Temple of the Sun
From Indiana Jones Wiki
| ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE | |
| Temple of the Sun | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | Canyon of the Crescent Moon, Hatay |
|
Artifacts | |
The Temple of the Sun was the location that housed the Holy Grail and the Grail Knight who protected it, built into the wall of the Canyon of the Crescent Moon in Hatay.
A Great Seal lay at the entrance to the temple in which a series of challenges were designed to prevent most seekers of the Grail from finding the room in which it was stored. The three challenges included:
- The Breath of God - The object of the first challenge is to kneel before the breath of God. At the start, a person will feel the wind (the Breath) blow and must kneel quickly before getting decapitated by three huge saw blades.
- The Word of God - The second challenge has a series of lettered titles on the floor. The object is to figure out and step on the correct spelling to the Word. The answer is Jehovah, but is to be spelled in Latin as "Iehova"
- The Path of God - In the last of the challenges, the person must take a "leap of faith" from a sculpture of a lion's head across a huge canyon, when in reality there is a hidden path that is painted to look like the depth of the canyon. The object is for the person to believe they can cross whether or not they can see the path.
In Henry Jones' Grail diary, he abbreviated the three challenges in Latin as "The Pendulum," "The Cobbles," and "The Invisible Bridge."[1]
Although credited as having only three challenges to get to the Grail, the final challenge is, according to the Grail Knight, to "choose wisely" among a set of many cups, plates, and bowls to drink spring water out of. Finding the true Grail brings eternal life, which lasts until crossing the Great Seal as thee who finds the Grail must use their eternal life to guard and protect the Grail. Finding the false grail, will instantly cause death.
During the Last Crusade of 1938, Indiana Jones went through the challenges by using his father's Grail diary in order to save his father's life after being shot by Walter Donovan. Donovan, along with Dr. Elsa Schneider followed Indy into the Grail room. Donovan died from drinking from a false grail cup. Later, Elsa tempted to take the Grail beyond the Great Seal, causing the temple to collapse.
[edit] Filming Location
The exterior of the Temple of the Sun was filmed at Al Khazneh, also known as "The Treasury," a building carved out of a sandstone rock face in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan. At Al Khazneh, unlike the edifice seen in the film, there is nothing inside the entrance other than a small room.
