Editing Second Temple (section)

====Platform, substructures, retaining walls====
[[Moriah|Mt. Moriah]] had a plateau at the northern end, and steeply declined on the southern slope. It was Herod's plan that the entire mountain be turned into a giant square platform. The Temple Mount was originally intended{{by whom|date=October 2020}} to be {{convert|1600|ft}} wide by {{convert|900|ft}} broad by 9 stories high, with walls up to {{convert|16|ft}} thick, but had never been finished. To complete it, a trench was dug around the mountain, and huge stone blocks were laid. Some of these weighed well over 100 tons, [[Western Stone|the largest]] measuring {{convert|44.6|x|11|x|16.5|ft}} and weighing approximately 567–628 tons.<ref>Dan Bahat: Touching the Stones of our Heritage, Israeli ministry of Religious Affairs, 2002</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2022}}