A detailed description of the Temple Mount and its gates appears in the writings of Josephus Flavius (Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War) and in the Mishna (tractate Middoth). Josephus described four gates in the western wall and two in the southern wall, while the Mishna mentions altogether five gates in the four enclosure walls of the Temple Mount. The Mishna names the four gates: (1) the Hulda gates in the southern wall � probably named after the First Temple Period prophetess Huldah who according to tradition, lived in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:14); (2) the Kiponus gate in the western wall � possibly after the Roman procurator Koponius (6-9 CE); (3) the Tadi gate in the north, described as an exit for the impure; (4) the Shushan gate in the eastern wall, used for conveying the Red Heifer (cow) from the temple courtyard to the Mount of Olives. Josephus' account of the main entrances, located exclusively in the west and south, is borne out by archaeological evidence.

The two gates exposed in the southern wall of the Temple Mount are the western (double) Huldah gate and the eastern (triple) Huldah gate (Tour 1, Site 17). The double gate is located beneath the El-Aqsa Mosque. Only the eastern quarter of this gate is visible today, as it is covered by a medieval building. The triple gate has three arched openings, completely blocked today. Both gates led to the Temple Mount through subterranean tunnels opening onto the Royal Stoa. The western tunnel � completely preserved under the El-Aqsa Mosque � has a series of monumental columns topped by corinthian capitals bearing four fine stone domes. Each of the Hulda gates was approaced by a monumental staircase, measuring 65 m in width in the west and 15 m in width in the east. Ancient sources describe this location as the site of one of the court of appeals, and we can here picture Raban Gamliel the Elder and his colleagues dispatching communications throughout the country and to the Diaspora regarding the Seventh Year (shemita), heave offerings (terumot) and tithes (maaserot) (Tosefta, Sanhedrin, 2, 6).

The four gates in the western wall match Josephus' description: One gate at the top of Wilson's Arch, which linked the Upper City with the Temple Mount by means of a bridge over the Tyropoeon Valley; the second at the top of Robinson's Arch, leading from the main street which ran along the Tyropoeon Valley to the Royal Stoa; and two gates at a lower level, 'Warren' and 'Barclay' � from the street along the western wall opening onto the Temple Mount.