Temple 1: Brazen Sea

The Brass Sea (Brazen or Bronze Sea) (2 Kgs 25:13-16; 1 Chr 18:8; Jer 52:17-20; cf. Rev 4:6, the celestial version of the bronze sea) was a large purification basin in the courtyard of the temple.

This massive first century monolithic porphyry basin gives a sense of the size of the bronze sea of Solomon’s Temple.  (From the Domus Aurea; now in the Vatican Museum “Circular Hall”; BG 452)