The temple shops or Hebrew plural hanuyot (חנויות) were buildings near the Temple in Jerusalem mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (B.Shabbat 15a, B.Rosh Hashanah 31a; B.Avodah Zarah 8b). According to the Talmud the Sanhedrin relocated to the temple shops, hanuyot, at some point before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The plural hanuyot is also the word for "shops" in modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew , also known as Israeli Hebrew or Modern Israeli Hebrew, is the language spoken in Israel and in some Jewish communities worldwide, from the early 20th century to the present....

.

The hanuyot are to be distinguished from the temple treasury

Temple treasury

The temple treasury was a storehouse first of the tabernacle then of the Jerusalem Temples mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The term "storehouse" is generic, and also occurs later in accounts of life in Roman Palestine where the otzar was a tax-collector's grainhouse.The first mention of the...

 or grain storehouse (אוצר 'otsar) for the Temple in Jerusalem

Temple in Jerusalem

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...

 mentioned in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...

. The Talmud indicates that the hanuyot were where the Priest

Kohen

A Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....

s and Levites stored the accoutrements for the daily functioning of the Temple. The hanuyot consisted of a single room along the southern edge of the Mount, almost 1000 feet (304.8 m) long and 105 feet (32 m) wide. Its single story was 100 feet (30.5 m) high. Mazar (1975) identifies the hanuyot with the Royal Stoa

Royal Stoa (Jerusalem)

The Royal Stoa was an ancient basilica constructed by Herod the Great during his renovation of the Temple Mount at the end of the 1st century BCE...

, a basilica erected by Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

 at the southern end of his expansion of the Temple Mount

Temple Mount

The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...

.

When the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 government limited the powers of the Sanhedrin

Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel.The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel made of 71 members...

, ca. 30 CE, the Sanhedrin moved from their chambers inside the azarah (Chamber of Hewn Stone) to the hanuyot (Talmud Rosh ha-Shanah 31a).

The hanuyot were destroyed along with the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Unlike the Temple, which was completely destroyed, a significant portion of the hanuyot may have survived the destruction as the current Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...

 includes rows of ancient Corinthian columns that clearly predate the Islamic architecture.

External links

• Page that maintains that the present Al-Aqsa Mosque
  Al-Aqsa Mosque
  Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem...
  
  is built out of the ruins of the chanuyot and includes photographs of the interior.