Herod's Temple
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Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Second Temple along with renovations of the entire Temple Mount. Herod the Great's expansion project began around 19 BCE. The renovation by Herod began with the building of giant underground vaults upon which the temple would be built so it could be larger than the small flat area on top of Mount Moriah. Ground level at the time was at least 20 ft. (6m) below the current level, as can be seen by walking the Western Wall tunnels. The edge of this platform remains everywhere; part of it forms the Western Wall. Image:Temple inscription in greek.jpg In 1948, Jordan destroyed the Jewish Quarter and much more of the wall was revealed along the southern side. In 1967, Israel took control of Old Jerusalem (and the Temple Mount) from Jordan. It was found that the wall extended all the way around Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the Lion's Gate. Thus, the Western Wall is not the only remaining part of the Temple. Currently, "Robinson's arch" remains as the beginning of an arch that spanned the gap between the top of the platform and the higher ground farther away. This was used by the priests as an entrance. Commoners entered through the still-extant, but now plugged, gates on the southern side which led through beautiful colonnades to the top of the platform. One of these colonnades is still extant and reachable through Temple Mount.
The Temple itself was located on the site of what today is the Dome of the Rock. The gates let out close to Al-Aqsa. The Temple was destroyed by Roman troops under Titus in 70 CE. (The most complete ancient account of this event is The Jewish War, by Flavius Josephus.) The Umayyad and Byzantine governors built palaces out of the rubble, but it was not until the Dome of the Rock was built between 687 and 691 that the last remnants of the Temple were taken down.