page_title: Solomon's Temple
section_title: Architectural description
hierarchical_section_title: Solomon's Temple / In the Hebrew Bible / Architectural description
context_page_description: According to the Hebrew Bible, Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple, was the Holy Temple in ancient Jerusalem before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE. The period in which the First Temple presumably, or actually, stood in Jerusalem, is known in academic literature as the First Temple period.
  The Hebrew Bible states the temple was constructed under Solomon, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah and that during the Kingdom of Judah, the temple was dedicated to Yahweh. During different periods of its operation, Asherah, Baal, the host of heaven and a solar deity were also worshipped in the high places. Temple worship included ritual sacrifice and ritual cleansings. It is said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Jewish historian Josephus says; "the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy years, six months, and ten days after it was built". The temple was subsequently replaced with the Second Temple in 516 BCE.
  Because of the religious sensitivities involved, and the politically volatile situation in Jerusalem, only limited archaeological surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted.
context_section_description: The Temple of Solomon is considered to be built according to Phoenician design, and its description is considered the best description of what a Phoenician temple looked like. The detailed descriptions provided in the Tanakh are the sources for reconstructions of its appearance. Technical details are lacking, since the scribes who wrote the books were not architects or engineers. Nevertheless, the descriptions have inspired modern replicas of the temple and influenced later structures around the world.
  Reconstructions differ; the following is largely based on Easton's Bible Dictionary and the Jewish Encyclopedia:
caption: Plan of Solomon's Temple with measurements
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