Image Details

The walls of the Holy of Holies. Along the southern end of es-Sakhra two flat rectangular areas and other, less noticable flat areas to their south, just before the bedrock slopes dramatically down, combine to form a foundation trench over 10 feet wide—equal to the 6 cubit width given in the Mishnah for the thickness of the Temple walls. This yields one wall of the Temple. The back wall would have been placed against the natural rockscarp along the west, with the north wall adjacent to the northern end of es-Sakhra. Now the significance of the rectangular depression near the north end of es-Sakhra becomes clear: It sits exactly in the center of the proposed Holy of Holies.