THE BUILDER JULY 1917

THE PILLARS OF THE PORCH
PART II.


Nor was Solomon without examples in the Holy Land, for according to
I. Samuel, III., 3-15, the Ark was housed in a temple at Shilo. The
Canaanites had large temples in the time of the Judges. The Temple
of El-Berith, at Shechem, was a place of refuge for a thousand men.
(See Judges IX., 46.) There was a large temple of Dagon at Gaza,
supported on pillars, for which see Judges XVI., 23:29, and one at
Asdod (I. Sam. V., 5:6, and I. Chron. X., 10.) In the land of Hiram
were many temples, as related by Josephus. A single illustration
will suffice. On page 257 of Antiquities of the Jews is the
following: "Meander, also, who translated the Tyrian archives out
of the dialect of the Phoenicians into the Greek language, makes
mention of these two kings, where he says thus: 'When Abibalus was
dead, his son Hiram received the kingdom from him. He raised a bank
in the large palace, and dedicated the golden pillar which is in
Jupiter's Temple. He also went and cut down materials of timber out
of the mountain called Libanus for the roof of temples, and when he
had pulled down the ancient temples he both built the temples of
Hercules and that of Astarte.'" And why, it may be asked, are there
few or no remains of those temples as compared with temples built
long before on the Nile ? Largely because they were of wood
construction. The columns were wood, covered with metal or wound
with hemp, and coated with stucco. Layard's men, at Nineva, during
his digging there, found sufficient of such encased wood columns to
make their camp fires. And such, with few exceptions, was the
construction in the Holy Land before Solomon. But as to foundations
of heavy masonry there are early Hebrew remains at Baalbec,
Palmyra, and other places. Solomon's Temple was, therefore, new and
exceptional in its construction only in the extreme richness of its
decorations and in making Jachin and Boaz wholly of brass, and its
perpetuation in the memory of men is due principally to the fact
that it was the first great temple erected to the Living God. As
such it has and will endure in the minds of men.

For four hundred and nineteen years it stood a marked building.
Because of its fine workmanship, because of its lavish wealth of
decoration, and because it was the Temple of the God of Abraham, it
became well known not alone to priests, princes and kings, but to
builders throughout the world as well. Naturally such a building
would be imitated and duplicated by other kings thirsting for
glory. Josephus says it was duplicated on Mt. Gerizim and also in
Egypt by Onian. Wilkins in his learned treatise, "The Temple of
Jerusalem the Type of Grecian Architecture," shows that Grecian
temples, built while Solomon's Temple was still standing, are
duplicates of that famous structure. This view is held by a number
of careful investigators, who after long years of study of the
Temple of Solomon, have come to be regarded as almost final
authorities. Among this number is Edward Charles Hakewill, an
architect, who has published a work called "The Temple." In this he
submits scale drawings of Solomon's Temple, and says that the plans
and elevations apply accurately to existing temples that were built
while Solomon's Temple yet stood. It occurred to me that a
photograph of the ruins of those old temples, together with
Hakewill's scale drawings, would give the best possible idea of the
actual appearance of Solomon's Temple.

The general outline of adjoining buildings, together with its
courts, may be seen in cut No. 13, from Pain's Temple of Solomon.

Cut No. 14 is the ground plan of Solomon's Temple, and is
duplicated in the temple at Paestum and in the Theseum. The dark
circles represent Jachin and Boaz standing in the porch. In the
next cut will be seen a front view and then a sectional view on the
line A-B, showing Jachin and Boaz in elevation. Cut No. 15 is the
front view, and in the massive, well-proportioned structure we can
see why it stood four hundred and nineteen years. In cut No. 16 is
seen the sectional view, showing the pillars in the porch, drawn to
scale, eighteen cubits high.

In cut No. 17 is seen a general view of the ruins at Paestum, a
long since abandoned Grecian city. The building at the left is the
Temple of Neptune, and the other the Temple of Ceres, dating from
the early part of the sixth century B.C., and, therefore,
contemporaneous with Solomon's Temple. Jachin and Boaz stand within
the porch, and are architecturally known as "columns in antis."
Returning now to cut No. 14, note how accurately the Temple of
Neptune corresponds. Returning to Paestum, cut No. 18 is a rear
view, looking from within. The pillars, including the chapiters,
are twenty-nine feet high, or less than half the height assigned to
Jachin and Boaz, when we say they were forty cubits, or sixty feet
high.

