If I forget thee, o Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Psalm 137:5
 

Although the new gate is a convenient entrance to the Christian quarter, a small Moslem mosque stands at the entrance. Its muezzin loud speakers ring out in high decibels as a reminder that Islam has made its presence known. Sprinkled throughout the Christian quarter are other mosques daily broadcasting their five calls to prayer.

Damascus gate:  PHOTO:  DAMASCUS GATE   this is the largest and most impressive gate of all the gates. It is called sha'ar Shechem (shechem gate) in Hebrew and bab el amud (gate of the pillar) in Arabic. Hadrian's statue stood on a pillar just inside the gate in the second century. Remains of a first-century roman gate have recently been uncovered. In addition to the first and second-century ruins, there are crusader remains to be seen as well. At a level two stories below today's twentieth-century street, people still enter the city through the gate built in 1538 by the Turkish sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. Recently, as remains of the first- and second-century gate were found about two stories below the present gate, a small "hands-on" museum with ancient artifacts was opened. 

An olive press: PHOTO:  OLIVE PRESS    in recent history one of the names given to the gate or street is zay'et (olives). It has had a connotation of olives or olive pressing. During the recent excavations the reason for this name was discovered, as a giant olive press and storage facility was uncovered. Apparently, pressing olives in the hills or fields became a liability because thieves would steal the oil. Bringing the olives to the city to be turned into oil had the advantage of protection of the massive walls and plenty of population. 

Herod's gate: this gate was named by medieval pilgrims because of the close proximity of the "Antonia fortress" which Herod built. Remains of Herod's second wall, where Herod's gate stands, may also add to the tradition of its name. In Hebrew it is called sha'ar haprachim (gate of flowers) because of the floral designs in the stonework. This is the most convenient entrance to the Moslem quarter of the old city. 

Fruit vendors inside the gate: fruit vendors crowd the entrance. Just inside are little family shops. Their sales are specialized in particular goods. For example, the "nut man" has been there for generations. His display of nuts is typical, but his specialty is in preparing fresh, dried, and roasted pistachios. They are unmatched anywhere in Jerusalem. The fragrance greets you as you enter Herod's gate.
 
 

Lions' gate: lions adorning the walls on each side of the gate are symbols of the Egyptian sultan baybars I. With his troops he wrought heavy destruction on the crusaders in the thirteenth century. The gate itself was built in 1538 by sultan Suleiman the magnificent. There is an incorrect tradition that Stephen was stoned at this location therefore, the incorrect name saint Stephen's gate. It is extremely unlikely that Jewish stonings would be allowed this close to the temple. There is no Jewish precedent for it. The temple was for the "noble or honorable" deaths of sacrifices. Stonings were done outside the city walls-as criminals were thrown from a cliff-as described earlier. In 1967 the Israeli military entered the city from this gate. Historically, this had happened only once before when Judas the macabee conquered the greek/syrian government in the year 164 b.c. Usually the high Mount of Olives and the steep kidron valley below made this approach a most unlikely spot to enter the city. Obviously an approaching enemy would be seen from the walls of the city, and the gate would be secured. 

Golden gate (Gate Beautiful):  PHOTO:  GOLDEN GATE   this is the most significant gate of the temple. It is also known as the gate of mercy and the gate of forgiveness, sha'ar harahamim in Hebrew. Located close to the middle of the temple's eastern wall, it was built to be just northward of the altar. 

Gate used by the scapegoat: once annually, a firstborn, unblemished animal was allowed to escape out this gate after it had been "blessed" with the sins of the congregation. This lamb or goat was symbolically carrying the sins of the congregation upon itself. That animal, the scapegoat, was marked with a red ribbon and escaped death at the north side of the altar. Jewish tradition says that the ribbon was to remind all that the marked animal could not be killed but was to meet death on its own-outside the temple. 

Messiah entered through this gate: later the messiah entered this gate, really took the sins of all people on himself, and met death himself.
 

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Luke23:46 

This occurred outside the temple, north of the altar at the place of a skull. 

Gate sealed by the Turks:  PHOTO:  GATE SEALED  as mentioned in chapter thirteen, in the sixteenth century Turks sealed the gate beautiful and placed a Moslem graveyard in front of it to dissuade the Jewish or Christian messiah from entering. (The messiah was considered to be a priest-and priests could have no contact or proximity with the dead except in sacrifices.)
 
 

Dung gate: the dung gate is located on the south side of today's city walls. In Byzantine times there was a small gate close by. It was rediscovered by excavations done since 1967. Until recent centuries the sewage and waste of the city was also channeled through this gate. That is probably how it became known as the dung gate. In 1948 the Jordanians attacked the city through this gate, destroying much of it as they widened it. They were bringing military equipment into the city to besiege the Jewish quarter. The present gate has been reconstructed and kept wide to handle modern traffic. It is the nearest gate to the western (wailing) wall. Vendors with portable stands greet you with freshly baked rings of Arab bread, generously sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Just inside the gate various "charity takers" are giving passersby the opportunity of giving to the poor. Some of them give red threads for you to wear-as a sign of your generosity. Possibly, this is some symbolic link to the red ribbon tied around the scapegoat that was led out of the eastern gate of the temple.

Zion gate: the Zion gate is also located on the southwestern side of the city. This bullet-scarred gate was the scene of fierce fighting in 1948 as the Arabs battled to capture the Jewish quarter. This ethnic neighborhood had been inhabited by Jews for close to a thousand years. Although the palmach (a unit of underground commandos breaking up the Arab siege of Jerusalem) breached it in 1948, the population in the Jewish quarter eventually surrendered anyway. The name Zion's gate comes from the incorrect tradition that it is on mount Zion and close to the city of David. Both mount Zion and the city of David have been archaeologically and biblically identified directly south of the temple mount, not westward where this gate is.
 
 

Jaffa gate:  PHOTO:  JAFFA GATE   the jaffa gate is often considered the busiest gate of Jerusalem. It was built by sultan Suleiman the magnificent in the 1500s. In 1898 the German Kaiser, Wilhelm ii, could not get his entourage of horses, wagons and decorated coaches through the gate. As with most gates, a sharp left turn was required. This turn was a way to slow intruders in case of an enemy attack that might have broken through the fortified doors. So the wall of the city next to the gate was broken open. The German Kaiser's convoy was then able to enter the city directly. Tradition suggests that the removed stones of the wall were reused to build a German Lutheran church close to the holy sepulcher.

General Allenby: British general Edmund Allenby also used this jaffa gate entrance when he took the surrender of the Turks. The Turks, incidentally, had to "surrender" a few times because each subsequent officer felt more empowered than his underling to accept the capitulation. 

The gate's loopholes: jaffa gate, restored by the Israelis since 1967, still contains the typical oil chutes and loopholes used to defend the city and gate during Turkish times. Loopholes are slits in the very thick wall that broaden out toward the inside so that a soldier would have enough maneuvering space to shoot out. The slit on the outside allowed little chance of return fire being able to enter the loophole. Invariably, any lawyer on tour wants his picture taken by these slits. Conjecture says the term loophole got its legal meaning from the same concept-namely, a lot of angle on one side and very little on the other.