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Southern Wall
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Southern Wall
31°46′32.74″N 35°14′9.98″E / 31.7757611°N 35.2361056°E
The Southern Wall (Hebrew: הכותל הדרומי HaKotel HaDromi) is the retaining wall of the Temple Mount at the southern end. It was built during King Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount platform southward on to the Ophel.
The Southern Wall is 922 feet (281 m) in length, and which the historian Josephus equates as being equal to the length of one furlong (Greek: stadion). Herod's southern extension of the Temple Mount is clearly visible from the east, standing on the Mount of Olives or to a visitor standing on top of the Temple mount as a slight change in the plane of the eastern wall, the so-called "Straight Joint." Herod's Royal Stoa stood atop this southern extension. The retaining wall is built of enormous blocks of Jerusalem stone, the face of each ashlar (block) is edged with a margin, the bossage is raised about 3/8" above the surrounding margins. The unmortared blocks are so finely fitted together that a knife blade cannot be inserted between the ashlars.
An enormous flight of steps leads to the Southern Wall from the south. They were excavated after 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar and are the northernmost extension of the pilgrims road leading from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount via the Double Gate and the Triple Gate. These are the steps that Jesus of Nazareth and other Jews of his era walked up to approach the Temple, especially on the great pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. The stairs that lead to the double gate are intact and "well-preserved." The steps that lead to the triple gate were mostly destroyed.
The risers are low, a mere 7 to 10 inches high, and each step is 12 to 35 inches deep, forcing the ascending pilgrims to walk with a stately, deliberate tread. The pilgrims entered the temple precincts through the double and triple gates still visible in the Southern Wall. Together, the double and triple gates are known as the Huldah Gates, after the prophetess Huldah.
The present iteration of the Triple Gates is not Herodian. Each of the three gates measures at its width c. 4.03 metres (13.2 ft). The only Herodian element visible from the outside is the doorjamb on the bottom of the left-hand arch. The Double Gate is substantially concealed by a Crusader-era addition to the Temple Mount. Only half of the right-hand arch of the double gate is visible today from the outside, measuring at its exposed width 3.09 metres (10.1 ft). Over the part of the right-hand Herodian arched doorway that is visible is an ornate, decorative half-arch dating to the Umayyad period (661–750 CE). Just above it, the stub of an Herodian relieving arch is visible.
Inside the Temple Mount, much of the original staircase and the arched, elaborately carved Herodian ceilings survive. According to archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov, "On his way in and out of the Temple, Jesus must have walked here."
The internal parts of the Herodian Double Gate survive, although the waqf rarely permits visitors to see it. Pilgrims, upon entering the Double Gate (70 metres (230 ft) westward of the Triple Gates), were not immediately greeted by a wide-open courtyard. Rather, they continued to ascend a flight of stairs in a dome-shaped passageway carved into the rock which led up to the royal cloisters described by Josephus (Antiquities 15.11.5. [15.410]), cloisters which ran in a westerly-easterly direction along the full length of the Southern Wall, but which now lead up into the old section of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The domed ceilings of the great staircases are carved with elaborate floral and geometric designs. Unlike the austere exterior gate, the interior of the gateway is elaborately decorated with ornately carved columns and ornamented domes. Two pairs of domes and their elaborate, surrounding columns survive intact. Intricately carved vines, rosettes, flowers and geometric patterns cover "every inch" of the "impressive" entry to the ancient Temple.
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Southern Wall AI simulator
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Southern Wall
31°46′32.74″N 35°14′9.98″E / 31.7757611°N 35.2361056°E
The Southern Wall (Hebrew: הכותל הדרומי HaKotel HaDromi) is the retaining wall of the Temple Mount at the southern end. It was built during King Herod's expansion of the Temple Mount platform southward on to the Ophel.
The Southern Wall is 922 feet (281 m) in length, and which the historian Josephus equates as being equal to the length of one furlong (Greek: stadion). Herod's southern extension of the Temple Mount is clearly visible from the east, standing on the Mount of Olives or to a visitor standing on top of the Temple mount as a slight change in the plane of the eastern wall, the so-called "Straight Joint." Herod's Royal Stoa stood atop this southern extension. The retaining wall is built of enormous blocks of Jerusalem stone, the face of each ashlar (block) is edged with a margin, the bossage is raised about 3/8" above the surrounding margins. The unmortared blocks are so finely fitted together that a knife blade cannot be inserted between the ashlars.
An enormous flight of steps leads to the Southern Wall from the south. They were excavated after 1967 by archaeologist Benjamin Mazar and are the northernmost extension of the pilgrims road leading from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount via the Double Gate and the Triple Gate. These are the steps that Jesus of Nazareth and other Jews of his era walked up to approach the Temple, especially on the great pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. The stairs that lead to the double gate are intact and "well-preserved." The steps that lead to the triple gate were mostly destroyed.
The risers are low, a mere 7 to 10 inches high, and each step is 12 to 35 inches deep, forcing the ascending pilgrims to walk with a stately, deliberate tread. The pilgrims entered the temple precincts through the double and triple gates still visible in the Southern Wall. Together, the double and triple gates are known as the Huldah Gates, after the prophetess Huldah.
The present iteration of the Triple Gates is not Herodian. Each of the three gates measures at its width c. 4.03 metres (13.2 ft). The only Herodian element visible from the outside is the doorjamb on the bottom of the left-hand arch. The Double Gate is substantially concealed by a Crusader-era addition to the Temple Mount. Only half of the right-hand arch of the double gate is visible today from the outside, measuring at its exposed width 3.09 metres (10.1 ft). Over the part of the right-hand Herodian arched doorway that is visible is an ornate, decorative half-arch dating to the Umayyad period (661–750 CE). Just above it, the stub of an Herodian relieving arch is visible.
Inside the Temple Mount, much of the original staircase and the arched, elaborately carved Herodian ceilings survive. According to archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov, "On his way in and out of the Temple, Jesus must have walked here."
The internal parts of the Herodian Double Gate survive, although the waqf rarely permits visitors to see it. Pilgrims, upon entering the Double Gate (70 metres (230 ft) westward of the Triple Gates), were not immediately greeted by a wide-open courtyard. Rather, they continued to ascend a flight of stairs in a dome-shaped passageway carved into the rock which led up to the royal cloisters described by Josephus (Antiquities 15.11.5. [15.410]), cloisters which ran in a westerly-easterly direction along the full length of the Southern Wall, but which now lead up into the old section of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The domed ceilings of the great staircases are carved with elaborate floral and geometric designs. Unlike the austere exterior gate, the interior of the gateway is elaborately decorated with ornately carved columns and ornamented domes. Two pairs of domes and their elaborate, surrounding columns survive intact. Intricately carved vines, rosettes, flowers and geometric patterns cover "every inch" of the "impressive" entry to the ancient Temple.
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