Thursday, August 08, 2013

The Difference Between Roofs on the Temple Mount

Do you know what caused me to publish this photo?




Well, unlike the Dome of the Rock:

...the centrepiece of this majestic complex was the Temple itself. A building of shining white marble and gold, with bronze entrance doors, it was said that you could not look at the Temple in daylight as it would blind you. The attention to detail in its construction is exemplified by the placing of gold spikes on the roof line of the building to prevent birds sitting on the Temple and soiling it.

Source, Middot, Chapter 4, Mishnah 6:-

The Sanctuary was a hundred cubits square and a hundred cubits in height. The solid basement was six cubits, and the height [of wall built thereon] forty cubits, the wall-frieze one cubit, the place of drippingst two cubits, the roof-beams one cubit, and the plasterwork one cubit; and the height of the upper chamber was forty cubits, the wall-frieze one cubit, the place of drippings two cubits, the roof-beams one cubit, and the plasterwork one cubit; and the parapet three cubits and the scarecrow one cubit. R. Judah says: The scarecrow was not taken into account; but the parapet was four cubits.

 
and in the Rambam:


The Temple building constructed by the exiles [returning from Babylon] was one hundred cubits long, one hundred cubits wide, and one hundred cubits high. The measurement of its height can be described as follows:
They built a solid base six cubits high resembling a foundation for it;
the Sanctuary, 40 cubits high;
an ornate ceiling, one cubit high;
above that, two cubits were left empty to allow dripping [water] to collect [and to be drained off]; this was called the Beit Dilpa;
the roof above the Beit Dilpa was a cubit thick;
the plaster, a cubit high;
an upper storey was built on it; its walls were 40 cubits high;
its roof included an ornate ceiling one cubit high;
a Beit Dilpa, two cubits high;
a roof, one cubit high;
plaster, one cubit high;
a guard rail, three cubits high;
a sheet of iron resembling a blade, a cubit high, was placed all around the guard rail so that birds will not rest upon it. It was called the Kaleh Orev. (The Rambam's Commentary to the Mishnah translates that term as "the raven decimator" and explains that the sharp blade would cut off the birds' feet.) 


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