Regarding the temple that Herod built on the same site, Josephus wrote: It was “covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.
اما الغرباء القادمون من بعيد فيخيَّل اليهم انه جبل مكلل بالثلج ،‏ لأن سائر اقسامه غير المغشاة بذهب كانت ناصعة البياض جدا » .‏