Herod's Temple as Troy Caldwell maps it onto the psyche: every step inward is a step upward.
* Interpretive layer. The architecture follows the Mishnah (tractate Middot), Josephus and the excavated platform; the overlay is Troy's reading.
Drag to orbit · scroll or pinch to zoom.
What it shows. This is the Second Temple as Herod rebuilt it, the Temple Jesus walked through. I built the courts from the measurements in the Mishnah's tractate Middot (in cubits, one cubit taken as about half a meter), the platform from the walls that still stand in Jerusalem, and the warning stone from the two inscriptions archaeologists have recovered. East faces the Mount of Olives. Everything climbs as it moves west: twelve steps up to the terrace, fifteen curved steps (where the Levites sang the Songs of Ascents) up to the Nicanor Gate, and twelve more up to the porch.
What it reads. Troy Caldwell's Adventures in Soul Making walks this Temple as a picture of the soul. The crowded Court of the Gentiles is the ego and its daily noise. The Court of the Women is the anima, receptive presence. The Nicanor Gate and the altar are the summons to strength and the letting go of what we grasp. The windowless side chambers around the sanctuary become the sarx, the shadow's hidden storerooms. The Holy Place is the still point, tended daily; the Holy of Holies is the archetypal Self. Turn on the psyche overlay to see the mapping, and the pilgrim's way to follow his route.
Where the model simplifies. The sources disagree in places. Josephus and the Mishnah count the gates differently. Scholars still argue whether the "Beautiful Gate" of Acts 3 is the eastern gate of the Court of the Women or the Nicanor Gate itself; I follow the first view, as Troy does. Herod's Holy Place held one menorah and one table; the ten tables and ten lampstands belong to Solomon's Temple, as do the pillars Boaz and Jachin. The Holy of Holies was empty except for the bare Foundation Stone, so the Ark is an optional layer. Heights of the porticoes, gatehouses and walls are approximate, and the platform's slightly skewed outline is drawn from modern wall lengths.
Walk Through Journey. The gold button walks Troy's route at eye level in seventeen stations, with his story paraphrased at each stop in a panel beside the view. You move only when you choose: press Continue (or the right arrow key) to walk to the next station, Back to return, and drag the view to look around. Hide text gives the whole screen to the view. The hidden room of idols is Troy's imagining, and the pillars Boaz and Jachin appear as ghosts because they belonged to Solomon's Temple.
Model by Claude for Doug Scott, after Dr. Troy Caldwell (troycaldwell.com).
Drag the view to look around · ← → keys move between stations