Reading the "Temple"

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Sometimes the Band uses this platform to look at something too long for social media, but doesn't fit with the theme we are following in the regular and occult posts right now. With the Jeffery Epstein arrest in the news, it's a good time to look at the strange temple-like structure on his infamous private island, Little St. James.




It's timely, and certainly uses the sort of occult imagery and symbolism that we look at all the time. Here is the recent Neon Revolt post that brought this to mind - it is a fascinating read, even by his high standards.

Anon graphic with the location of the island and a Q drop hinting at the sort of activity that may have gone on there. 

Temple is the word that is usually used to describe it, and for good reason - its appearance and elevated placement look like one. But no one really knows its exact purpose - it may just provide access to the caves underneath. 

This post will refer to it as the temple for convenience and because that's what the symbolism calls to mind. The privacy of the site means that the public doesn't have access and wasn't meant to understand the inside workings. This means that any message the building wants to communicate to the wider world has to be conveyed by the external symbolism - what you can see from the air or off-shore.

Consider the simple shapes and high-contrast decoration. The gold, blue, and white are clear and visible from a long distance, unlike complex occult diagrams meant for close study. Given the cabalist love of symbolism and hiding in plain sight, this legibility is most likely intentional. You can only see it from afar, but is is designed to be "read" from afar. 

The actual purpose is unclear. Shills would have us believe it is just a gym with naughty pictures. Perhaps the tunnels are for storing protein powder and towels. Others have theorized it might house an elevator shaft. Recent drone photos show disturbing glimpses of the interior. 

This is a distraction. The interior purpose is not clear at present, and the exterior is a bright, clear, symbolic form. The Band's empirical approach leaves it disinterested in things that can't be known.

And there have been changes at the site since it came on the radar again. It is unclear exactly how the explosions and fires relate to the obvious alteration of the temple.

What matters is that the site is no longer as it was. Whatever may turn up in the future has to be viewed with a degree of skepticism. All the more reason to consider the symbolism that we can see.  















Historically, temples had distinct, easy to recognize forms and when possible, were placed in high-visibility places to show their importance and to make them easy to find.

Acropolis with Parthenon, Athens; Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Polur, India

The Great Ziggurat of Ur, 21st century BC, Iraq

The ancient Sumerians elevated their temples on top of artificial hills called ziggurats to make them them the highest point on the flat cityscapes of the fertile crescent. This one is relatively recent - the ziggurat in Uruk was about 1000 years older - and has been rebuilt on the lower level.

The Babylonians followed suit - their ziggurats were steeper, but performed the same functions of showing the importance of the temple and bringing it closest physically to the gods. Here are some recreations of the ziggurat in Babylon and its place on the skyline. 


Note that none of these have domes. The dome only comes into architecture in a serious way in the Roman and Parthian (Persian) Empire around the 1st century BC.

The Epstein temple is sited in a similar way, but it doesn't look like exactly like any historical temple type. The Babylonian recreation is probably the closest with a square shape and blue color. But the striped masonry-dome combination isn't Babylonian. 

If it is broadcasting a symbolic message, it's more of general "ancient temple" vibe - more Cecil B. DeMille-type generic exotica  than a clear reference to a specific temple type.













So what does it look like?

The Neon Revolt link included a Q post comparing the temple to a Turkish bathhouse and they do look very similar. You can make a connection between the nature of the accusations in the Epstein case and the bathhouse as a symbol of physical pleasure. 

The thing about symbols - especially complex ones like buildings - is that they have multiple meanings and connotations existing at the same time. 




The inspiration for a design can be really subjective. As simple as liking something and wanting to base something on that. But that's just the starting concept. After that, the designer adds, changes, and adapts the idea into something that suits their specific desires.

Unfortunately any answer is purely speculative. We don't even know who the designer is. Given Epstein's connections, he would have known any number of people that could draw up some blueprints. We also have no access to the plans and no way of comparing the interior or lay-out to anything. Without this type of information it is impossible to analyze the connection to the bathhouse beyond the obvious similarities in the Q post. All there is to go on is what it looks like from afar.

The obvious way that the temple is different is the site. The bathhouse is in a dense urban neighborhood so it doesn't stand out like the temple does. You don't have the same relationship to it as a symbol.The entire temple and its strange paving are visible at a glance which lets them create a single symbolic impression in a way that the bathhouse doesn't. 

Egerton Swartwout, Montsec American Monument, 1930s, Montsec, France

Striking Classical World War 1 monument dedicated to soldiers from the U.S. First and Second Armies killed at St. Mihiel in 1918. 

