| abstract | - Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE. Another different temple to the goddess Roma was built by Herod at about the same time in coastal Caesarea. Herod's Temple to Yahweh is believed to have been a rennovation and reconstruction the Second Temple building, while religious worship and temple rituals continued during the construction process. Following the Great Revolt of the Province of Judah, the Temple was destroyed by Roman troops under Titus during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The most complete ancient account of this event is The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus. Later Roman and Byzantine governors used the remains to build palaces, a Temple of Jupiter, and a Church. It was not until the Dome of the Rock was built between 687 and 691 that the last remnants of the Temple were taken down. In addition to the platform, some remnants of the Temples remain above ground, including a step leading to the Dome of the Rock that is actually the capstone of the pre-Herodian wall of the Temple Mount platform. The Temple itself was probably located on the site of what today is the Dome of the Rock. The gates let out close to Al-Aqsa.
- The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE following a Jewish revolt which resulted not only in the destruction of the Temple but the exile of the Jewish people from the land of Israel. The only part of the Temple of Herod left standing was one of the outer walls known as the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, which has become one of the most importent locations in Judaism. A few hundred years later, Muslims conquered Jerusalem and mosques known as the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa were built on the site of the Jewish temples, as Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are also considered holy in Islam. Today, many Jews still mourn the loss of the Temple and pray for it to be rebuilt at the Western Wall.
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