Saturday, February 28, 2009

A Model of Herod's Temple

The Telegraph has a nice article on Alec Garrard, an English farmer who has spent the last 30 years building a large and amazing model of Herod's Temple in the time of Jesus.


There's also a nice picture gallery of 19 images.

Mr. Garrard's book, The Splendor of the Temple, is published in the US by Kregel. I found it very helpful when doing initial research for the images in the ESV Study Bible.

HT: Jack Collins

Update: Someone mentioned wanting more info on Herodian architecture. I'd recommend starting with Leen Ritmeyer's website and blog, as well as the materials at Todd Bolen's Bible Places.

In addition, Baker Academic recently published a North American paperback edition of Ehud's Netzer's book, Architecture of Herod, the Great Builder:
Herod the Great, one of the most famous builders of the biblical world, is a name well known to readers of the New Testament. Recently a team led by Ehud Netzer, a leading Israeli archaeologist of the Herodian period, discovered the tomb of Herod. Netzer here highlights Herod's involvement with and contributions to his building projects, which benefited from his analytical mind, imagination, and understanding of the building and planning process. The book presents a comprehensive synthesis of Herod's enterprises from architectural and archaeological viewpoints. Originally published in hardcover by Mohr Siebeck, it is now available in paper.