46 A History of Judaism
an answer for the last century of its long existence than for earlier
periods, but, even allowing for the near certainty that the surviving evi-
dence provides an idealized picture, it is possible to reconstruct a picture
of the daily Temple regime with a degree of detail not possible for any
other temple in the ancient world. The reason is simple: Josephus, him-
self a Jerusalem priest, wrote extensively about the Temple in his
narrative of the life of Herod and in his account of the war against
Rome which led to the Temple’s destruction, and, a hundred years after
Josephus, the earliest rabbinic text, the Mishnah, discussed contentious
issues in the administration of sacrifices and offerings by the Temple
authorities in an attempt to clarify correct procedures.^ Whatever had
been the case in earlier times, by this final period the Temple was unusual
in the ancient world in being open for worship every day: the great gates
were ceremoniously opened at dawn and closed at sunset. A large staff
ensured an orderly procession of private offerings, with individuals pur-
chasing animals and birds fit for sacrifice from a market in the porticoes
on the edge of the Temple precinct. The day was punctuated by a series
of public sacrifices in which the priests offered up prayers and slaugh-
tered animals on behalf of the people as a whole. These public offerings
were made on ordinary weekdays each morning, afternoon and even-
ing, with special extra sacrifices on the Sabbath and on new moons: ‘At
the beginnings of your months you shall offer a burnt- offering to the
Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without
blemish .. .’^12
The main impression for a visitor on a normal day will have been of
space. The daily communal ritual took place only in a restricted area
around the inner court of the priests, where the animals were slaugh-
tered, burned and (occasionally) eaten, and libations were poured.
Much of the rest of the immense building was often more or less empty.
Even before the great rebuilding by Herod, the size of the piazza in
which worshippers could gather was noticed by outsiders. This great
courtyard for the general public was almost wholly barren of the trees,
votive offerings and statues standard in pagan shrines. In the first cen-
tury ce the philosopher Philo remarked both on the lack of trees and on
the cleanliness of the Temple area. He ascribed the absence of trees to
the need to maintain an atmosphere of religious austerity in the Temple,
which would be compromised by the ‘easy enjoyment’ which a grove
would provide, noting also that the excrement needed for fertilizer was
forbidden within the walls. In Philo’s time what hit the eye were the
bright decorations of objects dedicated by individuals and hung on the