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Source: http://mlsatlow.com/2015/10/09/there-was-a-temple-on-the-temple-mount/
There Was a Temple on the Temple Mount
(Michael Satlow) Michael Satlow - The recent New York Times article "Historical Certainty Proves Elusive at Jerusalem's Holiest Place" claims that there is no definitive evidence that the two ancient Jewish temples stood on the present day Temple Mount. The article strongly implies that this remains a live historical controversy. Did a Jewish temple stand on the present day Temple Mount? Yes. This is as historically certain a fact as one can get in the study of ancient history. The Temple Mount was built by Herod beginning at the end of the first century BCE - the Western Wall is the retaining wall of that reshaping of the natural hill - and on top of it were a number of structures that belonged to the Jewish temple. It is true that we do not know precisely where on the Temple Mount those structures stood, but there is no question that they stood there. The writer is professor of religious studies and Judaic studies at Brown University.