Editing Second Temple (section)

==Archaeology==
{{Further information|Archaeological remnants of the Jerusalem Temple}}[[File:WikiAir IL-13-06 037 - Temple Mount.JPG|right|thumb|View of the Temple Mount in 2013; east at the bottom]]Archaeological understanding of the Second Temple is primarily derived from investigations of the outer walls of the Temple complex, as direct excavations on the Temple Mount itself have been limited due to the presence of later Islamic structures.{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|p=38}} Foundational research was conducted by Sir Charles Warren between 1867 and 1870; his work remains a principal source for the site's architectural layout.{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|p=38}}

===Temple warning inscriptions===
[[File:Soreg inscription.jpg|thumb|''Soreg'' inscription warning non-Jews from entering the sanctuary of the Second Temple]]
In 1871, a hewn stone measuring {{cvt|60|×|90|cm}} and engraved with Greek [[Uncial script|uncials]] was discovered near a court on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and identified by [[Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau]] as being the [[Temple Warning inscription]]. The stone inscription outlined the prohibition extended to those who were not of the Jewish nation to proceed beyond the {{transliteration|he|soreg}} separating the larger Court of the Gentiles and the inner courts. The inscription read in seven lines:
{{poemquote|{{lang|grc|ΜΗΟΕΝΑΑΛΛΟΓΕΝΗΕΙΣΠΟ
ΡΕΥΕΣΟΑΙΕΝΤΟΣΤΟΥΠΕ
ΡΙΤΟΙΕΡΟΝΤΡΥΦΑΚΤΟΥΚΑΙ
ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΥΟΣΔΑΝΛΗ
ΦΘΗΕΑΥΤΩΙΑΙΤΙΟΣΕΣ
ΤΑΙΔΙΑΤΟΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥ
ΘΕΙΝΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ}}
Translation: "Let no foreigner enter within the parapet and the partition which surrounds the Temple precincts. Anyone caught [violating] will be held accountable for his ensuing death."}}

Today, the stone is preserved in [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|Istanbul's Museum of Antiquities]].<ref name="times">{{Cite web |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-temple-mount-warning-stone-is-closest-thing-we-have-to-the-temple/ |title=Ancient Temple Mount 'warning' stone is 'closest thing we have to the Temple' |first=Ilan Ben |last=Zion |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=2022-10-16 |archive-date=2023-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830022916/https://www.timesofisrael.com/ancient-temple-mount-warning-stone-is-closest-thing-we-have-to-the-temple/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1935 a fragment of another similar Temple warning inscription was found.<ref name="times" />

The word "foreigner" has an ambiguous meaning. Some scholars believe it referred to all gentiles, regardless of ritual purity status or religion. Others argue that it referred to unconverted Gentiles since [[Herod the Great|Herod]] wrote the inscription. Herod himself was a converted [[Idumean]] (or Edomite) and was unlikely to exclude himself or his descendants.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Thiessen |first=Matthew |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/5287/chapter/148016316?login=true#273599969 |title=Contesting Conversion: Genealogy, Circumcision, and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Christianity |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199914456 |pages=87–110}}</ref>

===Place of trumpeting===
Another [[trumpeting place inscription|ancient inscription]], partially preserved on a stone discovered below the southwest corner of the Herodian Mount, contains the words "to the place of trumpeting". The stone's shape suggests that it was part of a parapet, and it has been interpreted as belonging to a spot on the Mount described by Josephus, "where one of the priests to stand and to give notice, by sound of trumpet, in the afternoon of the approach, and on the following evening of the close, of every [[Sabbath|seventh day]]" closely resembling what the [[Talmud]] says.<ref name="IMJ">{{cite web |title='To the place of trumpeting …,' Hebrew inscription on a parapet from the Temple Mount |publisher=[[The Israel Museum]] |location=Jerusalem |url=https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/191539 |access-date=24 July 2020 |archive-date=30 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830023450/https://www.imj.org.il/en/collections/191539 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Walls and gates of the Temple complex===
After 1967, archaeologists found that the wall extended all the way around the Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the [[Lions' Gate]]. Thus, the remaining part of the [[Temple Mount]] is not only the [[Western Wall]]. Currently, [[Robinson's Arch]] (named after American [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]]) remains as the beginning of an arch that spanned the gap between the top of the platform and the higher ground farther away. Visitors and pilgrims also entered through the still-extant, but now plugged, gates on the southern side that led through [[colonnade]]s to the top of the platform. The [[Southern wall]] was designed as a grand entrance.<ref name="EMazar">{{Cite book |last=Mazar |first=Eilat |title=The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations |year=2002 |publisher=Shoham Academic Research and Publication |location=Jerusalem |isbn=978-965-90299-1-4 |pages=55–57}}</ref> Recent archaeological digs have found numerous {{lang|he|[[mikveh]]s}} (ritual baths) for the ritual purification of the worshipers, and a grand stairway leading to one of the now blocked entrances.<ref name="EMazar" />

===Underground structures===
Inside the walls, the platform was supported by a series of vaulted archways, now called [[Solomon's Stables]], which still exist. Their current renovation by the {{transliteration|ar|[[Jerusalem Islamic Waqf|Waqf]]}} is extremely controversial.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.jpost.com/national-news/debris-removed-from-temple-mount-sparks-controversy |title=Debris removed from Temple Mount sparks controversy |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post &#124; Jpost.com |access-date=2020-07-25 |archive-date=2022-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221004115122/https://www.jpost.com/national-news/debris-removed-from-temple-mount-sparks-controversy |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Quarry===
On September 25, 2007, [[Yuval Baruch]], [[archaeologist]] with the [[Israeli Antiquities Authority]] announced the discovery of a quarry compound that may have provided King Herod with the stones to build his Temple on the [[Temple Mount]]. Coins, pottery and an iron stake found proved the date of the quarrying to be about 19 BCE.{{how|date=August 2021}} Archaeologist [[Ehud Netzer]] confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gaffney |first=Sean |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-24-1382898922_x.htm |title=Herod's Temple quarry found |work=USA Today.com |date=2007-09-24 |access-date=2013-08-31 |archive-date=2010-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809211416/http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-24-1382898922_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Floor tiling from courts===
More recent findings from the [[Temple Mount Sifting Project]] include [[opus sectile|floor tiling]] from the Second Temple period.<ref name="Floor">{{cite news |title=Second Temple Flooring restored |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-second-temple-courtyard-flooring-restored-1.5437343 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=13 October 2019 |archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516004938/https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-second-temple-courtyard-flooring-restored-1.5437343 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Magdala stone interpretation===
The [[Magdala stone]] is thought to be a representation of the Second Temple carved before its destruction in the year 70.<ref name="Kershner">{{cite news |last1=Kershner |first1=Isabel |title=A Carved Stone Block Upends Assumptions About Ancient Judaism |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/middleeast/magdala-stone-israel-judaism.html |access-date=9 December 2015 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=8 December 2015 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506162456/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/middleeast/magdala-stone-israel-judaism.html |url-status=live }}</ref>