continuing from part 3
We must remind ourselves that
The Old City of Jerusalem
Hebrew: העיר העתיקה,
HaEer HaAtika
is a walled area within modern Jerusalem and is just a 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile) in area.
שַׁעַר sh’ar gates
Yerushalaim
יְרוּשָׁלַם
Yerushalayim
The 2 gates in this post are Not named in
Nehemiah’s Jerusalem…
but still an important gate is
שער ציון
Zion Gate
Sha’ar Tzion
ZION
Zion Gate
The Hebrew for the Zion Gate is
Sha’ar Tzion.
שער ציון
Zion is one of the biblical names of Jerusalem,
and this gate is on Mount Zion.
Note there are old and new areas with the same name.
The third of the four major gates of Jerusalem is the Zion Gate. This gate faces the compass direction south, and is located along the southwestern walls of the Old city.
It is named such because the gate faces, and provides access, to Mount Zion.
The gate was built by the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent in 1540; who built many of the gates of Jerusalem which along with the Zion Gate still stand today.
It is one of the gates of Jerusalem that lead into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
Walls near the Zion Gate date from the Hasmonean and Herodian periods of the history of Jerusalem.
Similar to the previously mentioned gates of Jerusalem, the Zion Gate was built with an L-shaped internal structure.
One window on each side of the gate lent its distinguishable characteristic; and like the Jaffa Gate, can support both foot and vehicle traffic. However, vehicles are not allowed to enter only through the gate, only to exit.
Other names of the Zion Gate are;
the Gate of the Prophet David,
and the Gate to the Jewish Quarter.
The name, the Gate of the Prophet David,
is due to Muslim tradition
which places the tomb of king David on Mount Zion;
and in Arabic the gate is called Bab Nabi Daud.
It is believed the Crusaders and other early Christians misidentified the location of David’s tomb. David was
not buried on Mount Zion, but in the City of David, probably on the Ophel outside the northern walls of the
city at that time:
Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. – 2 Kings 2:10
The tomb of David was still in Jerusalem in 30 AD when Peter addressed a crowd of Jews and said:
Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. – Acts 2:2
The Zion Gate saw much fighting in the 1967 war of Independence and it was one of the main gates used to enter and liberate the Old City, even today Zion Gate is riddled with bullet holes from the War of 1948.
Both the Zion Gate and the Jaffa Gate were closed from 1948 to 1967 when the Jordanians (Arabs) maintained control of the Old City.
They closed the gates because they faced West
Jerusalem, which was controlled by Israel.
However, during the Six Day War of 1967, Israeli troops erupted through the Zion Gate, dashing through the Armenian Quarter on their way to the Jewish Quarter.
At the same time Israelite forces flooded through the other gates of Jerusalem converging on the Wall.
This gate leads to the Armenian quarter, through which you can reach the Jewish Quarter. Picture below showing bullet holes and a Mezuzah on the entrance wall of the gate.
Jaffa Gate
שער יפו
Sha’ar Yaffo
Also called:
The Gate of David’s Prayer Shrine,
Porta David.
This gate was added into the walls of the expanded city limits and we looked at its predecessor called the Valley Gate in a previous post.
Today’s Jaffa Gate seems to have taken the place of the ancient Valley Gate, though the western portion of the city wall lies much further west than it did in the city of David and Nehemiah.
Jaffa Gate‘s entry was strategically built
and retains its original L-shaped interior.
The Jaffa Gate,
also known as
Sha’ar Yafo
שער יפו
or
David’s Gate,
Sha’ar David שער דוד
And in Arabic Bab el-Khalil,
This gate gets its name because it leads to the Jaffa/Joppa road, the main thoroughfare, the forerunner of the contemporary highway to the port of Jaffa/Joppa.
It is also known as David’s Gate because of the proximity of the Tower of David or David’s Citadel.
The present tower was built by Suleiman the Magnificent, but still called the Tower of David because the current structure was built on the foundations of the original tower built by King David.
The main entrance to the Old City is the Jaffa Gate, which was also built by Suleiman in 1538.
The name in Arabic, Bab el-Halil
or Hebron Gate,
means
The Beloved;
and refers to Abraham,
the beloved of God who is buried in Hebron.
The Jaffa gate also leads to the road to Hebron.
Facing due west, the Jaffa Gate is the best known and busiest of the gates of Jerusalem and is the only gate on the western side of the Old city. Today it is the main vehicle entry point into the Old City, and one of only two of the gates of Jerusalem that allow vehicle access.
Located above the Hinnom Valley, or Gehenna Valley (Valley of Hell), it was the main entrance into the Old city until 1948.
