n, here was that gate, called the "Gate of
the Corner," in 2 Chronicles 26:9. See ch. 4. sect. 2

[11] These dove-courts in Josephus, built by Herod the Great, are,
in the opinion of Reland, the very same that are mentioned by the
Talmudists, and named by them "Herod's dove courts." Nor is there any
reason to suppose otherwise, since in both accounts they were expressly
tame pigeons which were kept in them.

[12] See the description of the temples hereto belonging, ch. 15. But
note, that what Josephus here says of the original scantiness of this
Mount Moriah, that it was quite too little for the temple, and that at
first it held only one cloister or court of Solomon's building, and that
the foundations were forced to be added long afterwards by degrees,
to render it capable of the cloisters for the other courts, etc., is
without all foundation in the Scriptures, and not at all confirmed by
his exacter account in the Antiquities. All that is or can be true here
is this, that when the court of the Gentiles was long afterward to be
encompassed with cloisters, the southern foundation for these cloisters
was found not to be large or firm enough, and was raised, and that
additional foundation supported by great pillars and arches under
ground, which Josephus speaks of elsewhere, Antiq. B. XV. ch. 11. sect.
3, and which Mr. Maundrel saw, and describes, p. 100, as extant under
ground at this day.

[13] What Josephus seems here to mean is this: that these pillars,
supporting the cloisters in the second court, had their foundations or
lowest parts as deep as the floor of the first or lowest court; but that
so far of those lowest parts as were equal to the elevation of the upper
floor above the lowest were, and must be, hidden on the inside by the
ground or rock itself, on which that upper court was built; so that
forty cubits visible below were reduced to twenty-five visible above,
and implies the difference of their heights to be fifteen cubits. The
main difficulty lies here, how fourteen or fifteen steps should give an
ascent of fifteen cubits, half a cubit seeming sufficient for a single
step. Possibly there were fourteen or fifteen steps at the partition
wall, and fourteen or fifteen more thence into the court itself, which
would bring the whole near to the just proportion. See sect. 3, infra.
But I determine nothing.

[14] These three guards that lay in the tower of Antonia must be those
that guarded the city, the temple