The pillars on the sides were about twenty-seven feet in height, while the two rows in the middle were double this height. Each of these colonnades was covered with a richly ornamented cedar roof, thus affording grateful shelter from the sun and storm. The great space at the south of the temple area was the Court of the Gentiles, the common park of the city where all classes of its population freely gathered. The colonnade on the east of the temple area bore the name of Solomon's Porch, and from it the steps led up to the raised platform of native rock twenty or more feet above the Court of the Gentiles. Somewhere to the east of the temple was found the famous Beautiful Gate. The series of steps led into the so-called Court of the Women. West of this was the Court of the Israelites, to which only men were admitted. Thence a broad, high door led to the open space before the temple. Surrounding the altar and cutting off approach to the temple proper was a stone balustrade. The space within this was known as the Court of the Priests. Here no laymen were admitted except as the ritual of private sacrifice required. These inner courts were surrounded by a high wall and adjoining chambers for the storing of the paraphernalia used in connection with the sacrifice and for the residence of the priests. On the southern side of the temple was the room where the national council, the sanhedrin, held its public meetings. Four gates on the north and four gates on the south led from the temple court to the lower Court of the Gentiles.