The record-union., 1896-12-13
AN INTERESTING RELIC.
Inscriptive Tablet From the Temple
Of HerOd

In the interesting Museum of Antiqui-
1 ties at Constantinople, the object that
struck me>most was a hoary, battered
tablet, with a long Greek inscription cut
! in it in seven lines. 1t was discovered
! in Jerusalem about the end of May,
1871, by the French archaeologist Cler-
mont -Ganneau, at a considerable depth
below the ground, in the foundations OF
an Arab house, not far from the Mosque
of Omar, on what might have been the
site of the Temple of Herod.
This is one of the very few relics of
that magnificent structure which have
survived to our day. The inscription is
| in capital monumental letters, and may
| be translated thus: 'No stranger can
enter within the balustrade round the
sanctuary and Enclosures. Whoever is
caught will be responsible to himself for
/ lis DEATH" Josephus gives graphic
description of Herod's temple. and men
tions that the court of the Gentiles was
separated from the part that was re-
! stricted to the Jews by two parallel
walls, about fifteen feet apart. The
/ outer wall was about four and half
! feet high It was an elaborately carved
/ stone balustrade with thirteen doors in
il. each of which had pillar in front of
| it, bearing an inscription in Greek and
| Latin. forbidding any foreigner to en-
ter the inclosure on pain of death. Jo-
sephus mentions that the Romans re-
spected this law: and no Greek ever
ventured to intrude beyond this point.
The prohibition in question, how
ever, was long regarded as apocryphal,
even although Philo spoke of the in
scription, and corroborated the state
ment Of the Jewish historian. But the
discovery of Clermont-Ganneau has
placed the matter beyond dispute. The
tablet which he found was part of one of
the columns guarding the inner sane
tuary from the approach of unhallowed
feet; and the connection between the in
scription carved on it and the passage
in Josephus is most striking. The ex-
pressionS and forms are almost identi-
cal There is indeed a curious varia-
ton in the Greek word for 'balustrade, -
or partition wall. In the passage in
Josephus 1t is druphaktos, whereas in
the inscription it is truphaktos; but this
variation may be accounted for by the
fact that Josephus used the correct
classical term, while the inscription
spelled the word according to the Jew
ish method of pronouncing it. changing
a into a t. Josephus twice refers to
the inscription, once in his Wars" and
once in his antiquities" and the par
allel passages are differently worded,
showing that he did not intend to give
the exact phraseology of the stone mon
ument but only the sense; and. there
fore, that the tablet should give the
sense of Josephus' words, without his
exact impressions, is just what might
have been expected In such a discov
cry. According to Clermont-G -Ganneau.
the tablet is the most ancient, as well as
the most interesting, Greek inscription
which archaeological investigation in
Jerusalem has produced. It's bearings
are most important. It supplies a
standard of comparison by which to dis
tinguish Herodian sculpture and pal
geographic works from those of previ-
Gus or later date.-Sunday at Home.