Temple legend

The Temple legend tells the story of the building of King Solomon's temple by the architect Hiram Abiff, and includes the linked legend of the Molten sea.

The legend plays an important role in the rosecrucian tradition, for more context see the introduction on Paradise legend

Hiram Abiff symbolizes the Human 'I', and the story represents the transition to build the temple of Man and his higher self or Man's higher triad, along with the challenges the threefold soul faces as the lower three of Man's bodily principles inhibit the development of the higher ones.

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For a positioning, see: Streams of Abel and Cain#Note 1 - On Paradise Legend, Golden Legend, Temple Legend, and the Streams of Abel and Cain

Aspects

• key actors (see Schema FMC00.330)
  • Hiram Abiff is often regarded an early incarnation of the Individuality of Christian Rosenkreutz, but there is also a statement by Rudolf Steiner pointing to Jeshu ben Pandira. See: Bodhisattva#Note 3 - On Hiram Abiff or Adoniram and Jeshu ben Pandira
  • Solomon was a Jewish prophet and the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah (according to the Hebrew Bible), successor of his father David. He is traditionally regarded as the author of the biblical books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
  • Balkis, queen of Sheba
    • a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but also appearing in the Quran: she brings a caravan of valuable gifts for Solomon, the fourth King of Israel and Judah. This storyline has undergone extensive elaborations in later variants. No historical trace as ever been found, but a hypothesis by historians/archeologists is that Sheba was one of the South Arabian kingdoms which existed in modern-day Yemen.
    • name: Balkis (also Bilqīs, Balqis, or Belkis) is the name traditionally given in Islamic, Middle Eastern, and Ethiopian traditions to the Queen of Sheba. In the Bible (Kings 10:1–13, Chronicles 9:1–12) she is called simply “the Queen of Sheba” without further name. She is not named in the Quran either, but later Islamic tradition calls her Bilqīs (or Balkis). Rudolf Steiner uses the name Balkis in several lectures in 1904-1905.
• timing
  • historical hypotheses have Solomon born in the 11th-10th century BC and a reign around 970 to 931 BC
• an illustration appears in the left panel of the Grail triptych by Anna May - von Rychter (1864–1955) - see Schema FMC00.700A (click multiple times to enlarge)

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.330 provides a schematic overview of the Temple Legend and the building of Solomon's temple (click three times to enlarge)

Schema FMC00.700A: shows a high resolution version of the Grail triptych by Anna May - see original Schema FMC00.700, rendered for higher contrast and color. It can be used to study the details on each of the three panels.

Literature includes:

• Margareth Hauschka: 'Das Triptychon Gral von Anna May' (1975 in Das Goetheanum)
• Adrian Anderson: 'Rudolf Steiner's Esoteric Christianity in the Grail painting by Anna May' (2017)

Lecture coverage and references

Overview coverage

Rudolf Steiner covers the topics of the Temple legend in many lectures,

• the first reference is 1904/5-GA093 (Temple legend) with four main lectures:
  • 1910-06-10 on Cain and Abel,
  • 1905-05-15 and 22 and 29 on the lost temple and how it is to be restored
  • and further references in 1904-11-04, 1905-10-23
• the most extensive coverage is in
  • GA265, oa p 379-386 and p 400-416
  • GA265A
• furthermore also in GA046 p 430-437

Reference extracts

1905-05-29

Related pages

• Molten sea
• Paradise legend
• Streams of Abel and Cain
• Golden legend

References and further reading

• Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855): 'Histoire de la Reine du Matin et de Soliman Prince des Génies, PLA: Voyage en Orient.' (original in FR)
  • in DE 2001 as: 'Die Tempellegende: Die Geschichte von der Königin aus dem Morgenland und von Sulaiman, dem Fürsten der Genien'
  • in NL 1986: 'De legende van Salomo's tempel : De geschiedenis van de Koningin van de Morgen en van Soliman Vorst der Geesten'
• Gerlind Zaiser: 'Die Gemeinschaft der Tempelherrn: Pauperes Commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici ; die armen waffengefährten Christi und des Salomonischen Tempels' (1953)