Temple Warning inscription

Two tablets have been found, one complete, and the other a partial fragment with missing sections, but with letters showing signs of the red paint that had originally highlighted the text. It was described by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1872 as being "very nearly in the words of Josephus". The inscription uses three terms referring to temple architecture: • To hieron (Το ἱερόν), "holy place", the sacred area, to which the forecourt led • Peribolou (περίβολος), a wall encompassing the holy terrace within the outer court • Tryphaktou (τρύφακτος), a stone barrier across the outer court ==Translation==

The tablet bears the following inscription in Koine Greek: The identity of the hypothetical stranger/foreigner remains ambiguous. Some scholars believed it referred to all gentiles, regardless of ritual purity status or religion. Others argue that it referred to unconverted Gentiles since Herod wrote the inscription. Herod himself was a converted Idumean (or Edomite) and was unlikely to exclude himself or his descendants. The partial inscriptions in the stone found in the Lion's Gate correspond with the text found in the previous analyzed complete text, a trancsription of the text found in that stone would be the following: • ΘΕΝΑ ΑΛΛ • ΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ Π • ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ • ΗΦΘΗ ΑΥ • ΙΑ ΤΟ ΕΞ • ΘΑΝΑΤ Which, when combined with the Al-Atim Gate inscription makes perfect, cohesive sense, making a clear case for both stones having the same message carved onto them (underlined text represents the Lion's Gate stone inscriptions): • ΜΗΟΕΝΑΑΛΛΟΓΕΝΗΕΙΣΠΟ • ΡΕΥΕΣΟΑΙΕΝΤΟΣΤΟΥΠΕ • ΡΙΤΟΙΕΡΟΝΤΡΥΦΑΚΤΟΥΚΑΙ • ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΟΥΟΣΔΑΝΛΗ • ΦΘΗΕΑΥΤΩΙΑΙΤΙΟΣΕΣ • ΤΑΙΔΙΑΤΟΕΞΑΚΟΛΟΥ • ΘΕΙΝΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ ==Forgeries==

in Rome. Several forgeries were promptly prepared following the 1871 discovery. Clermont-Ganneau was shown a similar artifact at the Monastery of St Saviour, which was later shown to be a forgery created by Martin Boulos. ==See also==

• • • • Millard, Alan, Discoveries from the Time of Jesus. Oxford: Lion Publishing, 1990. • Roitman, Aldopho, Envisioning the Temple, Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2003. • Elias J. Bickerman, "The Warning Inscriptions of Herod's Temple," The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Ser., Vol. 37, No. 4. (Apr., 1947), pp. 387–405. • Matan Orian, "The Purpose of the Balustrade in the Herodian Temple," Journal for the Study of Judaism 51 (2020), pp. 1–38.