A question of paramount interest is the site of the successive temples of Solomon, Zerubabel and Herod. It is universally allowed that the temple stood on that hill which we call Moriah, and within the present sacred area; but while Josephus describes it as a square of 600 feet (1 stadium), in the side, the dimensions of the Haram are, according to Catherwood, 1,520 feet on the east side, 1,617 feet on the west, 1,020 on the north, and 932 on the south. The way being thus open for conjecture, we have had the usual differences of opinion, and the temple has been variously placed at the south-west angle, the centre of the area, the southern half of the area, the northern half, or has even been made coincident with the entire Haram. A few shafts and galleries would probably settle this question, and in showing us the foundations of the temple, give us the key to most of the old topography; but unfortunately the reservation made by the Turkish Government has compelled Captain Warren to labour only outside the enclosure. Still, as there was reason to think that one or more of the Haram walls or angles might coincide in position with those of the temple, there was room for discovery by exterior examination. The theory of Catherwood and of De Vogüé, that the whole of the area belonged to the temple, may be dismissed as being inconsistent with the measurements of Josephus. The discovery of the transverse valley and of the prolongation of the valley from Herod's Gate appear to be fatal to Williams's view, that the temple stood in the northern half of the Haram and stretched all across it.