There were three successive Temples. 1. _Solomon's Temple_ dedicated about 950 B.C. The accounts of this building are so meager, and the text is so uncertain, that it is impossible to construct its plan with any satisfaction. A conjectural ground plan is given on page 71. This temple stood until 587 B.C., when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. 2. After a period of desolation of 50 years, _Zerubbabel's Temple_ was begun, 536 B.C., and finished 20 years after. Still less is known of its architecture; but it was probably on the same general plan as Solomon's, though less magnificent. It passed through many sieges, was desecrated by enemies, and reconsecrated by the Jews, but stood until 30 years before the birth of Christ. 3. _Herod's Temple_ was a restoration, enlargement, and improvement upon Zerubbabel's. It was built by Herod the Great, in sections, taking down the old and building the new part by part, so that it occupied many years, and was not completed until after Herod's death, and less than ten years before its final destruction. This was the Temple standing in the time of Christ, and referred to in the allusions of the New Testament. It was destroyed by the Romans under Titus, A.D. 70, and was never rebuilt by the Jews, though its restoration was more than once attempted. Its site is now occupied by the Mohammedan "Dome of the Rock," often, but erroneously, called the Mosque of Omar. [Illustration: THE DOME OF THE ROCK.] The Temple of Herod is the one usually described in works on the subject. The authorities are: 1. The Scriptures, from which we gather references to this Temple, and analogies from the description of the Tabernacle, of which the Temple was an enlarged copy. 2. The description given by Josephus, which was written 20 years after its fall, and gives general impressions rather than accurate details. 3. The tract Middoth "measures," in the Talmud, which gives precise measurements, but not complete information. 4. The allusions in ancient Jewish literature, of more or less value and authority. 5. The results of recent explorations under the Temple area, which are very valuable. Different investigators have come to very different conclusions concerning the Temple and its courts. We present in this description those of Dr. James Strong, in McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia, from which our diagram is taken, by permission. From the uncertainty of many dimensions, and especially the difference of opinion with regard to the length of the Jewish cubit, in which all the ancient measurements are given, most of our figures must be regarded as general estimates, rather than precise statements. The Temple consisted of a building called "the House of God," surrounded by a number of open courts, the outer ones including the inner. On the north of it was the Tower of Antonia; east, Valley of the Kedron; south, Ophel; west, Valley of the Tyropoeon; and beyond, Mount Zion.