All Topics  
Damascus Gate

 
Damascus Gate

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Damascus Gate
 
 
  Topics Damascus Gate Topic Home

The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus Gate) (or in Arabic: ??? ??????? ; Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important gate in the Old City of Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
. The modern gate was built in 1542 by the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 ruler Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I, His Imperial Majesty , was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in Western world as Suleiman the Magnificent and in Eastern world, as the Lawgiver , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system....
.

The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple
Second Temple

The Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Judaism worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot....
 times.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Damascus Gate'
Start a new discussion about 'Damascus Gate'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Damascus Gate
The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus Gate) (or in Arabic: ??? ??????? ; Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important gate in the Old City of Jerusalem
Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
. The modern gate was built in 1542 by the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
 ruler Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I, His Imperial Majesty , was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in Western world as Suleiman the Magnificent and in Eastern world, as the Lawgiver , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system....
.

The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple
Second Temple

The Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Judaism worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot....
 times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian
Hadrian

Publius Aelius Hadrianus , as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis, known as Hadrian in English language, was Roman Emperor of Roman Empire from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoicism and Epicureanism philosopher....
, in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman victory column, shown on the Madaba Map
Madaba Map

The Madaba Map is part of a floor mosaic in the Byzantine architecture church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. The Madaba Map is the oldest surviving original cartography depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem....
, thus giving the gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate can be seen today, due to excavations made during the British mandate
British Mandate

British Mandate may refer to:*British Mandate of Palestine*British Mandate of Mesopotamia...
. This was the northern entrance gate to the city at the time of the Crusades.

The gate has two towers, each equipped with machicolation
Machicolation

A machicolation is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which Rock could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall....
s. It is located at the edge of the Arab
Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
 bazaar and marketplace. In contrast to the Jaffa Gate, where stairs rise towards the gate, in the Damascus
Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
 Gate, the stairs descend towards the gate. In 1972, right-wing activist, Jewish leader, Founder of the American Jewish Defense League
Jewish Defense League

The Jewish Defense League is a Jewish organization whose stated goal is to protect Jews from antisemitism.Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City in 1968, JDL's self-described purpose was to protect Jews from harassment in Brooklyn, and to protest against local manifestations of antisemitism....
 and the Israeli Kach
Kach and Kahane Chai

Kach was a far right List of political parties in Israel in Israel. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in the early 1970s, and following his Kahanism ideology, the party entered the Knesset in 1984 after several electoral failures....
 party, and future Knesset
Knesset

The Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem....
 Member on the Kach list Rabbi Meir Kahane proposed that mezuzot
Mezuzah

A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew language verses from the Torah . These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema", beginning with the phrase: "Listen, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One."...
 be attached to the gate, to secure the Jewish claim to the gate. After repeated protests from Arab residents, the Israeli government refused to consider Kahane's proposal. Today, only three of the Old City's gates have mezuzot attached.

While the proper English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 name of the gate is "Damascus Gate", in Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 it is called Sha'ar Shechem, meaning "Shechem
Shechem

Shechem was Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and later became an Israelite city in the tribe of Manasseh. It was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel....
 (Nablus
Nablus

Nablus is a Palestinian people city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 134,000. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center....
) Gate". Israeli media therefore frequently refer to the gate as 'Shechem (Nablus) Gate' in English language publications as well. In either case, the name refers to a city north of Jerusalem, since the Damascus Gate is the main north-facing gate of the Old City.

See also

  • Zedekiah's Cave
    Zedekiah's Cave

    Zedekiah's Cave ? also known as Solomon's Quarries ? is a underground meleke limestone quarry that runs the length of five city blocks under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem....


External links