Editing Temple Mount (section)

=== Persian, Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods ===
{{Main|Second Temple|}}

Construction of the [[Second Temple]] began under [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] in around 538 BCE and was completed in 516 BCE. It was built at the original site of Solomon's Temple.<ref name="Schiffman">{{cite book |last=Schiffman |first=Lawrence H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nQDkLzQimk8C&pg=PA48 |title=Understanding Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism |date=2003 |publisher=[[KTAV Publishing House]] |isbn=978-0-88125-813-4 |location=New York |pages=48–49 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name=":20" />

According to Patrich and Edelcopp, the ideal area of the complex, described in [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] as 50x50 cubits, was attained by the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmoneans]], perhaps under [[John Hyrcanus]]; this is the same size later mentioned by the [[Mishnah]].<ref name=":20" />

Evidence of a Hasmonean expansion of the Temple Mount has been recovered by archaeologist [[Leen Ritmeyer]].

In 67 BCE [[Hasmonean Civil War|a quarrel]] broke out between [[Aristobulus II]] and [[Hyrcanus II]] on the Hasmonean throne. [[Roman Republic|Roman]] general [[Pompey]], who had been invited to intervene in the conflict, sided with Hyrcanus; Aristobulus and his followers barricaded themselves inside the Temple Mount and destroyed the bridge linking it to the city. When the Roman Army arrived in Jerusalem, Pompey ordered the moat defending the Temple Mount from the north to be filled in. To accomplish this, Pompey waited for [[Sabbath]]s, so the defenders would not disrupt the work. After a [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|three-month siege]], the Romans were able to topple one of the guard towers and storm the Temple Mount. Pompey himself entered the [[Holy of Holies]], but did not harm the Temple, and allowed the priests to continue their work as usual.<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[the Jewish War]]'', 1.7.141.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Regev |first=E. |date=1997 |title=How Did the Temple Mount Fall to Pompey? |url=https://pascal-francis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=getRecordDetail&idt=2463714 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=276–289 |doi=10.18647/1998/JJS-1997 |issn=0022-2097}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharon |first=Nadav |date=2014 |title=The Conquests of Jerusalem by Pompey and Herod: On Sabbath or »Sabbath of Sabbaths«? |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1628/094457014x14056845341069 |journal=Jewish Studies Quarterly |volume=21 |issue=3 |page=193 |doi=10.1628/094457014x14056845341069 |issn=0944-5706}}</ref>