The tractate gives the measurements of the Temple Mount and its various divisions. It states that the Temple Courtyard on the mount measured 135 cubits (amot) from north to south and 187 cubits from east to west and was surrounded by walls. Towards the front of the Temple Courtyard on the mount, and surrounding the Temple building, known as the Sanctuary (Azarah), was a low fence (soreg) designating the area beyond which a non-Jew, or a Jew who was ritually impure because of contact with a corpse (tumat met), could not proceed.