Josephus also states the temple was built on a square tower about
600 foot on a side, jutting out into the Kidron valley with the
southeast corner in the deepest part of the Kidron valley. The wall of
that tower was over 300 foot high at that location.
There is no way that tower resembles todays faux temple mount. He also
says the massive fortress Antonia was on the much higher hill to the
North of the temple mount. And that there were two causeways from this
fortress down to the walls of the temple mount tower.
The
article
Antonia:
The Fortress Jerusalem
Forgot – Popular
Archeology agrees
with what you just stated.
"T
he Temple
stood one stadia (or 606’
feet) south of Fortress
Antonia in the City
of David, and that the two
complexes were connected
by two
aerial bridges."
Please click on the link
above and scroll down to
the bottom of the page to
see a diagram of the
Temple and the Fortress
Antonia. It also
shows the Fortress
Antonia's eastern wall
that extends down into the
Kidron Valley.