'There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' --

Matthew 24:2

Of the four principal entrances into the Temple --all of them from the west--the most

northerly descended, perhaps by flights of steps, into the Lower City; while two others

led into the suburb, or Parbar, as it is called. But by far the most magnificent avenue was

that at the south-western angle of the Temple. Probably this was 'the ascent...into the

house of the Lord,' which so astounded the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:5) 10

It would, indeed, be difficult to exaggerate the splendour of this approach. A colossal

bridge on arches spanned the intervening Valley of the Tyropoeon, connecting the

ancient City of David with what is called the 'Ro yal Porch of the Temple.' From its ruins

we can reconstruct this bridge. Each arch spanned 41 1/2 feet, and the spring-stones

measured 24 feet in length by 6 in thickness. It is almost impossible to realise these

proportions, except by a comparison with other buildings. A single stone 24 feet long!

Yet these were by no means the largest in the masonry of the Temple. Both at the south-

eastern and the south-western angles stones have been found measuring from 20 to 40

feet in length, and weighing above 100 tons.

The view from this 'Royal Bridge' must have been splendid. It was over it that they led

the Saviour, in sight of all Jerusalem, to and from the palace of the high-priest, that of

Herod, the meeting-place of the Sanhedrim, and the judgment-seat of Pilate. Here the

city would have lain spread before us like a map. Beyond it the eye would wander over

straggling suburbs, orchards, and many gardens--fairest among them the royal gardens

to the south, the 'garden of roses,' so celebrated by the Rabbis --till the horizon was

bounded by the hazy outline of mountains in the distance. Over the parapet of the

bridge we might have looked into the Tyropoeon Valley below, a depth of not less than

225 feet. The roadway which spanned this cleft for a distance of 354 feet, from Mount

Moriah to Mount Zion opposite, was 50 feet broad, that is, about 5 feet wider than the

central avenue of the Royal Temple -Porch into which it led. These 'porches,' as they are

called in the New Testament, or cloisters, were among the finest architectural features of

the Temple. They ran all round the inside of its wall, and bounded the outer enclosure of

the Court of the Gentiles. They consisted of double rows of Corinthian pillars, all

monoliths, wholly cut out of one block of marble, each pillar being 37 1/2 feet high. A flat

roof, richly ornamented, rested against the wall, in which also the outer row of pillars

was inserted. Possibly there may have been towers where one colonnade joined the

other. But the 'Royal Porch,' by which we are supposed to have entered the Temple, was

the most splendid, consisting not as the others, of a double, but of a treble colonnade,

formed of 162 pillars, ranged in four rows of 40 pillars each, the two odd pillars serving

as a kind of screen, where the 'Porch' opened upon the bridge. Indeed, we may regard

the Royal Porch as consisting of a central nave 45 feet wide, with gigantic pillars 100 feet

high, and of two aisles 30 feet wide, with pillars 50 feet high. By very competent

authorities this Royal Porch, as its name indicates, is regarded as occupying the site of

the ancient palace of Solomon, to which he 'brought up' the daughter of Pharaoh. Here