Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and SectionsPierotti, Ermete
History
Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections
Pierotti, Ermete
Jerusalem -- Antiquities; Jerusalem -- Description and travel
Before describing Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah, it will be well to
enumerate the gates of the city before the Captivity, and to fix, as far
as possible, their positions. We are told that Jehoash king of Israel
"brake down the walls of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the
corner gate, four hundred cubits[97]." I place the _gate of Ephraim_ at
the N.W. angle of Solomon's wall because it led to the land of Ephraim.
The _Corner gate_ was, I think, at the north-east angle of the platform
of the Temple. We find in Jeremiah "The city shall be built from the
tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner[98]," which may be very
well understood to mean "from one extremity of the city to the other." I
believe that the tower of Hananeel was in the present castle. King
"Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the _valley
gate_, and fortified them[99]." The latter might have been in the south
side of the wall of Sion. The _horse gate_[100] is also mentioned, but
this was probably in the wall of the Temple, not of the city. I identify
the _fish gate_[101] with the present Jaffa gate. The situation of "the
_high gate of Benjamin_, which was by the house of the Lord[102]," is
uncertain: I think it to have been either a gate of the Temple, or one
through which a road to the Temple passed. Perhaps it may be found in
the second line of wall on the north, but this is very doubtful. Lastly,
it is said that when the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem, "all the men of
war fled by night, by the way of the _gate between two walls_, which is
by the king's garden[103]." These are the walls of David and Manasseh on
the two sides of the Tyropoeon, so the gate was probably in the middle
of the valley, looking southwards towards the King's garden, now tilled
by the peasants of Siloam. I do not expect that the above remarks will
convince all, but trust that they may at least suggest subjects for
thought and study.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Jerusalem Explored, Volume 1—Text: Being a Description of the Ancient and Modern City, with Numerous Illustrations Consisting of Views, Ground Plans and Sections — John Shaqi
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