Besides the open space or fonam at the entrance of the city gate, there was evidently an open place of assembly near the entrance to the temple and before the gate of the royal palace. At Jerusalem there was the broad place Before the water gate, which appears to have been on the south side of the outer court of the temple (Neh 8"-). At Shushan, Mordecai went to the broad place of the city before the king's gate ; and queen Esther made her petition to king Ahasuerus at the king's gate (Est4»5=; cf. Herod, iii. 120, 140). Daniel sat in the gate of the king (Dn 2*°). It is not improbable that in Est and Dn ' gate ' is used by metonymy for 'palace' or 'king's ccart.' Cf. the modern 'Sublime Porte.'
The gates were closed aud guarded by night. Jos 2'- ' ' About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark ' ; Neh 7' ' Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened till the sun be hot: and while they stand on guard let them shut the doors, and bar ye them ' ; Is 60" ' Thy gates also shall be open continually, they shall not be shut day nor night' ; Kev 21^ 'And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there is no night there) ' ; Neh 13" ' When the gates of Jeru- salem began to be dark before the sabbath, I com- manded that the doors should be shut.' The gateways of palaces and temples were highly ornamented — those of Nimroud (B.C. 884), Perse- polis, and Khorsabad (Fergusson, Archit. pp. 154, IGO, 174) were flanked by colossal figures of animals, winged bulls at Nimroud and Khorsabad. The doors of city gates were usually plated with iron or copper, to prevent their being easily burnt or broken (Ps 107^°, Is 45-). In the temple of Solomon (1 K 6^') the doors leading to the Holy of Holies were of olive wood, with carvings of cherubim and palm trees, and overlaid with gold. The doors to the temple were of cypress wood, carved in like manner, and overlaid with gold, with doorposts of olive wood (1 K &«■, 2 K W\ Ezk 41=3'-). Josephus ( Wars, V. V. 3) speaks of nine of the gates of the temple courts being covered with gold and silver, while the east gate of the inner court (the Beautiful Gate of Ac 3-) was of Corinthian brass, and greatly excelled the others. These gates were 30 cubits
high and 15 broad, while the doors of the east gat« were 40 cubits high and required 20 men to closs them, and had bolts fastened deeply into the solid stone threshold (Jos. Wars, V. v. 3, VI. v. 3).
The bars, bolts, locks, etc., of doors of gateways were the same as those used for doors of houses, but larger in proportion (see House).
In some cities of Syria the doors were made of massive pieces of stone. Buckingham (Arab Tribes, p. 221) describes ponderous doors of stone in the Hauran, 15 in. thick, closed on the inside with bars. Burckliardt (Si/ria, p. 90) mentions doors of the city gate at kufir, 10 ft. high, of single pieces of stone ; he also mentions doors at Ezra, of one piece, 4 in. thick, some upwards of 9 ft. in height, turning upon hinges worked out of the stone.
Maundrell [Early Travels, p. 447, A.D. 1G97) men- tions large stone doors to tombs at Jerusalem, 6 in. thick, turning on hinges of the same piece with the door. Schumacher (Northern Ajliin, p. 71) gives a sketch of a basalt door to a tomb at Uiun ^eis (Gadara), 4 ft. high, 7 in. thick, with stone hinges, and a lock and bolt which can be pushed home and withdrawn from the outside. Gates of single precious stones are mentioned poetically (Is 54'--', Rev 2r-').
At the present day the people of the East have reverted to their primitive customs regarding the uses of the gate, and many business and social duties are carried out there. Thomson (Land and the Book, i. p. 31) mentions having seen at Jaffa the Kddi and his court sitting at the entrance of the gate, hearing and adjudicating all sorts of cases in the audience of all that went in and out thereat. At Suakin in 1886 the present writer found it necessary to sit at the gate to transact official business in order that the public might freely approach and relate their grievances. Bertrandon de la Broqu^re (Early Travels, p. 349, A.D. 14.33) gives an interesting account of his reception at the court of the Turks, the 'Sublime Porte,' at Con- stantinople. The ambassadors were received at the gate of the palace, and all business was transacted there. Chardin relates (vii. 368) that the princii)al gate of the royal palace of Ispahan was held sacred, and used by criminals as a place of refuge. The present writer conducted all his business transac- tions with the governors of Al-Arish, Nukl, and Akabah in 1882 at the gate, where there were arched roofs giving protection from the sun and rain, and seats for the administration of justice. At Nukl the council chamber was immediately over the gate. The city gateways of the present day have usually flanking towers and overhead galleries, with an arched passage within, so that a second set of gates may be erected inside the barbican or cou rtyard. ' Frequently in the gates of cities, as at Jfosul, these recesses are used as shops for the sale of wheat and barley, bread and grocery' (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 57 note). RIorier (Second Journey through Persia, p. 189) speaks of the market for mules, asses, and camels held every morning outside the gate of Telieran, and also states that temporary shops and tents of sellers of all sorts of goods were erected there. Denham and Clapperton (Discoveries in Africa, i. 216, 217) speak of the markets for slaves, sheep and cattle, wheat, rice, etc., outside one of the principal gates of a town. At Jerusalem there ic an extensive temporary market outside the Jaffa gate on a Sunday morning, and here also is the principal place of public execution.