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Don Porotzki

The Royal Stoa sits on the southern end of the Temple Mount. Josephus described this magnificent Herodian structure as “more worthy of description than any other under the sun.” The four rows of columns of the basilica created three halls, the central one with an especially high roof. On the Temple Mount side, the stoa was unwalled, providing a view of the Temple itself in the center of the mount. The processional entrance to the stoa is by the grand staircase on the southern end of the western wall, supported by the surviving architectural fragment known as Robinson’s Arch.