Mt Moriah, where Abraham was to have sacrificed his son, Isaac. King David bought this place for his new capital when he ruled over both Israel and Judah. He purchased this place from the Jebusites. (Today's Palestinians claim themselves to be descendants of the Jebusites). This was where the city of David was when he became king of North and South Israel.
King David was not allowed to build a temple to God but God let his son, Solomon, build the temple. Hence the first temple on this mount built by King Solomon. It was destroyed by the Babylonians and Judah went into exile and captivity in Babylon.
However eventually the Babylonian kingdom was conquered by the Persians. King Cyrus or Cyrus the great of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Hence a second temple was constructed on the same mount. When the Romans ruled over Palestine, their stooge, King Herod, enlarged the second temple.
The Jews rebelled against their Roman rulers three times and was expelled by the Romans and the Romans destroyed the second temple.
Eventually with the rise of Islam, and after the death of Mohammad, the Muslim armies conquered Jerusalem. Caliph Omar marched into and took over rule of Jerusalem. His descendants built the dome of the rock which still stands today.
The only part of the second temple that still exists is the western wall where Jews go to pray all the time, a part of it is underground. This part that we see is the only part that is exposed.
Today the dome of the rock sits on the place where two previous Jewish temples were.
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