On the History of the Holy City. III: Salomon’s Temple
Abstract
The temple in the ancient Near East has always played an important role as the “house of god.” The god really lived there and deserved due honour. It was the centre of cosmos and the country, and religious life concentrated here. The existence of such an edifice, concern and respect manifested to it were important elements of the royal ideology that made legitimate the position of the rule and his followers as the “chosen ones” (messiahs).
Similar elements can be found in the case of the early Israel. Jerusalem became the centre after Salomon’s Temple had been raised. It served as the house of Jehovah, but was probably also the venue of other royal rituals, including the cult of the ancestors.
The Bible shows Israelites as worshippers of Jehovah, but there are numerous traces indicating that originally He could have inhabited in the Temple accompanied by Ašera, the goddess of fertility. Another queer element in the Temple was the serpent of bronze whose meaning is unknown.
After the fall of the state of Salomon, Jerusalem had for long centuries remained the religious centre of Israel and was always the place around which everything revolved.
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