This is the same way that monuments work. Monuments are set apart - in a square on on high ground - so that you can take them in at once without being distracted by other structures. And temples are also monuments to supernatural forces after all. A large, symbolic structure designed to stand apart as a single meaningful "statement" - almost like an artwork or inscription - that defines sacred ground. Just as a secular monument marks a special site.






Fixing on the difference in site and context, we can adapt our thinking - the building as a temple-monument type structure inspired by the aesthetics of the bathhouse or buildings like it. An adaptation. Remember that symbols have multiple connotations. Also remember that this is speculative. Future information may become available that reveals unknown connections.


Architecturally, the temple is hard to pin down – it teases historical references, but not in a way that ties it to any one. It is more suggestive than direct quotation of any model or type. That’s why there’s lots of theories about what it means – there are lots of allusions to see connections in. Start with what the building looks like:

The basic shape is a square mass topped with a circular dome - the most elementary shapes in the history of architecture.  Just about every period in the history books used them in some way, with the square generally representing the earth and the circle the sky. 

The invention of the dome let designers combine the two shapes vertically - heavens above, earth below, with the temple as the place where they meet.





The temple form that Epstein's most resembles is the ancient Zoroastrian chahar-taqi (four-direction) fire temple that appeared in the Persian Parthian Empire around 2000 years ago.

Bazeh Khur Fire Temple, Parthian era, 247 BC - 224 AD, Khorasan, Iran

One the oldest Chahar-Taqi temples from the Parthian capital. The exact date is unknown. The Persians were among the first to used domes in a serious way - you can see an early example here. Note how it is slightly pointed. This is different from the Roman semi-circular domes of around the same time. 

Chahar-Taqi Atashgah at Niasar, around 224-242 AD, Kashan, Iran

And an early Sasanian one. The Sasanian Persian Empire replaced the Parthian but the temple stayed the same. There is a heavy square base with an arched entrance topped by a dome. The fire temples have an intermediate part between the base and dome - a structural necessity of the dome and arch vaults. Modern building materials make this unnecessary.

Byzantine Church of the Holy Apostles, built around 1000, Athens

The similarity is more obvious when we look at a different dome-square configuration - the Medieval Byzantine church. Here, the square was laid out internally as a Greek cross and the dome elevated on a drum with windows. The dome also has a much lower profile

You can see the difference. Because basic shapes like domes and squares turn up over and over, it is important to be attentive to how they differ from each other. The Epstein temple is much closer in concept to the fire temple than the much more complicated form of the Byzantine church even though all three have similar geometric relationships. 












The Byzantines do point us towards another building that is sometimes compared to the temple. This is the Dome of the Rock, a 7th century Muslim shrine in Jerusalem that was basically a late Roman/Byzantine centrally-planned structure with a Persian dome and Islamic decoration.

The Dome of the Rock, late 7th century, Jerusalem.

The oldest Muslim monument. It was built on Temple Mount in Jerusalem shortly after the Muslim conquest as a message of Islamic supremacy to the Christian population.

Byzantine artists were hired for the mosaic work, and the basic concept derives from Roman central planning. It is important to note that it is not a mosque, but a shrine. A holy monument that marks the site of the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament and a miraculous vision claimed by Mohammed.  

There is a resemblance - especially the gold and blue color scheme and the Persian rather than Roman dome. The gold and exterior tilework on the Dome of the Rock are later additions, but this doesn't matter since the Epstein temple was built after them.

The problem is that these are really common features all through Muslim history. And the temple and Dome of the Rock aren't shaped the same, differ in more fundamental ways. 

Again, think of the relationship as more general than an exact quote. 











Central planning just means that the plan is symmetrical on more than one axis - it's organized around a single point rather that along a longitudinal axis or as a sequence of spaces. Fire temples are centrally planned, but the Dome of the Rock followed Roman/Byzantine models.

Mausoleum of S. Costanza and wall of the adjacent Constantinian basilica, 4th century, Rome

S. Costanza in Rome is an early example of centrally-planned building with elevated central dome. It was a mausoleum later turned into a church. Centrally-planned buildings make excellent monuments because they have a natural focal point in the center. Whatever is placed there is highlighted by the whole building. In this case, the tomb of Constantine's daughter. 

Central plans don't have to be circular. The Dome of the Rock is an octagon rather than a circle and much grander, but the basic idea is clear. 

The graphic on the right is from an internet search and compares the octagonal Dome of the Rock to earlier Roman central plans with similar configurations.

What S. Costanza, the Dome of the Rock, and a medieval Byzantine church have in common is that the central dome is elevated on a drum, creating space for windows.









