According to the Tanakh, Solomon's Temple was built atop the Temple Mount in the 10th century BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BCE. In around 19 BCE Herod the Great began a massive expansion project on the Temple Mount. He artificially expanded the area which resulted in an enlarged platform. Today's Western Wall formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of this platform. Herod's Temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire, along with the rest of Jerusalem, in 70 CE during the First Jewish-Roman War.
The wall was erected to reign Irodov (37-4 years BC. E.) As the supporting walls supporting earth mounds, which had been poured for a larger area of the Temple Mount during the restructuring and expansion of building the Temple. The wall was built without mortar seals from the smooth stones obtesannyh (average height of the stones 1-1,2 m, length - 1,5-3 m and some reach 12 m) with slightly raised rectangular panels on the front side. To give the wall greater resilience against the pressure of masses of earthen mounds for each subsequent series of masonry departs from the previous inside. As the lower ranks of masonry were covered earthen sedimentation (the beginning of the XIX century on the ground were only five rows of the upper irodianskoy masonry) wall overbuild. There are currently over irodianskoy masonry rises another 19 rows of much smaller stones of the Roman, Byzantine and late clutches.
English
עברית
Русский
