HEROD'S TEMPLE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21116, 17 March 1934, Page 15

HEROD'S TEMPLE

The Afrhaeolojry of Herod's Temple. Bv F. J. Hollis. J. M. Dent & Sons | Ltd. 358 pp. (IS/- net.) | This handsome volume is a comj montary on the tractate "Middoth," which was written in the latter half of the second century after Christ. The exact plan of Herod's temple has been a matter of dispute among scholars up to the present time. The evidence of Josephus, the statements of the Mishnic tractate, "Middoth," and the facts brought to light by excavations have given rise to apparently irreconcilable problems. Dr. Hollis seems to have solved these problems by a fresh and exhaustive examination of the evidence. The book is divided into two parts. The first contains a detailed account of a survey of the Temple's site. The second part gives a reconstruction of the buildings and courts on the Temple hill. There arc appendices on the probable length of the cubit, on the use of scriptural illustrations in the tractate, and on the Rabbinical sayings to be found there. It will interest Biblical scholars to know that Dr. Hollis has produced very convincing evidence to show that the Holy of Holies, not the altar, was situated on the sacred rock. This is in accordance with ancient tradition. The detailed study of the tractate "Middoth" which appears in the second part of the volume is the most complete that has appeared in English. There are thirty admirable illustrations in the book, and they are the original work of the author, who received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of London in recognition of his j labours. ]