The Temple of Herod, the Great
In
Fig.6 we show, in perspective and in plan, an ideal reconstruction of the
Temple of Herod, the Great. We see how this temple built in Jerusalem
and often mistaken with the (fictive) Temple of Solomon roughly follows
the plan of Egyptian temples. In particular, the triple structure is visible,
and so is the separation into an outer courtyard for the gentiles and an
inner one for Israel and the priests.
A
third inner court was reserved for the women (hierodules?) and in the innermost
region lay the holy of holies and the sacrificial altar. Herod's temple
was built after the ideal models of the Temple of Solomon and the Temple
of Ezekiel. The holy of holies (or inner sanctum) was separated by a curtain
from the outer sanctum. Only the high priest could enter this most sacred
precinct.
There is yet an important point connected
with the symbolism of the Temple of Jerusalem: the insistence on the number
ten. This number is precisely the one of the independent realms composing
the Atlantean empire, according to Plato. The Sea of Bronze of the Temple
had a diameter of ten cubits. Hiram built ten bronze basins and ten carts
for them, so that they could be easily moved around is order to be used
in ritual ablutions.
Likewise, the altar of the Temple, built
of bronze, was ten cubits high and twenty cubits (2x10) on a side. The
inner sanctuary was decorated with ten golden candlesticks "built in the
prescribed manner" and posted at ten tables, probably also of gold or bronze.
The width of the Temple was twenty cubits (about 10 meters) and its inner
sanctum was a cube of about 10 meters on a side (20 cubits).13
The vestibule of the inner sanctum was
also a cube of about 10 x 10 x 10 meters (20 cubit on a side). The altar
was 20 cubits on the sides and 10 cubits tall, that is, a half cube of
about 10 meters on a side. Ten was indeed the sacred number of Jahveh (the
Ten Commandments, etc.), just as Seven (the Seven Days of Creation, etc.)
was the one of Elohim. Hence, it is not unreasonable to suppose that there
was a connection between Jahveh and his Temple with Atlantis and its ten
realms.
The Twin Flags of Egyptian Temples
The flags shown in the Ramses temple of
Medinet Habu (Fig.2) were a feature of essentially all Egyptian temples.
As we saw above they represented the
netjesr (or
neters = "gods") and served
as an emblem of godliness and, more exactly, of the Land of the Gods (Punt)
that the temple replicated in miniature. This identification can again
be traced back to India and the traditions concerning Jambudvipa and its
lofty ensign, "visible to all nations".
The ensign or banner also came to symbolize,
in the ancient world and, in particular, among the Phoenicians, the same
as the Pillars of Hercules. These are often represented by a pair of flagstaffs
or beams, on whose tops were hung flags or hanging strips of cloth.
14
The strip of cloth (banner, streamer, etc.)
also represents Setubandha (lit. "Connecting Strip (or Band)") the other
name of Jambu-dvipa and, more exactly, of Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula.
Hercules, the personification of the pillars that bear his name, invariably
wore a bandolier or stole which was the alias of the connecting strip of
land that linked his secret realm to the continent.
