- Title
- Isaac Newton and the Architectural Models of Solomon's Temple
- Creator
- Morrison, Tessa
- Relation
- Avello Publishing Journal: Principia Mathematica Vol. 3, Issue 1, p. 1-20
- Relation
- https://avellopublishing.wordpress.com/journal/volume-3-issue-1/contents/
- Publisher
- Avello Publishing
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- The description of the Temple of Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel is dark and obscure. Not only are the details of the buildings that constitute the Temple precinct obscure, so are the answers to the questions: which Temple is it? – is it Solomon’s Temple? Is it the Temple that existed in Ezekiel’s time? Or is it the Temple of the future? In 1604, architect and Jesuit priest Juan Battista Villalpando published In Ezechielem Explanationes et Apparatus Vrbis Templi Hierosolymitani. This is a three volume commentary on the Book of Ezekiel; however, the entire second volume is dedicated to Solomon’s Temple and is based on Ezekiel’s description of the Temple. Villalpando reconstructed the Temple illustrating it with elaborate etchings. He claimed that his reconstruction was the ‘architecture of theology’ for the betterment of his fellow brethren. His reconstruction was extremely controversial and his work began a debate that endured for one hundred and fifty years. However, this debate is not just theological it was primarily architectural. Architects, theologians and Hebraists critiqued Villalpando’s reconstruction, often creating their own reconstructions. Some of these reconstructions remained on paper, while others were later turned into architectural models. Two models were displayed in London. The first model was by Jacob Judah Leon (Templo) exhibited in London from 1675, and the second Gerhard Schott’s model was exhibited in London from 1724 to 1732. Both models were extremely different and the reconstructions were built to different sources. However, Isaac Newton, who also reconstructed the Temple in a manuscript, would not have agreed with either of the exhibited reconstructions. This paper firstly considers the Leon and Scott models exhibited in London. Second, it will turn to Isaac Newton’s reconstruction and how it fits in with these publicly displayed models. Finally there will be a discussion of the new architectural model of Newton’s reconstruction and a comparison between it and Villalpando’s reconstruction.
- Subject
- architecture; history of science; Isaac Newton; Temple of Solomon
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1063766
- Identifier
- uon:17385
- Identifier
- ISSN:2049-498X
- Language
- eng
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