This was mentioned in previous post in Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the smaller Jerusalem and was then known as the Valley gate.
The main road from the Jaffa Gate runs between the northern hill of the Acra and the southern hill Mount Zion; it leads eastward into the city down into the Tyropeon Valley.
Each of the gates of Jerusalem has a unique or distinctive quality or feature about it.
The Jaffa Gate’s distinctive characteristic is
a small sphere on each side of the arch.
The gate is constructed of large, hewn, sand-colored bricks and the entry is about twenty feet in height. The wall rises another twenty feet above the gate. The Jaffa Gate was strategically built on a right angle with the wall as a defensive measure.
Just inside the Joppa /Jaffa Gate
is David street.
As one enters, to the left is the Christian Quarter,
to the right the Armenian Quarter,
and straight ahead is the Muslim Quarter of the city.
A square is located across the street from the nearby Tower of David.
In times past wheat and other goods and merchandise were sold in this square. During the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 AD, Moslem defenders and their wives and children sought refuge and protection inside the Tower of David.
The gate on the western side of the Old City marked the end of the highway leading from the Jaffa coast and now leads into the Muslim and Armenian quarters. A road allows cars to enter the Old City through a wide gap in the wall between Jaffa Gate and the Citadel.
This passage was originally built in 1898 when Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany visited Jerusalem. The ruling Ottoman Turks opened it so the German Emperor would not have to dismount his carriage to enter the city.
In the early 1900’s Pasha, the tyrant of Jerusalem, staged hangings near the Jaffa Gate to coincide with the dismissal of Friday Prayers so that large audiences would see the dead bodies.
Up until the end of the 19th century AD the Jaffa Gate was locked each night. This was done in order to keep out marauders, bandits and thieves, as well as jackals, hyenas, and other unwanted invaders. Travelers at dusk carried lanterns to identify themselves, and those who arrived after dark were forced to sleep outside the city gate. The gate was reopened at dawn.
Jaffa gate Sha’ar Yaffo – this western facing gate was traditionally the main entrance to the Old City. It is named for the port city of Jaffa which faces this gate, and from where visitors and pilgrims to the Holy Land would disembark from their boats to start the last stretch to Jerusalem by foot or carriage.
Also known as the Hebron Gate,
in Arabic, this gate is called Bab el Halil;
or Bab-el-Khalil, the Gate of the Friend.
Halil is the one of the names for Abraham who is buried in Hebron, which is where the name Abraham, the friend of God, comes from; and this gate also links Jerusalem to Hebron via the Patriarchs Route which starts just outside the gate.
From the Jaffa gate, there is access to the Arab Market,
or the King David Citadel or to
go into the Jewish Quarter via the Armenian Quarter.
It was also called Joppa Gate because the road to the port city of Joppa – on the Mediteranean coast also began from it.
This gate is the only one on the western side of the Old City and is called the gate of Hebron, because the main road to Hebron also started from here.
Herod built three towers, which he named the
Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamme
connected to the western section of the walls in 37 – 34 B.C.
One of these towers, now known as the Tower of David, stands today just inside the Jaffa Gate.
It is the highest point in the Old city, and the gate was originally built to defend and protect the approach from the west.
The Tower of David is the dominating feature near the Jaffa Gate.
It has also been called the Chevron Gate, as the road from this gate leads to Chevron as well.
Another name for this gate, the Gate of David’s Prayer Shrine.
Porta David/the Gate of David and so not surprisingly the gates of Jerusalem can quickly become a confusing mixture of names.
The Crusader name for the Jaffa Gate was Forte David. An anonymous pilgrim spoke of the area in 1220 A.D. while traveling through the city and is recorded as saying:
“In the city of Jerusalem there are four principal gates, in the shape of a cross, one opposite the other… David’s Gate faces west, and stands exactly opposite the Golden Gate, which faces east… This gate belongs to the Tower of David, and is therefore called David’s Gate.”
The present day name of this gate is the Jaffa Gate since it still leads to the port of the city of Jaffa. In the photo above, the Jaffa Gate is on the left and the Citadel/Tower of David on the right.
This is the wall south of Jaffa Gate (in between the gate and the Citadel/Tower) which was removed in 1898 by the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. The moat, which was located where the road is now, was also filled in at that time. The sultan did this to give the Kaiser the impression that he was entering Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate when really he was not, since there is a legend that says all conquerors will enter through the Jaffa Gate!
It was through the Jaffa Gate the mayor of Jerusalem exited the city seeking out the British army in order to surrender the city. On December 9, 1917 Brigadier General CF Watson and Lt. Colonel H Bailey entered Jerusalem with the mayor through the 1898 opening near the Jaffa Gate used by the Kaiser.
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