Solomon's Stables East of the Triple gates   ..... This structure was made of recycled Herod stone. Since Herod would not let his workers rebuild the eastern cloisters,nor disturb the East Gate, it would mean that these vaults were built after the time the Herodian walls were completed in 66 AD. Even though it was dubbed Solomon's Stables by the Crusaders, this arched area was not built in Solomon's time, nor were they stables before the time of the Crusaders. They were built with recycled Herodian stones, dating them to the post second Temple era. Solomon's Stables at the Southeast Corner     The Hebrew builders always dug down to bedrock to create a solid base for large structures. The Romans employed this same method when constructing the Southeastern corner of the Temple Mount.     Those industrious Romans! I'd like to give my "opinion" on what may have taken place after the destruction of the temple by Titus in 70 AD. Once the southern portion of the Jewish Temple compound (enclosed Temple site) was torn down, then all the Herodian stones from that section were used for the new extended southeast wall. They began by building terraced compartments in the southeast corner, which are now called Solomon's Stables. The southeast corner of the Temple Mount was a steep hill before these terraced compartments were added to create the corner. There is a straight joint in the East wall where the Hasmonian wall ends and the extended southeast corner begins, which means the old wall probably took a 90 degree turn towards the west at that point. I believe it is quit possible that it was the Romans that built the wall even further south from that joint and continued west to meet up with Triple Gate (Solomon's Porch). On the other side of the Triple Gates they also filled in the gap until meeting up with the Inner wall of the inner courts. It is at that place that there is another "straight joint".   The Southeast corner of the Mount is constructed in layers. Each layer made up of a series of arches, built in the same manner of the Jewish outer court. The use of this system has been used in many countries. They added layer atop layer until the steep hill was brought up to level with the roof of the Triple Gate passageways (Solomon's Porch). Then fill dirt was laid over the top of it all. The wall itself was made of recycled Herodian stones. The last level (compartment) was found to be full of rubble, much of it from the second Temple era, i.e. broken stones, marble pieces, and columns, etc. One must ask when and how this rubble got hauled in there! I think the Roman's used it as a rubble dump, so to speak. The Roman Emperor, Hadrian in 130 AD, is most likely the person that built up the walls of the Mount and created a flat surface of the Mount for a temple of jupiter.   Quote from wikapedia: The city of Aelia Capitolina was built in 130 CE by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony on the site of Jerusalem, which was still in ruins from the First Jewish Revolt in 70 CE.  Aelia came from Hadrian's nomen gentile, Aelius, while Capitolina meant that the new city was dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus, to whom a temple was built on the site of the former second Jewish temple, the Temple Mount.[15]  Hadrian had intended the construction of the new city as a gift to the Jews, but since he had constructed a giant statue of himself in front of the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Jupiter had a huge statue of Jupiter inside of it, there were now two enormous graven images on the Temple Mount. It was also the normal practice of the adherents of the Hellenic religion to sacrifice pigs before their deities. In addition to this, Hadrian issued a decree prohibiting the practice of circumcision. These three factors, the graven images, the sacrifice of pigs before the altar, and the prohibition of circumcision, constituted for non-Hellenized radical Zealot Jews a new abomination of desolation, and thus Bar Kochba launched the Third Jewish Revolt. After the Third Jewish Revolt failed, all Jews were forbidden on pain of death from entering the city. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Mount Herod Stones  The southeast corner wall was built without pride of workmanship, nothing more than mismatched recycled stones. Herod would have been very upset that we attribute this wall to him. Below is an example of the pattern of a wall built by Herod. See how the embossing (cut grooves) when put together create a line the length of the wall.  Southwest corner  The drawing below was made by Charles Warren over 100 years ago of the southeast corner . He dug a deep tunnel to view these stones and an artist made a sketch.  They recognized that these stones were Herod stones with mysterious markings on them. They recognized that these stones were Herod stones with mysterious markings on them. Strange that the people wondering about these markings didn't make note of the disorder in this wall. A hodge-podge of similar stones stacked one on another. These are boss stones cut with a groove around the stone so that they create an elegant appearance when placed in rows. It is like the signature.  However very few of these stones belong together. I would say that whoever built this corner of the Mount didn't seem to care about the groove, but only the height of each stone, for the purpose of stacking to make proper rows.  The markings on some of these stones are masons marks. They tell the builder where to place the stone in a building. Whether it be in a corner, or part of a certain arch, etc. One can't help but notice that in the middle of the bottom row the stone with lots of writing on it is upside down, or the two stones on either side of it are upside down. You can tell by the large bossing.  My wildest guess is that some of these stones that have no mark have a mark on the other side, top or bottom. My further guess is that these recycled stones could possibly be stones from the Temple building itself. This would explain why none of the Temple Stones have ever been found. If they could all be gathered together and the instructions deciphered, the Temple could be rebuilt from them. That is just my opinion.  Today the top level of Solomon's Stables is now a Muslim Mosque.

Interesting Information Wall Perspective Herod's Inner Wall a Section of Roman's Outer Wall Drawing of what the Temple Mount might have looked like in 66 AD before it was destroyed. View looking North from the old City of David. Click on the drawing to see how Titus not only removed the Temple in 70 AD, but also changed the look of the Temple Mount. Those Terraced Compartments of Solomon's Stables are now a Muslim Mosque Muslim's have dug the pit and revealed the terraced rooms below the surface.  Here are photos of a pit the Muslims have dug to expose the upper level of the terraced rooms under the ground, and some of the rubble being removed from it. Perhaps sections of Herod's famous columns. They are making the underground structures into places of worship to Allah.