The Temple itself was 100 cubits in length, and as many in height; its east front was formed by a vestibule, 100 cubits wide, measuring from east to west 11 cubits, according to the Mischna, and 20 according to Josephus. The rest of the building was 60 cubits wide (according to the Mischna 70), therefore the vestibule projected 20 (or 15) cubits on each side; twelve steps led up to the open door of the vestibule, which was 25 cubits wide. The _Hechal_, or Holy Place, was 20 cubits wide and 43 long, and was divided from the Holy of Holies (20 cubits square) by a curtain. The sacred things were arranged as in Solomon's Temple. The bronze laver stood in the Priests' court, south-east of the Sanctuary; a certain Ben Katîn made twelve outlets for water in it, so that the same number of Priests could purify themselves at the same time; he also contrived a machine to bring the water into it from a well[247]. In the middle of the court opposite the entrance of the Temple, north-east of the laver, was the altar of burnt-offerings, made of unhewn stones, as ordered by the law of Moses[248]. According to Josephus it was 50 cubits square and 15 high, terminated at each corner by a kind of horn, and approached by a gentle slope on the south side. The Rabbins say that it rose in steps, the base being 32 cubits square[249], and that at the south-east corner was a conduit, draining off the blood into the torrent Kidron. North of the altar were marble tables to receive the flesh of the victims[250]. In the Holy Place, the table of shewbread stood on the north, the seven-branched candlestick on the south, and between them the altar of incense; all made of gold. The Holy of Holies was empty, since there was no ark in the second Temple, as it was lost when the first was destroyed. According to a tradition, it had been hidden for security by the prophet Jeremiah in a cave on Mount Nebo, which could not afterwards be found[251]. A stone, about 2 inches high, called by the Rabbins _Schethiyya_ (foundation), occupied its place, on which the High Priest placed the censer on the day of Atonement[252].
Herod did not restrict his liberality to the Temple alone, but executed some other great works in the same part of the city. He extended the sacred enclosure on the north[253], strengthened its fortifications, restored the ancient tower Baris[254], built by the Asmonean princes at the north-west corner of the Temple, and called it Antonia, after his patron, Marcus Antonius. As altered by him it was a square[255], half a stadium each way; so that the whole perimeter of it and the Temple together was six stadia. The outer wall enclosed a palace and four towers, one at each angle; three of them 50 cubits high, and the fourth, at the south-east corner, nearest the Temple, 70; from its summit the Roman sentinel could see what was going on in the several courts[256]. The fortress was joined by a subterranean passage to a tower near the east gate of the Temple, so that in case of a popular tumult the king could easily escape into the Antonia[257]. At the present day, a plot of levelled ground, a rocky knoll on the north of the _Haram-es-Sherîf_, and a few shapeless fragments of masonry, are all that remain of the splendid buildings of Herod.