Gates are often mentioned in Scripture as places at which were holden courts of justice, to administer the law and determine points in dispute: hence judges in the gate are spoken of (Deut. xvi, 18 ; xvii, 8 ; xxi, 19; xxv, C, 7 ; Josh, xx, 4 ; Ruth iv, 1 ; 2 Sam. xv, 2 ; xix, 8; 1 Kings xxii, 10; Job xxix, 7; Prov. xxii, 22; xxiv, 7 ; Lam. v, 14; Amos v, 12; Zech. viii, 16). The reason of this custom is apparent; for the gates being places of great concourse and resort, the courts held at them were of easy access to all the peojde ; witnesses and auditors to all transactions were easily secured (a matter of much importance in the absence or scanty use of written documents); and confidence in the integrity of the magistrate was insured by the publicity of the proceedings (comp. Polyb. xv, 31), There was within the gate a particular place, where the judges sat on chairs, and this custom nmst be un- derstood as referred to when we read tliat courts were held under the gates, as may be proved from 1 Kings xxii, 10; 2 Chron. xviii, 9. Apart from the holding of courts of justice, the gate served for reading the law, and for proclaiming ordinances, etc. (2 Chron. xxxii, 0 ; Neh. viii, 1, 3). We see from Prov. xxxi, 23; Lam. v, 14, that the inferior magistrates held a court in the gates, as well as the superior judges (Jer. xxxvi, 10) ; and even kings, at least occasionally, did the same (1 Kings xxii, 10, comp. with Psa. xxvii, 5). The gates at Jerusalem served the same purpose ; but for the great number of its inhabitants, many places of justice weve required. Thus we find that Nehemiah (iii, 32) calls a particular gate of this city the counsel-gate, or justice-gate, which seems to have had a preference, though not exclusive, since courts must have l)een holden in the other gates also. After the erection of the socond Temple, the celebrated great Sanhedrim, indeed, assembled in the so-called C07idave ctesurce of the Temple ; but we find that one of the Sj'nedria of Jerusalem, consisting of twenty-three niemljcrs, as- sembled in the east gate, leading to the court of Israel, the other in the gate leading to the Temple Mount. The same custom prevails to the present daj' among other Oriental nations, as in the kingdom of ^Morocco, where courts of justice are holden in the gate of the capital town (Dopter, Theatrum panarum, p. 9 scj.). Hence came the usage of the word " Porte" in speak- ing of the government of Constantinople (^Earlg Trav. p. 349). Respecting the Abyssinians and inhabitants of Hindustan, we are likewise assured that they em- plo3'ed their gates for courts of justice. Homer (Jllad, I i, 198 sq.) states of the Trojans that their elders as- i sembled in the gates of the town to determine causes, j and Virgil (yE«. i, 509 sq.) says the same. From Ju- venal (Satir. iii, 11) it appears that with the Romans the porta Capena was used for this purpose (Graevii Theitaiirus Anfiquit. Roman, x, 179. We may refer to J. D. Jacobi's Dissertat. de foro in partis, Leipzig, 1714, where the custom of holding courts in the gates of towns is explained at large. See Trial. The
A Persian Satrap dictating Terms to Greek (Jliiefrf at a (Jity Gate. (From the Lj-cian .Monumeitrf.)
GATE
752
GATH
Egyptian and Assyrian monuments represent the king 1 as !i;iving an audience, especial]}' to prisoners, at liis tent-door.
In Palestine gates were, moreover, the places where, sometimes at least, the priests delivered their sacred addresses and discourses to the people ; and we find that the prophets often proclaimed their warnings and prophecies in the gates (Prov. i, 21 ; viii, 3 ; Isa. xxix, 21 ; Jer. xvii, 19, 20; xxvi, 10 ; xxxvi, 10).
Among tiie heathen gates were connected with sac- rifices, which were ofTercd in their immediate vicini- ty ; in which respect the hills near the gate are men- tioned (2 Kings xxiii, 8). In Acts xiv, 13, the gates of Lystra are referred to, near which sacrifice was of- fered ; in which passage Camerarius, Dedien, and Heinsius take TruXoivat; to mean the town-gate. The principal gate of the royal palace at Ispahan was in Chardin's time held sacred, and served as a sanctuary for criminals (Chardin, vii, £G8, and petitions were pre- sented to the sovereign at the gate. See Esth. iv, 2, and Herod, iii, 120, 140).
The gate was, further, a public place of meeting and conversation, whei'e the people assembled in large num- bers to learn the news of the day, and by various talk to while away the too tedious hours (Psa. Ixix, 13). It was probably with this view that Lot sat under the gate of Sodom (Gen. xix, 1) ; wliich is more probable than the Jewish notion that he sat there as one of the judges of the city (comp. Gen. xxiii, 10, 18; xxxiv, 20; 1 Sam. iv, 18; 2 Sam. xviii, 24; see Shaw, Trav. p. 207).
Under the gates they used to sell various merchan- dises, provisions, victuals, e. g. at Samaria (2 Kings vii, 1); and for this purpose there were generally re- cesses in the space under them (sec Herodian, vii, fi, § 6). The same is stated by Aristophanes (/■Jquit.VHo, ed. Dind.) of the gates of the Greeks. But the com- modities sold at the gates are almost exclusivcl}' coun- try produce, animal or vegetable, for the supply of the city, and not manufactured goods, which are invaria- bly sold in the bazaars in the heart of the town. The gate-markets also are only held for a few hours early in the morning. Sae Bazaar.