's temple
shalom
this building with the tunnel and steps leading up to it is still in existence today
buried below ground level of the temple mount it was made into a cistern however i believe
it was the holding place for animals to be purchased on the upper court or a barn of sorts
back on the chel on the north side on the left we see the priest quarters
this building sticking out into the chel was called the chamber of the hearth
because it had a hearth to warm oneself after immersing into the
cold underground mikvah this mikvah connected to a branch of the aqueduct
i believe this mikvah is among the ruins below the al-Aqsa mosque
the priest could also sleep in this room on cold nights on the steps
to warm themselves at the hearth
this building was half on the cheland half on the temple court
here we are on the priests court where no one was allowed except the priests
the temple had two rooms the holy place and beyond the veil was the Holy of Holies
which was only entered once a year by the high priest the temple had a large golden menorah
the altar of incense and the table of the showbread which was overlaid with gold
it had 12 loaves of bread representing the 12 tribes sadly i can only represent these items with
what is allowed to me in this program in the northeast corner was a door to the side
chambers and they went all the way around the north, west and south walls of the temple
they were three stories high and were used for storage and study
Solomon's altar was smaller and had steps where Herod's had a ramp
but i can only make steps in this program
many lambs could be roasted at one time on the large altar
the three buildings were where the hides were salted and tanned and stretched
there was a small building with a trap door leading down to the hollows below the temple
the steps were cut into bedrock
in the distance we can see the pool cut into the court for filling the laver
with the aqueduct ending in a pool and the mikva below the chamber of the hearth
also the rock cut blood channel going down to the drainage ditch deep below
Herod's new western court had rows and rows of these huge arches supporting the floor above
the Sanhedrin also met on the temple court within this building was a mikvah on the roof
this is one of the two mikvahs the high priest bathed in
as part of his daily ritual of purification
i created a small building with steps
leading up to the place of the trumpeting that Josephus spoke of
here the priest blew the trumpet on the sabbath
when it began and when it ended and at celebrations
from here we exit by the stepped bridge back down to the first century street
thank
you