In the middle of the great Temple Mount platform that Herod the Great constructed was the actual sanctuary area. The rest of this enormous platform was set aside for anyone who wished to visit, but only Jewish People could enter the sanctuary area. This sanctuary's boundary was marked by a low wall, called the "Soreg". This "Soreg" served as a barrier beyond which Gentiles and the ceremonially unclean might not pass.
Originally, there were only guarded entrance opposite each gate of the courts. However, excluding of Gentiles in this way angered the Greeks. When they gained control over the Jewish People, they made thirteen openings in the Soreg. When the Maccabean's overthrew their oppressors those breaches were repaired.
According to Josephus, Herod's beautification project led to there being ten gates in the Soreg. Josephus also tells us that each of these gates had warning notices in Greek and Latin which strictly warned Gentiles that trespassing beyond the Soreg would result in their death. In 1871 Charles Clermont-Ganneau found one of these notices in secondary use in a courtyard (al-Atim Gate) to the north of the Temple Mount (now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum). This notice was in Greek and said:
"No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue."
This is just as Josephus records them. It is illustrated in our picture in the mid-left (I have traced the lettering in red).
The Soreg wall itself is described as 2 Amot (plural) in height. The notice, found by Clermont-Ganneau, is about 33" long χ 22" high χ 14" thick and consists of 7 lines of text. This seems very close to the Biblical "Amah" (often "cubit") and thus half the described height of the Soreg, i.e. 2 Amot (cf. lower-right inset pic). Another partial fragment has also been found, in the northern "Lion's Gate". It is now in the Israel Museum.
This Soreg wall is spoken of in the New Testament, in Ephesians 2:14, "He Himself is the peace for us, having made both one and broken down the hostility of the barrier fence."
It is interesting to note that these notices were both found connected closely to the Temple Mount, in fact in the north of the Temple Mount. This is just one of many evidences supporting the Temple Mount being exactly what is claimed to be, i.e. the Temple Mount!
Courtesy of Bibleworld.net