TEMPLE, THE, of Jerusalem, a building constructed on the same plan and for the same purpose as the TABERNACLE (q. v.), only of larger dimensions, more substantial and costly materials, and a more ornate style; it was a magnificent structure, contained treasures of wealth, and was the pride of the Hebrew people.  There were three successive structures that bore the name—­Solomon’s, built by Solomon in 1004 B.C., and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 588 B.C.; Zerubbabel’s, built in 515, and pillaged and desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C.; and Herod’s, on the ruins of the former, begun in 16 B.C., finished in 29 A.D., and destroyed by Titus in 70 A.D.  All three were built on Mount Moriah, on the spot where Abraham offered up Isaac, and where David afterwards raised an altar to the Lord; and of the number the palm must be given to the Temple of Solomon, it was the Temple par excellence.

TEMPLE BAR, a famous London gateway, which formerly divided Fleet Street from the Strand; pressure of traffic caused its removal in 1879; now stands in Theobald’s Park, Cheshunt.

TENASSERIM (972), the southernmost division of Burma, forms a long coastal strip facing the Bay of Bengal and backed by the mountain barrier of Siam; acquired by the British in 1825.

TENBY (5), a popular little watering-place of Pembrokeshire, has a rocky site on Carmarthen Bay coast; ruins of its old wall and of a castle still remain; has a fine 13th-century Gothic church, marble statue of the Prince Consort, &c., while its extensive sands and splendid bathing facilities attract crowds of summer visitors.

TENCIN, MADAME DE, a French writer of romances, a woman of clever wit and of personal charms, who abandoned a religious life and, coming to Paris in 1714, immersed herself in the political and fashionable life of the city; was not too careful of her morals, and ranked among her lovers the Regent, Fontenelle, and Cardinal Dubois; used her influence against the Jansenists; more circumspect in later life she presided over a fashionable salon; was the mother of D’Alembert (1681-1749).

TENDON ACHILLES, name given to the tendon of the leg above the heel, so called as being the tendon by which Thetis held Achilles when she dipped him in the Styx, and where alone he was in consequence vulnerable.

TENEDOS, a rocky but fertile little island belonging to Turkey, in the AEgean, 3 m. off the mainland of Turkey in Asia, and 12 m.  S. of the entrance to the Dardanelles; it was the place the Greeks made a feint they had returned to during the Trojan War.

TENERIFE (108), the largest of the Canary Islands (q. v.), of volcanic formation, with cliff-bound coast; richly fruit-bearing; chief exports, cochineal, tobacco, and wine; capital, SANTA CRUZ (q. v.); most notable natural feature is the famous Peak of Tenerife, a conical-shaped dormant volcano, 12,000 ft. in height, at the summit of which there is a crater 300 ft. in circuit; last eruption took place in 1798.