Editing Second Temple (section)

===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>