Showing posts with label Dung Gate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dung Gate. Show all posts

Thursday, May 29, 2014

The Gates of Jerusalem's Old City -- In Honor of "Jerusalem Day"

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)


Posted: 28 May 2014 

Sha'arei Hulda, the Double & Triple Gates, now sealed
 
 
 
 


עומדות, היו רגלינו בשערייך, ירושלים
ירושלים הבנויה כעיר שחוברה-לה יחדיו
Our feet did stand firm within your gates, O Jerusalem
Jerusalem, built up, is like a city that is united
- Psalms 122          

Israel celebrated "Jerusalem Day" May 28, 2014, commemorating the reuniting of the city of Jerusalem during the 1967 war.  For 19 years, between 1948 and 1967, the city was split between warring Jordanian and Israeli forces.

Thousands of Israelis visited Jerusalem, danced to the Western Wall, and marched around the Old City's gates.  We present here antique pictures of the gates, some taken 160 years ago.  

Click on the photos to enlarge, click on the caption to read more about each gate.
            
 

          
    Lion's Gate     
                      Herod's Gate 
       
     
      
  
  
Jaffa Gate (hand colored)    

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta) - Walls & Gates of Jerusalem

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)



Panorama of Jerusalem and the walls of the city. Note how few buildings were outside the walls of the Old City.  (Chatham University Archives, circa 1890) Click on pictures to enlarge


The Chatham University is not the only library to digitize their vintage pictures from Palestine.  In recent weeks we have discovered newly-scanned collections at several more libraries and even a European church.  We will present the collections in future postings.

The Chatham University Archives placed all 110 colored slides from the"Holy Land Lantern Slides"online, and in this posting we present a selection to focus on the collection's pictures of Jerusalem's walls and gates.  


Another Jerusalem Panorama taken from Mt Scopus
(Chatham University Archives, circa 1890)

Jaffa Gate (Chatham University Archives circa 1890)


This Picture of Jaffa Gate has been featured in previous postings when we found it in other collections

We also determined that the photo was taken prior to 1898 because of a glimpse of the moat wall on the right side of the picture.

The wall was torn down and the moat filled in so that the Germany emperor's carriage could enter. 






Damascus Gate   (Chatham University Archives)
View other historical (black and white) pictures of the Damascus Gate at our previous posting.

There are no pictures of the Zion, Dung and Herod Gates of the Old City. The "New Gate" of the Old City, an entrance built for access into the Christian Quarter, was constructed in 1889, after the photographs were taken.


Lions Gate, also known as St. Stephen's Gate
(Chatham University Archives)

The "lions" carved on both sides of the gate are actually panthers, the symbol of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars (1223-1277). The panthers were believed to have been part of a Mamluki structure and placed at the gate by Suleiman to commemorate the Ottoman victory over the Mamluks in 1517.  View an earlier posting on Lions Gate here


The sealed Sha'ar Harachamim, or the Golden Gate, taken from Gethsemane Garden  
(Chatham University Archives)

See our previous feature on 
Sha'ar Harachamim and the graves 
beneath it here.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Eight Gates of Jerusalem Today

Sites and Insights: Gates of Jerusalem - Jerusalem Post
06/18/2012 17:47

There are 8 gates of Jerusalem today; but the Bible promises 12 in the future.

Jerusalem Light Festival, Damascus Gate
Photo: Courtesy
Wayne Stiles has never recovered from his travels in the Holy Land. Follow him on Twitter (@WayneStiles) or on his blog at www.waynestiles.com.

The walls and gates of Jerusalem have expanded and contracted over the centuries like the breathing of a living being.

The walls of the Old City of Jerusalem are such that we have to enter through the gates—just as people did for thousands of years.

Gates were more than passageways. They served as places for personal business and civic affairs (see Ruth 4:1). Gates often took their names from the distant cities they faced, like Jaffa, Damascus, and Shechem.

The gates of Jerusalem today mostly date from the time when Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the walls around 1537. Moving counterclockwise around the wall:

Jaffa Gate

Jaffa Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

Because the Jaffa Gate also faces Hebron, where Abraham is buried, Arabs call the gate, Bab el-Khalil, “Gate of the Friend,” because of Isaiah 41:8. The gate offers easy access to the Citadel Museum and a walk on the ramparts. General Allenby memorably entered Jerusalem in 1917 through the Jaffa Gate.

Zion Gate

Zion Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

Immediately south of this gate sits modern “Mount Zion.” Its Arabic name, Bab Nabi Daud, “Gate of the Prophet David”—came about because David’s tomb supposedly rests on Mount Zion. A misnomer on all counts, biblical Zion (as well as David’s Tomb), rests east of its modern designation. The gate wears a pockmarked facade, voiceless scars from the fierce fighting for the Jewish Quarter in 1948.

Dung Gate

Dung Gate (BiblePlaes.com)

The unusual name stems from a gate that stood along the city’s south wall in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2:13). The Targum identifies the Dung Gate as the “Potsherd Gate” of Jeremiah 19:2. In antiquity, the city dump lay in the nearby Hinnom Valley, and the Potsherd Gate served as the exit by which the citizens took out the garbage.

Golden Gate

Golden Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

Bricked closed for more than 1,000 years, this gate is sometimes confused with the “Beautiful Gate” of the Second Temple (Acts 3:10). Muslim tradition holds that a conqueror or the Messiah will enter through this gate. Indeed, the Bible does predict the glory of the Lord will enter the Temple by means of “the eastern gate” (Ezekiel 43:4), but who knows if it refers to this one. Regardless, no bricked gate will deter the Messiah.

Stephen’s Gate

Stephen's Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

Christians have identified this gate with Stephen’s name in honor of his martyrdom outside the city (Acts 7:58-60). However, Byzantines placed his death outside a northern gate. Another name, “Lion’s Gate,” comes from the stone reliefs of two lions (or panthers or jaguars) that flank the gate.

Herod’s Gate

Herod's Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

Sometimes called the “Gate of Flowers,” or Bab ez-Zahar, this gate took Herod’s name in the 16th or 17th century because pilgrims mistook a Mamluk house near the gate to be Herod Antipas’ palace. In this area the Crusaders penetrated the walls to capture the city in 1099.

Damascus Gate

Damascus Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

A fine example of Ottoman architecture, this is the most beautiful of the gates of Jerusalem. Excavations below the gate reveal a triple-arched gateway that Hadrian built—the northern extent of the Cardo street from the second century. Outside the gate, an Arab market offers fresh fruit and vegetables. The Jews call it the “Shechem Gate,” and the Arabs refer to it as the "Gate of the Column.”

New Gate

New Gate (BiblePlaces.com)

The antiquity of the city walls is betrayed by the “New Gate,” opened in 1887 as a means of convenient northwest access to the Old City. I lodged for a week in the Christian Quarter years ago, grateful for the easy access the New Gate allowed to the city streets.

The Future Gates of Jerusalem

The 8 gates of Jerusalem have stood for centuries. But the Prophet Ezekiel predicted a day when the gates of Jerusalem would total 12—one for each of Israel’s tribes (Ezekiel 48:31-34).

Ezekiel also mentions that when the Messiah reigns in Jerusalem, the city will even receive an additional name: “The Lord is There.”

Wayne Stiles has never recovered from his travels in the Holy Land. Follow him on Twitter (@WayneStiles) or on his blog at www.waynestiles.com.