FOUR STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT

According to the literary sources, four stages can be differentiated in the evolution of the Temple Mount during the ca. 600 years long Second Temple period (the last being the well known Herodian precinct). The other three are: - The Restoration period. It is reasonable to assume that the Temple Mount of that period extended over the entire area of the Outer Court of the First Temple period. In accord with the topographical restrains, we assume that it was trapezoidal with rounded corners in shape, non-elevated and non-leveled. - The elevation and leveling of the Outer Court was the project of Simeon the Just, praised in a poetical manner in Sirac 50: 1-5, and addressed in the two edicts of Antiochus III (Ant. 12.138-146). The entrance of Gentiles into this area was prohibited. It is argued that this is the 1 x 1 stadia square referred to by Flavius Josephus in Ant. 15.400 and his "Second Sacred Precinct," delineated by a grille (soreg). - For political, ideological and theological reasons, the Hasmonaeans (John Hyrcanus) extended the Temple Mount to be 500 x 500 cubits in size, in fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision. The extension southward did not extend beyond the tributary that separated the Temple Mount from the Akra hill (that was removed, and the tributary filled in [War 5.137-139; Ant. 12.252]). The eastern line of that precinct is marked by the eastern wall of the Haram al Sharif.