“The Temple and Fort Antonia” is a very good and informative read. I am convinced, and have been for many years that what is currently called ‘Temple Mount’ is non-other than the home of the Roman legion stationed in Jerusalem ‘Fort Antonia’. Herod’s Temple would most certainly not be built in the middle of a Roman fort. Other Roman forts throughout the world are approximately the same size. The size is necessarily large because of the 10,000 troops who lived and trained there. The fort would not have been destroyed in 70AD by the troops who lived there. The oldest graves of the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives were in front of the eastern gate of the Temple.

http://askelm.com/temple/t980504.htm