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Now, therefore, the king laid the foundations of the temple very
deep in the ground, and the materials were strong stones, and such as would
resist the force of time; these were to unite themselves with the earth,
and become a basis and a sure foundation for that superstructure which
was to be erected over it; they were to be so strong, in order to sustain
with ease those vast superstructures and precious ornaments, whose own
weight was to be not less than the weight of those other high and heavy
buildings which the king designed to be very ornamental and magnificent.
They erected its entire body, quite up to the roof, of white stone; its
height was sixty cubits, and its length was the same, and its breadth twenty.
There was another building erected over it, equal to it in its measures;
so that the entire altitude of the temple was a hundred and twenty cubits.
Its front was to the east. As to the porch, they built it before the temple;
its length was twenty cubits, and it was so ordered that it might agree
with the breadth of the house; and it had twelve cubits in latitude, and
its height was raised as high as a hundred and twenty cubits. He also built
round about the temple thirty small rooms, which might include the whole
temple, by their closeness one to another, and by their number and outward
position round it. He also made passages through them, that they might
come into on through another. Every one of these rooms had five cubits
in breadth,
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and the same in length, but in height twenty. Above these there were other
rooms, and others above them, equal, both in their measures and number;
so that these reached to a height equal to the lower part of the house;
for the upper part had no buildings about it. The roof that was over the
house was of cedar; and truly every one of these rooms had a roof of their
own, that was not connected with the other rooms; but for the other parts,
there was a covered roof common to them all, and built with very long beams,
that passed through the rest, and rough the whole building, that so the
middle walls, being strengthened by the same beams of timber, might be
thereby made firmer: but as for that part of the roof that was under the
beams, it was made of the same materials, and was all made smooth, and
had ornaments proper for roofs, and plates of gold nailed upon them. And
as he enclosed the walls with boards of cedar, so he fixed on them plates
of gold, which had sculptures upon them; so that the whole temple shined,
and dazzled the eyes of such as entered, by the splendor of the gold that
was on every side of them, Now the whole structure of the temple was made
with great skill of polished stones, and those laid together so very harmoniously
and smoothly, that there appeared to the spectators no sign of any hammer,
or other instrument of architecture; but as if, without any use of them,
the entire materials had naturally united themselves together, that the
agreement of one part with another seemed rather to have been natural,
than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them. The king also had
a fine contrivance for an ascent to the upper room over the temple, and
that was by steps in the thickness of its wall; for it had no large door
on the east end, as the lower house had, but the entrances were by the
sides, through very small doors. He also overlaid the temple, both within
and without, with boards of cedar, that were kept close together by thick
chains, so that this contrivance was in the nature of a support and a strength
to the building.