Note VII. "According to the prophet Jeremiah (xxv. 11)," writes M. Munk (Palestine, p. 461), "the Babylonish captivity was to last 70 years. To obtain this number they make the time fixed by the prophet to date from the year 606, which, according to Jewish writers, is the first of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; and indeed it was in this same year that Jeremiah spoke for the first time of the 70 years during which the Babylonish government was to last (xxv. 12), a statement which he repeats in the year 599, on the occasion of the banishment of Jehoiachin (xxix. 10). But in the first year of Nebuchadnezzar there was no idea of a Babylonish captivity."
Note VIII. See Josephus, Antiqq. XV. 11, § 1. According to the printed text, the Temple of Zerubbabel wanted 60 cubits of the height of the Temple of Solomon, which is unintelligible. The corrected reading of several Manuscripts, which have "seven cubits," is to be preferred. (Cf. Havercamp's edition, Vol. I. p. 778, Note 7.)
Note IX. The two descriptions of Josephus leave much to be desired, and the numbers appear in many instances to have been corrupted by the copyists. They may be supplemented by a third, and more detailed description, furnished by the Mishna, part 5, tract. Middoth (published separately, with a Latin translation and notes, by L'empereur, Leyden, 1630, in 4to.). Amongst modern writers the following may be consulted: Lightfoot, Descriptio Templi Hierosolymitani, in his works, Vol I. pp. 549 and following (chiefly after the Mishna); Hirt, in the Historical and Philological Memoirs of the Berlin Academy for the Years 1816 and 1817 (published in 1819). Hirt has exclusively followed Josephus—his plan has several essential defects; M. Munk has followed that of Wette (Archäologie, § 238), which is much more exact, and has combined the accounts of Josephus and the Mishna.
Note X. According to tradition the folding-doors of the Nicanor gate, which were of Corinthian bronze, had been brought from Alexandria by one Nicanor, and miraculously saved from a shipwreck. This gate alone was of bronze; the others were of wood, and plated with gold and silver. See Mishna, part 2, tract. Yoma, chap. 3, § 10, and the Comments of Maimonides; Babylonish Talmud, the same treatise, fol. 38. Compare Josephus' Wars, V. 5, § 3.
Note XI. In the tower Baris were kept the pontifical robes, which were worn by the High Priest on solemn days: a practice established by the Asmonean princes, who united in their own persons the chief civil and religious authority.