Why is this an important feature? It is key to the whole symbolic experience of the centrally-planned shrine as a link between the human and the divine. The elevated windows in the central core are not visible from the entrance. The effect is magical - as if you are pulled through a ring of darkness towards something supernatural. The light makes you feel the importance of the tomb or the rock or whatever, while showing you symbolically that this is sacred. It's just sunlight, but the set-up makes it suggestive of divine radiance.

Interiors of Santa Costanza and the Dome of the Rock

Then when you move towards the center and can see the windows, you also see the heavenly symbolism of the dome. This shows the spiritual reality behind the experience you just had. Remember, domes have strong associations with heaven, especially in religious architecture. Christians and Muslims represent this differently - with scenes and abstract patterns respectively - but the idea that the light comes from God is the same. 

Ancient Zoroastrian fire temple in use near Baku, Azerbaijan

The fire temple is also has a centrally-planned focal point - the holy fire burning at the center. Here, it is the fire itself that is the sacred object of devotion, and not the light shining from from heaven. It is a subtle distinction but a really important one. 










For Christians or Muslims, the tomb of a saint or sacred site is not significant in itself. It doesn't have its own supernatural power like a magic talisman. It's importance comes from somewhere else - its connection to God. The object is a sign of God's presence and something to direct your attention heavenward. It's value is testimonial - what matters is what it points to. To treat it as having some sort of spiritual power of its own is idolatrous.

For Zoroastrians, the fire itself is a sacred thing. It doesn't get lit up from somewhere else - it is a source of light. Note how the fire temple doesn't draw you in with rhetorical lighting to make you aware of the divine. It clearly shows the source of the light because that is the point of spiritual emphasis. There's no need for windows to open a symbolic link to the heavens, because the supernatural is contained inside.

Atashgah, Zoroastrian Fire Temple, 2016, Khinalig, Azerbaijan

Which does this look like?

A temple-type monument marking a "sacred" spot that doesn't open to heaven but is self-contained like a fire temple. Where the object of veneration is a source of spiritual energy rather than a testimony to the divine. But there is nothing explicitly Zoroastrian about any of the elite symbolism. So if this were a temple-type monument marking a place with some different sort self-contained, non-divine ritual power - like access to terrible caves - it could look like the temple does.


What about the bathhouse and the striped exterior?

Khan As'ad Pasha, 1751-52, Damascus

This is another feature with Middle Eastern roots called ablaq - alternating light and dark bands. It is most associated with Syria, but is found through Muslim design. 

This is the largest of the Syrian Old City khans - caravanserai or inns and is a great example of the technique.

It's clearly visible on on the arches in the Dome of the Rock, but according to the link, they might not be original.

Odo of Metz, Palatine Chapel, around 792-805, Aachen

Christian Europe also found ablaq appealing. Charlemagne used it in his palatine chapel in Aachen - a variation on the same centrally-plan concept as the Dome of the Rock, but in the heavy stone and masonry style of the Franks. 

Buscheto and Rainaldo, Pisa Cathedral, 1063-1092

It gives Pisa Cathedral its distinct look as well. It's seen here with the famous Leaning Tower in the background.  The tower was built later and not completed until the 14th century but it copied the look of the cathedral.

The style was popular all over Italy for a while. Siena Cathedral is a great example:

Siena Cathedral 1196 and 1263


In more recent times, it is was a big part of the Moorish Revival architecture of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Here we often see it in buildings looking to traditions outside the usual Classical and Gothic associated with Western culture.

Henry Fernbach, Central Synagogue, 1872, Manhattan

Like a synagogue tapping into non-Christian associations from the Near East. Ablaq was very common on European synagogues of this period. 

Clas and Shepard , Tripoli Shrine Temple, opened 1928, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Shriner's temples as well. Here the style is appealing for it's general exotic "Eastern" quality rather than something that resonated for historical and cultural reasons. 

Mayre, Alger & Vinour, Fox Theatre, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia

When it comes to theaters, it's all exotic fantasy. This is the Disney notion of history - what the Postmodernists, in a blind squirrel finding a nut moment - called Orientalism. The projection of a fantastical inversion of your own cultural norms into an image of "the East" that never actually existed. The Middle Eastern version of the Walter Scott / Pre-Raphaelite fake medievalism 

Richard Morris Hunt, Scroll and Key secret society tomb, 1861, Yale University, New Haven, CT

On the topic of the elites, it is interesting that this Skull and Bones offshoot is the oldest example on our American list...











