Known to Jews and Christians as the "Teaching Steps" or the "Rabbi Steps", the steps at the southern end of the Temple Mount are believed to be where Jesus would often teach when He was in Jerusalem. These steps led to the Triple Gate (Hulda Gate), which was a primary entrance to the Temple Mount in the time of Christ.
On-going excavations in the area show the grandeur of Herod’s reconstruction of the Temple Mount, and is known as the Jerusalem Archaeological Park—Davidson Center. The rabbis of the Mishna and Talmud said of the Temple Mount: “Anyone who has not seen the Temple of Herod has never seen a beautiful building” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Bathra 4a).
In the 1970’s Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was visiting the steps near the southern wall. When he realized that Jesus had walked here, he said he was more excited to stand there than on the moon. (Quote from Walk with the Rabbi)
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Excavations at the southern wall, carried out by Professor B. Mazar and Mr. M. Ben Dov, show signs of five periods of construction. Of particular interest to Christians are the lower level, double margin dressed stones, which are Herodian, and the smaller smooth dressed stones, which are characteristic of the Hadrian reconstruction, when he renamed Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina (135 A.D.).
A group of five gates are visible in the southern wall of the Temple Mount; the Double Gate and the Triple Gate (Huldal Gate, also mentioned in the Mishna).
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