welcome to locating Solomon's temple part 4. now let's look at the
southwest corner of the temple mount across from the southwest corner of the temple mount is
another corner to its south it too was built with Herodian stones with the trademark
drafted margins in between the two walls is what i believe to be the entrance to a lower gate
street level steps were uncovered leading upward between the two walls i believe at one time
these steps led up to a gate south of this second wall the western half of the Opel
is located excavations revealed important data on the history of the early Islamic Jerusalem four
edifices about 90 by 90 meters each were unearthed and dated to the Yamada period 7th and 8th century
CE these buildings are probably part of the official facility erected by the caliph al wallid
and shedding new light on the status of Jerusalem during the Islamic period this of course stopped
the western half of the Opel from being excavated down to the level of that on the eastern side this
whole area is now called the Ophel archeological garden this is a photo of the western section of
the Ophel as it looks today all work has stopped and any ruins from earlier time will remain hidden
in 1838 an American historian Edward Robinson discovered some stones projecting from the western
wall now called Robinson's arch excavations below this arch revealed a second temple street
of which the bridge of this arch crossed over this bridge served as an entrance into Herod's
extended courts to the west giving easier access to the temple to those living on the west hill
the wailing wall on the western wall is located on the northwest section of Herod's extended temple
complex my location for the temple is the only one that shows the wailing wall
as an actual wall of Herod's 600 by 600 foot temple to summarize let's look at eight
important points concerning the location of the temple dome of the rock theory 0.1
the early explorers found no water channels going uphill to the dome of the rock area the aqueduct
entered the temple mount and angled southward indicating a lower placement for the temple
in the southern mount location Robertson theory the aqueduct flows south towards
the temple the water system brought the living water to cleanse the peace corps
a pool is located under the temple court for the filling of the brazen labor each morning
Dome of the rock theory 0.2 with this theory the temple once stood on the highest hill the dome of
the rock platform however Josephus wrote that fort Antonia was on the highest hill not the temple
southern mount location in this theory fort Antonia
was on the highest hill dome of the rock platform as described by Josephus
dome of the rock theory 0.3 the early maps showed the moat described by Josephus
as being between the highest hill and Bethesda hill however with the
Dome theory the ruins of the moat are not acknowledged with the southern mount location
the moat is shown to be between Fort Antonia and Bethesda hill just as described by Josephus
Dome of the rock theory 0.4 the east gate is toward the extreme north end of Nehemiah wall
Solomon entered the east gate from his palace which was located on ophel hill there was no
way to enter the gate at the north end from the Ophel southern mount location the east gate is
located within triple gate Solomon's portico and was in the center of the east wall it was located
just above Solomon's palace on the oval hill and was the king's entrance to the temple compound
dome of the rock theory 0.5 this theory claims the east gate did not enter directly into the woman's
court but is approximately 240 feet to the north of the woman's court in the southern location
the east gate entered directly into the woman's court as it should be dome of the rock theory 0.6
in this theory Herod built the passageways from double gate and yet the courses of stone
show these passageways to have been built after the destruction of Herod's temple
in 70 AD. Southern mount location in this theory double gate was built after 70 AD and
was an attempt to rebuild Herod's inner north and south gates and the Israeli court between the two
Dome of the rock theory 0.7 in this theory all of the temple mount was Herod's temple compound
the mount is around 1000 by 1550 feet almost double the size of Herod's temple Herod extended
the temple area but it remained a square not a rectangle Southern mount location shows
the temple compound as being one furlong by one furlong 600 by 600 feet as recorded by Josephus
and this is confirmed by the ruins under the mount and also excavations on ophel hill
dome of the rock theory 0.8 in this theory fort Antonia incorporated land on Bethesda hill and
was only a small rectangular area but according to Josephus fort Antonia was also one furlong square
southern mount location fort Antonia and its compound is shown to be 600 by 600 feet
the compound of fort Antonia and the temple compound together were two furlongs in length and
one furlong in width 1200 by 600 feet i hope you enjoyed this study on the temple mount location
for more detailed information it can be found at my website at temple mount location thank you