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The Holy Temple of Jerusalem refers to two destroyed Jewish temples on the Temple Mount, now occupied by two Islamic shrines. The site is a hotspot of religious conflict and is the third holiest site in Islam. The original temple was supposedly built by King Solomon in 957 BC, and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 BC. The Western Wall remains one of Judaism’s holiest sites. Some Jews expect the eventual construction of a Third Temple.
The Holy Temple of Jerusalem refers to two destroyed Jewish temples that once stood on the Temple Mount, a flat-topped man-made platform located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Currently, the site is occupied by two Islamic shrines, the Dome of the Rock, built in 691, making it the oldest Islamic structure in the world, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on the remains of a shrine built as early as 684.
Due to the holiness of this site in the Jewish religion, few Jews dare to walk on it. It is the third holiest site in Islam. As you can imagine, the site is a hotspot of religious conflict. Some Jews expect the eventual construction of a Third Temple, either deeming it necessary for the coming of the Jewish Messiah, or stating that the Temple will descend from Heaven to coincide with the arrival of the Messiah.
The original Holy Temple was supposedly built by King Solomon in 957 BC, to serve his kingdom. However, archaeological excavations of the surrounding area failed to find any evidence of an urban civilization in the area at that time, instead indicating that the area was inhabited by no more than 5,000 nomadic shepherds gathered in at most a few small villages. However, legend has it that King Solomon built the structure on the site where his father King David repented to God for 1) committing the sin of counting the people of Israel, which he was commanded not to do, or 2) taking the wife of a king he had conquered. The First Holy Temple took the place of the Tabernacle of Moses (a mobile shrine) and the Tabernacles of Shiloh, Nov and Givon.
In 587 the Babylonians overran the city and razed the temple to the ground. All Jews were subsequently either killed or recruited into captivity in Babylon. Over the following decades, many Jews returned, and construction of a new Holy Temple began in 537 BC. It was finished in 516 BC and served as the center of the Jewish religion for nearly six more centuries. In 20 BC, the non-Jewish Roman procurator “King of the Jews” (as declared by the Roman Senate) Herod the Great began extensive renovation work on the plateau, expanding it to its present size and completely renovating the Temple. The result, “Herod’s Temple,” is still called the Second Temple because sacrifices continued throughout the rebuilding.
In 70 BC, the Romans were putting down constant Jewish revolts and decided to raze the city of Jerusalem. All of the city’s Jews were killed or enslaved, and the Second Temple was destroyed. The Triumphal Arch commemorating the sack of the city, the Arch of Titus, still stands in Rome. But the Jews were devastated. Although all of the walls of the Holy Temple are still underground, only the Western Wall is exposed, and it remains one of Judaism’s holiest sites, if not the holiest.
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