What legendary reason is given for why the Romans dismantled the temple stone by stone?
A legendary account says Roman soldiers had heard that tons of gold were hidden between the temple's building blocks. To retrieve that gold, they dismantled the structure rock by rock and stone by stone, rather than destroying it only by fire. This fits Jesus' prophecy that not one stone would remain upon another.
Les explains that when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the earlier temple, he did it primarily by fire because it was predominantly cedar wood and burned like a matchbox. The Romans also used fire, but they literally dismantled that temple rock by rock and stone by stone. Les notes there are many legendary stories as to why they did it; one is that some Roman soldiers had heard there were tons of gold hidden between the building blocks of the temple, so in order to go after that gold, they took it down stone by stone. This connects directly to Jesus' prophetic utterance that not one stone would be left upon another.