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During the Second Temple period, part of the stepped structure was covered with a smooth skin which is, in some places, 15 to 20 feet thick. In this way a steep glacis was formed on the defense line of the city in the Second Temple period, helping to make the city’s defenses impregnable.

This picture shows the glacis as it appeared after the 1978 season. Later excavation established that the stepped-structure was originally constructed much earlier, probably by King Solomon, in about the 10th century B.C., at which time it was located, not at the city wall, but about 100 feet up the slope from the wall.