Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple, refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built in the 10th century BCE, during the reign of Solomon over the United Kingdom of Israel. It stood until, when it was destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. The exact location of this temple on the temple mount is debatable.
Almost a century later, the First Temple was replaced by the Second Temple, which was built after the Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. While the Second Temple stood for a longer period of time than the First Temple, and was renovated by Herod the Great, it was destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Projects to build the hypothetical "Third Temple" have not come to fruition in the modern era, though the Temple in Jerusalem still features prominently in Judaism. As an object of longing and a symbol of future redemption, the Temple has been commemorated in Jewish tradition through prayer, liturgical poetry, art, poetry, architecture, and other forms of expression.
Outside of Judaism, the Temple, and today's Temple Mount, also carries a high level of significance in Islam and Christianity. The name Bait al-Maqdis which preserves the memory of the Temple, used later for islamic buildings on Temple mount and for entire Jerusalem city by Muslims. The site, known to Muslims as the "Al-Aqsa Mosque compound" or Haram al-Sharif, is considered the third-holiest site in Islam. According to the narrative in Islam, the Temple in Jerusalem was originally a mosque commissioned by Solomon and built by on the commandment of Allah, with the purpose of serving as the of the Israelites. In the early years of Islam, Prophet Muhammad and his followers faced Jerusalem for prayers until the city of Mecca superseded the former as the new.

Etymology

The Hebrew name given in the Hebrew Bible for the building complex is either Miqdash "Holy place", as used in Exodus 25:8, or simply "House of Yahweh", as in 1 Chronicles 22:11.
In rabbinic literature, the temple sanctuary is called "The Holy House", Bet HaMiqdash, and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name. In classic English texts, however, the word "Temple" is used interchangeably, sometimes having the strict connotation of the Temple precincts, with its courts, while at other times having the strict connotation of the Temple Sanctuary. While Greek and Hebrew texts make this distinction, English texts do not always do so.
Jewish rabbi and philosopher Maimonides gave the following definition of "Temple" in the Mishne Torah 9, section 1:5:
The historian Josephus echoes this same theme, when he writes in The Jewish War 5.5.2. :

First Temple

The Hebrew Bible says that the First Temple was built by King Solomon, completed in 957 BCE. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, as the sole place of Israelite korban, the Temple replaced the Tabernacle constructed in the Sinai under the auspices of Moses, as well as local sanctuaries, and altars in the hills. According to the Hebrew Bible, this Temple was sacked a few decades later by Shishak, identified as Shoshenq I, pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt.
Although efforts were made at partial reconstruction, it was only in 835 BCE when Jehoash, King of Judah, in the second year of his reign, invested considerable sums in reconstruction, only to have it stripped again by Sennacherib, ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The First Temple was totally destroyed in the Siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587 BCE.

Second Temple

According to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was called for by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire the year before. According to some 19th-century calculations, work started later, in April 536 BCE and was completed on 21 February, 515 BCE, 21 years after the start of the construction. This date is obtained by coordinating Ezra 3:8–10 with historical sources. The accuracy of these dates is contested by some modern researchers, who consider the biblical text to be of later date and based on a combination of historical records and religious considerations, leading to contradictions between different books of the Bible and making the dates unreliable. The new temple was dedicated by the Jewish governor Zerubbabel. However, with a full reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple, which were issued by three Achaemenid emperors: Cyrus in 536 BCE, Darius I in 519 BCE, and Artaxerxes I in 457 BCE, and finally by Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE.
According to classical Jewish sources, another demolition of the Temple was narrowly avoided in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, but Alexander was placated at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery.
After Jerusalem came under Seleucid control, Antiochus III the Great attempted to introduce Greek deities into the Temple. A rebellion ensued and was brutally suppressed, but no further action was taken by Antiochus. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes assumed the Seleucid throne he immediately attempted to enforce universal Hellenization once again. During this time, several incidents considered offensive under traditional Jewish practice occurred in the temple, including erecting a statue of Zeus and the sacrifice of pigs. This led to a two-year civil war in Judea, during which traditionalist rebels led by Mattathias fought against both Seleucid forces and the Hellenized Judean forces who administered Judea in Antiochus's name. After the rebels successfully overthrew Seleucid rule, Mattathias' son Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple in 164 BCE, giving rise to the celebration of Hanukkah.
During the Roman era, Pompey entered the Holy of Holies in 63 BCE, but left the Temple intact. In 54 BCE, Marcus Licinius Crassus looted the Temple treasury.
Around 20 BCE, the building was renovated and expanded by Herod the Great and became known as Herod's Temple. It was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 CE during the Siege of Jerusalem. During the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans in 132–135, Simon bar Kokhba and Rabbi Akiva wanted to rebuild the Temple, but bar Kokhba's revolt failed and the Jews were banned from Jerusalem except for Tisha B'Av by the Roman Empire. The emperor Julian allowed the Temple to be rebuilt, but the 363 Galilee earthquake ended all attempts ever since.

Al-Aqsa and the Third Temple

By the 7th century, the site had fallen into disrepair under Byzantine rule. In tradition, after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the 7th century during the Rashidun Caliphate, a mosque was built by Umar, who first cleared the site of debris and then erected a mihrab and simple mosque on the same site as the present one. This first mosque was known as Masjid al-'Umar.
During the Umayyad Caliphate, the caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered a renovation of the mosque, constructing the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. The mosque has stood on the mount since 691; the al-Aqsa Mosque. It has been renovated several times since, including during the Abbasid, Fatimid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras.

Archaeological evidence

Archaeological excavations have not found remnants of the First Temple, though there is evidence that Jerusalem was a hub of religious devotion at the time. Evidence for the Second Temple, both archaeological and literary, is much stronger even though no stone that was definitely part of the temple can be identified.
Concrete finds from the Second Temple include the Temple Warning inscriptions and the Trumpeting Place inscription, two surviving pieces of the Herodian expansion of the Temple Mount. The Temple Warning inscriptions forbid the entry of pagans to the Temple, a prohibition also mentioned by the 1st century CE historian Josephus. These inscriptions were on the wall that surrounded the Temple and prevented non-Jews from entering the temple's courtyard. The Trumpeting Place inscription was found at the southwest corner of Temple Mount, and is believed to mark the site where the priests used to declare the advent of Shabbat and other Jewish holidays.

Location

There are three main theories as to where the Temple stood: where the Dome of the Rock is now located, to the north of the Dome of the Rock, or to the east of the Dome of the Rock.
The exact location of the Temple is a contentious issue, as questioning the exact placement of the Temple is often associated with Temple denial. Since the Holy of Holies lay at the center of the complex as a whole, the Temple's location is dependent on the location of the Holy of Holies. The location of the Holy of Holies was even a question less than 150 years after the Second Temple's destruction, as detailed in the Talmud. Chapter 54 of the Tractate Berakhot states that the Holy of Holies was directly aligned with the Golden Gate, which, assuming the current gate follows the same course as the now buried Herodian gate, would have placed the Temple slightly to the north of the Dome of the Rock, as Kaufman postulated. However, chapter 54 of the Tractate Yoma and chapter 26 of the Tractate Sanhedrin assert that the Holy of Holies stood directly on the Foundation Stone, which agrees with the traditional view that the Dome of the Rock stands on the Temple's location.

Physical layout

First Temple

The Temple of Solomon, or First Temple, consisted of four main elements:

the Great or Outer Court, where people assembled to worship;
the Inner Court or Court of the Priests;
the larger Holy Place, called the "greater house" and the "temple" and
the smaller "inner sanctum", known as the Holy of Holies or Kodesh HaKodashim.