Herodian Pilasters in Jerusalem and Hebron Compared

A 19th-century drawing of the northern part of the Temple Mount’s western wall in Jerusalem (above) reveals traces of pilasters almost identical to the pilasters on the Herodian enclosure at Machpelah (below). Note the line of three horizontal stone blocks near the bottom of the picture that slopes in as the blocks go up. On either side of this line of horizontal stones are portions of pilasters that jut out from the wall, just as the pilasters do at the Machpelah. At the Machpelah some of the pilasters begin at a height of approximately 30 feet from the ground. In the section of the Temple Mount enclosure wall we see the point at which the pilasters begin. Note that below the left-hand pilaster, the wall is flat. To the right of the right-hand pilaster, the wall surface goes in again.

This part of the western wall can no longer be seen. The drawing was made in the 1860s by Lieutenant Claude Conder for the London-based Palestine Exploration Fund. Today the wall is within a priest’s home and is plastered over, so the pilaster fragments are no longer exposed.