The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-01-23
AN INTERESTING RELIC.
a battered Tablet from the Ancient Tenn
ME of Her0d.

a battered Tablet from the Ancient Tenn
pie of Herod.
In She interesting museum of an
tiquit.es at Constantinople the object
that struck me most was hoafy, bait
tered tablet, with long Greek inscrip-
ton cut on it in seven lines. 1t was
discovered in Jerusalem about the end
of May, 1871, by the French archaeolo-
gist, Clermont-Ganneau, at consider.
able 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; mo stranger
can enter within the balustrade round
the sanctuary and Enclosures. Who
ever is caught will be responsible to
himself for his DEATH" Josephiis gives
a graphic description of Herod's teni-
pie and mentions that the court of the
Gentiles was separated from the part
that was restricted to the Jews by two
parallel walls, about Is feet apart. The
outer wall was about Az feet high.
1t was an elaborate carved stone balus.
trade with IS doors in it, each of which
had a pillar in front of il, bearing an
inscription in Greek and Latin, forbid
ding any foreigner to enter the inclo-
sure on pain of death. Josephus men,
tions that the Romans respected this
law and no Gentle 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
Dent 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
sanctuary from the approach of I'M
hallowed feet, and the connection be-
tween the Inscription carved on it and
the passage in Josephus is most strik-
ing. The expressions and forms are
almost identical. There is indeed A
curious variation in the Greek word
for "balustrade," or partition wall. In
the passage in Josephus it is druphak.
tos, whereas in the inscription it IL
truphaktos; but this variation may
be accounted for by the fact that Jo-
sephus used the correct classical term,
while the inscription spelled the word
according to the Jewish method of
pronouncing it, changing into t.
Josephus twice refers to the inscrip-
ton, once in his antiquities" and the
parallel passages are differently word
ed, showing that he did not intend to
give the exact phraseology of the stone
monument, but only the sense; and.
therefore, that the tablet should give
the sense of Josephus' words, without
his exact expression, is just what might
have been expected in such a discov-
cry. According to Clermont- Ganneau,
the tablet is the most ancient, as well
as the most interesting Greek inscrip-
ton which archaeological investiga-
ton in Jerusalem has produced. Its
bearings are most important. 1t sup
plies standard of comparison by
which to distinguish the Herodian
sculpture and photographic works
from those of previous or later days.
Sunday at Home.