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"He also built a wall below which was encompassed by a deep valley; and at the south side he laid rocks together, and bound them one to another with lead . . . until it proceeded to a great height and until both the size of the square edifice and its altitude were immense, and until the vastness of the stones in front were plainly visible on the outside, yet so the inward parts were fastened together with iron, and preserved the joints immovable for all future times." (Josephus: Jewish Antiquities Book 15, Ch. 11.3.398-399) Herod the Great's crowning achievement among his numerous construction projects throughout Judea and Samaria was, of course, the complete rebuilding of the old Second Temple that had been too shabby for the increasingly wealthy Jewish nation of the 1st century BC. Herod and his architects conceived of and executed a monument to Jewish identity so enduring that large portions of it still stand to staggering heights despite the repeated destruction and rebuilding on its premises for the past two thousand years. In this recreation of the Temple Mount in the 1st century AD I relied upon numerous and varied reference material (the detailed eye witness account of Josephus, among others) as well as recent archaeological work and studies written by experts who specialize in the archaeology of Jerusalem.