The construction of three religious compounds is ascribed to Herod: the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Terebinths of Mamre (Alonei Mamre). The architectural denominator that is common to all three of these buildings is the use of pilasters in decorating their outer walls. Until now research has stressed the monumentalism and the aesthetic considerations in the use of this element. But in this lecture I intend to examine from a stylistic and iconographic viewpoint the meaning of the use of the pilaster motif and stress the inset spaces between the engaged pillars. I will trace the roots of this tradition which has its beginnings in the Temple of Solomon and in the somewhat obscure expression “windows with recessed frames”, the Temple Scroll, Babylonian Talmud and Midrashic teachings. These will help illustrate that behind the decorative motif that adorns the walls of the Temple Mount compound there is an ideology that distinguishes Jewish religious construction.