Ablaq is so common in the Muslim world that it is hard to say that Epstein's temple is making a reference to one building in particular. It could be the bathhouse. But it could also be a more general kind of association - a generic "Eastern" or "exotic" flavor. Something not Western.

Great Mosque of Cordoba, begun around 780
Taynal Mosque, 1336, Tripoli, Lebanon
Mimar Sinan, Behram Paşa Mosque, 1572-1573, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Courtyard of a house, late 19th century, Damascus

Just a sampling across time. Three of these are mosques, but one is a private home, and we already saw the bathhouse.

Gerald M. Rembowski, Islamic Center of Cleveland, 1995, Parma, United States

And it travels well. Here's one closer to home. 

This is what we mean by symbols being hard to pin down. Epstein's building is no more Muslim than Zoroastrian. It is teasing allusions to "non-Western" or exotic traditions.



The weird Moloch-owl symbolism of the Bohemian Grove idol mentioned in an earlier occult post  that seems to reappear in front of the temple is a clue. Moloch was a bovine deity linked to child sacrifice, not an avian one. The owl was associated more with Athena or Minerva and wisdom, though it has older occult associations from the Ancient Near East. Combining them indicates that historical accuracy is less important to them than tailoring a message out of symbolic parts.

First, the Bohemian Grove plaque and Moloch-owl hybrid "idol" from the earlier post.

Then the temple with the owls visible on the roof in front. The pointed Persian type arches show up well in this one.

Moloch is a Near Eastern deity. The owl is associated with Athena/Minerva in the classical tradition, but also came from the Near East. There seems to be a taste for Near Eastern imagery and ablaq is consistent with this. Overall, what we can see is a pattern of using generally suggestive "exotic" symbolism with specific meanings that are private and group-specific.

Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Slave Market, 1871, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum

A generic notion of the exotic East had hung around since before the arrival of Modernism. 

We already mentioned the Orientalist tradition, where artists painted the most foreign and lurid scenes from "the Orient". These were more interested in exciting Western audiences than anything else, but were more historically "accurate" than the Disney version. 

Still from Dinsey's Aladdin, 1992

Disney.















Put it all together and we get a unique building that seems like a centrally-planned temple with strong but generic Middle Eastern overtones. It's recognizable as exotic, or not Western, without tying it to any specific model. This makes it meaningful in a general way and leaves the path clear for specific meanings to be layered on. Like a monument on a place with potential supernatural connotations that are self-contained rather than divine. Connotations like the ones that come with terrible subterranean rituals... 

One last thing. The temple has a paved area in front covered in simple abstract forms. They look like they could mean something, but don't correspond with any symbols the Band is familiar with. The shapes recall ancient motifs from the Near East that are thought to have been decorative. Without more information there isn't much more to say/ other than to look at how they are laid out. 

16th century garden of the Villa Lante in Bagnaia, Italy,

A symmetrical, geometric pattern in next to a building goes back to the Renaissance, when humanist architects devised ordered gardens as a way to symbolize the domination of reason over nature. 

Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, plan for the Villa Farnese, begun 1559, Caprarola, Italy

When this type of garden was paired with a similarly harmonious building, the ideal design principles encoded in the structure were symbolically carried into the world beyond. 

The Palace of Versailles, expansion under Louis XIV began 1660s.

In the 17th century, absolute monarchs like Louis XIV, the Sun King of France added huge geometric gardens to their palaces to represent their control over their realms. 

















The relationship between the symbolic order in the landscape and building go both ways. Reason and order radiate out from the central structure - whether the abstract harmony of a humanist or assertive dominance of a king. But the landscaping also defines how the visitor approaches the building. The logic and order of a humanist garden lets you know the the sort of place that you are going to enter. It sets the stage for a reasoned encounter. Likewise, imposing order on the scale of a Versailles tells you that you are approaching the center of power.

The scale of the temple is closer to a Renaissance garden than a Baroque palace, so that makes for a better comparison. The resemblance is general - the odd, glyph-like patterns at the temple are like nothing you would see in the Renaissance. 

For one thing, the "order" is an illusion because the overall arrangement is non-symmetrical. This is actually a rejection of Classical harmony for something else.

So let's just keep the idea of an anti-order emanating out from a symbolic structure and ask what happens when we swap the Classical ideals of Renaissance harmony with an deliberately exotic monument-temple to some non-divine thing?

A path of order that isn't the Classical Western version. One marked out in glyphs that may be symbols and are non-symmetrical. One more thing that doesn't prove anything, but is certainly consistent with the idea of a procession to a terrible place of power-seeking ritual.