Category:Jerusalem Temple (subject)

The Jerusalem Temple was the religious center of ancient Judaism from pre-exilic times to the Jewish War when it was destroyed by the Romans and never rebuilt.

The First Temple

According to Jewish tradition, the First Temple was built under King Solomon in the 10th cent. BCE. It was at the time one of the many sanctuaries present in the land of Israel. The God of Israel was worshipped along with other deities. The Reform of Josiah made it the only legitimate sanctuary to the national God. The sanctuary was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE when they sacked the city of Jerusalem.

An idealized "reconstruction" of the First Temple according to the Biblical description.

The Second Temple

The Jerusalem Temple was reconstructed in 515 BCE under the leadership of the Zadokite priesthood. A major crisis erupted at the beginning of the 2nd cent. BCE when the attempt of transforming the Temple into a Hellenistic sanctuary provoked a revolt led by the Maccabees. The Temple was "rededicated in 164 BCE. The Roman conquest brought about some tension. In 63 Pompey entered the Holy of Holies and in 53 BCE Crassus looted the Temple treasury. Around 20 BCE, the building was renovated by Herod the Great, who enlarged it and made it one of the richest sanctuaries of the Roman Empire. In 70 the Temple was destroyed b the Romans, during the Jewish War. The attempt to reconstruct the Temple failed during the Revolt of Bar Kokhba.The Roman emperor Julian made a final, failed attempt to have the Temple rebuilt in 363 CE.

The model for the Second Temple at the Israel Museum of Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock

After the Muslim conquest in the 7th cent, the site was converted into an islamic sanctuary, believed to be the place of the Prophet Muhammad's Ascent into Heaven. The shrine of the Dome of the Rock was built the mark the holy site.