Herod's Temple

Jerusalem's Mount Moriah has been a focus of world attention since the dawn of history. Acclaimed in the Bible as the "Gate of Heaven," it was home to a succession of Holy Temples from the time of Israelite King Solomon. Widely revered as the House of the Lord, its Temple was a prized place of offerings by members of many nations. Its innermost sanctum housed the now lost Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Lord's Presence rested on the Ark, which was a conduit of immense Divine power. It had cleared a path through the Biblical wilderness, split the Jordan River, and leveled the walls of Jericho. The Temple's monumental reconstruction by Judean King Herod was one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. Destroyed by Imperial Rome in the year 70 CE, its shattered remains are hidden beneath centuries of alterations and additions by successive dominating powers. This book compiles a multitude of surviving clues from trusted sources old and new, and provides extraordinary illustrations that bring the Temple ruins to life in vivid detail. They give rare visual access to even the most inaccessible or restricted of the Temple's remains. The copiously footnoted work helps resolve long time uncertainties about the original structure and its ruins, and unexpectedly reveals many astonishing secrets. They include the likely last hiding place of the sacred and powerful Ark, before it vanished into the realm of legend and dreams.