The Theseum, the other temple to which the scale drawings apply, is
at Athens, and is seen in cut No. 19. It was contemporaneous with
the Temple of Solomon, and, like the temple at Paestum, is
remarkably well preserved. In size it is 45x104, with pillars
nineteen feet high. Cut No. 20 is a near view of the front. The
pillars corresponding to Jachin and Boaz are seen within the porch
at the middle.

Neither do the other temples at Athens furnish the remotest
suggestion of such an anomaly as a building with its porch higher
than the main structure. The world renowned Parthenon is shown in
cut No. 21, as it now appears. The portion here shown dates 450 B.
C., but it stands on a foundation containing sections of columns
from a temple erected in the prehistoric past. This part of the
foundation is seen in cut No. 22.

The Erectheum, at Athens, is an Ionic structure dating from the
fifth century B. C. In cut No. 23 is a view of the north porch,
famed for its excellence. Its pillars are twenty feet. In cut No.
23a is a view of the Erectheum from the south, showing the east and
west porches. In cut 23b is seen the porch of the Caryatids at the
west entrance to the Erectheum, the most famous porch of which
there are any remains. Though contemporaneous with the Temple of
Solomon, and odd to the verge of a dream, it yet adheres to the
principles of reasonable construction, and its renowned female
columns are not reaching over the top of the temple.

In cut No. 24 is shown a porch from the Temple of Castor and
Pollux, at Girgenti. The four pillars shown are all that remain
standing of the temple. This temple was 51x111, with pillars
twenty-one feet high, and dates from the fifth century B.C.

Think of it, here are the ruins of grand temples contemporaneous
with that of Solomon, and how high are their pillars? At Paestum
twenty nine feet, including the chapiters; of the Theseum, nineteen
feet; of Castor and Pollux, twenty-one feet; of the Erectheum,
twenty feet, while the Parthenon, over one hundred feet wide, has
pillars but thirty-three feet high. Compare with our second degree
work, wherein Jachin and Boaz are said to have been forty cubits,
or sixty feet high, in a building only forty-five feet wide, a
height out of proportion, and, indeed, inconsistent with the
architecture of Solomon's time, or for that matter the architecture
of any other time.

ROMAN BUILDINGS ON HEBREW FOUNDATIONS

As was said previously, there are no remains in the Holy Land
dating back far enough to be of service for the purpose in hand.
Yet Baalbec and Palmyra are noted for the ruins of temples dating
from later Roman times. As nearly all of them stand on Tyrian or
Hebrew foundations, they may be of interest in showing that though
built upon and in the midst of the ruins of buildings dating from
Hiram and Solomon, no one of them even suggests a porch higher than
the temple. In cuts No. 25, 26, and 27 is shown views of the ruins
of the Temple of Baalbec, which was a magnificent structure 370x440
feet.

The Temple of the Sun was 130x200 feet, with pillars forty-five
feet high (shown in cut No. 28)

Palmyra or Tadmour was built by Solomon. In cuts No. 29 and 30 are
views of its ruins, but there is no suggestion even here of a
building with its porch higher than the main structure.

Tyre, next after Jerusalem, is the most interesting spot to Masons,
but nothing in point could be secured. However, the tomb of Hiram
will interest Masons. Six miles outside the present town is the
tomb, shown in cut No. 31, and so far as can be learned it is the
real thing, the actual resting place of Hiram, King of Tyre. To the
right will he noticed a square and compass cut in the rock, but by
whom and when are questions that cannot be answered. In the same
way the southeast corner of the original wall of Solomon is of
interest(shown in cut No. 32). At this point the wall stands 60
feet above the ground. In 1862 Captain Warren dug down to the
beginning of this wall, which he found eighty feet below the
surface, and showed that the portion below grade was part of the
original wall made in preparing the temple site. On the under side
of the stones were numerous red marks or signs, which he could not
explain.

The principal buildings now on the temple areas are the Mosque of
Omar, known as the Dome of Rock, which Ferguson says dates from the
first century of our era, and the Mosque el Aksa, built about five
hundred years later. Though interesting, they are only of negative
value to the purpose in hand, for though built on the very site of
Solomon's Temple and amid its ruins, they give no hint of such a
building as is now described when the second degree is conferred.
In cut No. 33 is shown one of the four porches of The Dome of Rock.
This building is an octagon, measuring one hundred and fifty feet
in diameter and sixty-six feet on a side. The dome is sixty-five
feet in diameter and ninety-seven feet high.

Here, then, is a building two thousand years old, standing on the
very site of Solomon's Temple, and indeed it is believed to contain
material once a part of Solomon's Temple -- yet take note that the
pillars are proportioned to the main building and support the
facade.
(To be continued)


Mad wars destroy in one year the works of many years of peace.--

