Jerusalem - Antonia Fortress
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St Mary's Gate Street (Tariq Sitti Maryam) runs west to the site of the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great and named after Mark Antony, who then ruled the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The land here is higher than the Temple Mount to the south, and Herod accordingly chose this commanding situation for the erection of a strong fortress at the angle between the northern and western walls of the Temple precinct, on the site of the earlier Hasmonean stronghold of Baris. The Antonia Fortress covered an area 100m/110yds by 160m/175yds and was surrounded by high battlemented walls. Flavius Josephus tells us in his "Jewish History" (V,5,8) that the fortress stood on a precipitous rock 33m/108ft high which was faced with polished stone slabs to a height of 27m/89ft. At the four corners were towers, the tallest of which, at the southeast corner, was almost 50m/165ft high, "so that from this tower the whole of the Temple precinct could be seen.
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