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→Location of the temple
==Location of the temple==
==Location of the temple==
The issue of where the Jewish temple stood has attracted both interest and controversy. Traditionally, the temple was said to have been at the location where the Dome of the Rock now stands. In modern times, various sites on the Temple Mount have been suggested.<ref name="dolphin">Dolphin, Lambert and Kollen, Michael, "[http://www.templemount.org/theories.html On The Location of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem]."</ref> The idea that the temple was located outside the Temple Mount has also received attention, but is rejected by specialists as a fringe theory.<ref>Ruth Schuster and Ran Shapira, "[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/were-there-jewish-temples-on-temple-mount-yes-1.5411705 Were There Jewish Temples on Temple Mount?]", ''Haaretz'', Jul 24, 2017.</ref> Archaeological digs on the Temple Mount are banned by the Waqf, making the issue difficult to resolve.[[File:Tuvia_Sagiv,_Temple_Mount_in_Jerusalem_with_the_Hadrian_temple_of_Jupiter_in_Baalbek_in_Lebanon_overlaid.jpg|thumb|left|A comparison of the design of the Temple to Jupiter in Baalbek to that of the Temple Mount. Like the Temple to Jupiter in Jerusalem, the Baalbek temple was built by Hadrian. If the design of the Jerusalem temple was similar, the site of the octogonal Dome of the Rock corresponds to that of the hexagonal forecourt of Hadrian's temple. Drawing by Tuvia Sagiv.]]
The issue of where the Jewish temple stood has attracted both interest and controversy. Traditionally, the temple was said to have been at the location where the Dome of the Rock now stands. In modern times, various sites on the Temple Mount have been suggested.<ref name="dolphin">Dolphin, Lambert and Kollen, Michael, "[http://www.templemount.org/theories.html On The Location of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem]."</ref> The idea that the temple was located outside the Temple Mount has also received attention, but is rejected by specialists as a fringe theory.<ref>Ruth Schuster and Ran Shapira, "[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/were-there-jewish-temples-on-temple-mount-yes-1.5411705 Were There Jewish Temples on Temple Mount?]", ''Haaretz'', Jul 24, 2017.</ref> Archaeological digs on the Temple Mount are banned by the Waqf, making the issue difficult to resolve.[[File:Tuvia_Sagiv,_Temple_Mount_in_Jerusalem_with_the_Hadrian_temple_of_Jupiter_in_Baalbek_in_Lebanon_overlaid.jpg|thumb|left|A comparison of the design of the Temple to Jupiter in Baalbek, Lebanon to that of the Temple Mount. Like the Temple to Jupiter in Jerusalem, the Baalbek temple was built by Hadrian. If the design of the Jerusalem temple was similar, the site of the octogonal Dome of the Rock corresponds to that of the hexagonal forecourt of Hadrian's temple. Drawing by Tuvia Sagiv.]]
===al-Kas Fountain===
Fortress Antonia, where Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate, was at a higher elevation than the temple, according to Josephus. In modern times, the Dome is the high point of the Temple Mount. If Antonia was located at what is now the Dome, that would place the temple at al-Kas Fountain, according to Tel Aviv architect Tuvia Sagiv. This location is midway between the Dome and al-Aqsa. This area was landscaped and flattened by Hadrian. If the temple was at this site, it is now under 17 meters of earth.<ref name="dolphin"/>
Writing in 400, Jerome says that the an equestrian statue of Hadrian stood over the Holy of Holies.<ref>Jerome, ''Commentary on Matthew 24.15'', 400 AD. "So when you see the standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation... or to the statue of the mounted Hadrian, which stands to this very day on the site of the Holy of Holies."</ref> Hadrian also built a Temple to Jupiter in Baalbek, Lebanon, the ruins of which still stand. If the temple in Jerusalem followed a similar plan, this statute was at site of the fountain.
===Dome of the Spirits===
An alternative theory described by physicist Asher Kaufman is based on the tradition that the temple was due west of the Golden Gate. This gate was built by Justinian in the sixth century and sealed off by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1541. It was sealed because there is a tradition that the messiah will enter using this gate.<ref>As Jesus has already passed through, sealing the gate fulfills Ezekiel 44:2: ''And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut"'' (ESV).</ref> If the location of this gate corresponds to the Herodian gate, that would put the temple at the Dome of the Spirits (or Dome of the Tablets), which is 330 feet north of the Dome of the Rock. This site is sacred to the Sufi sect. Hadrian more than doubled the size of the Temple Mount by incorporating Antonia to the north. So the gate could have been moved to the north in his time. The name Dome of the Tablets suggests that a tradition connected this site to the temple. But the dome was built in the tenth century, by which time the Golden Gate was already at its present location.<ref name="dolphin"/>
An alternative theory described by physicist Asher Kaufman is based on the tradition that the temple was due west of the Golden Gate. This gate was built by Justinian in the sixth century and sealed off by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1541. It was sealed because there is a tradition that the messiah will enter using this gate.<ref>As Jesus has already passed through, sealing the gate fulfills Ezekiel 44:2: ''And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut"'' (ESV).</ref> If the location of this gate corresponds to the Herodian gate, that would put the temple at the Dome of the Spirits (or Dome of the Tablets), which is 330 feet north of the Dome of the Rock. This site is sacred to the Sufi sect. Hadrian more than doubled the size of the Temple Mount by incorporating Antonia to the north. So the gate could have been moved to the north in his time. The name Dome of the Tablets suggests that a tradition connected this site to the temple. But the dome was built in the tenth century, by which time the Golden Gate was already at its present location.<ref name="dolphin"/>