The Mishnah which is a written collection of the Jewish oral traditions, list only one gate on the western wall, and this is what is written: “The two Huldah gates are at the south, used for entry and exit. Kiponus (Kyponus) in the west, used for entry and exit. Taddi at the north, not used. The eastern gate, on it Shushan capital shape.”
Yosef ben Matityahu, also known by his Roman name Josephus Flavious was born in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 1st century and was in Jerusalem during the time the Roman destroyed the 2nd temple in the year 70. In his book ‘The Jewish Antiquities’, he writes as follows: “In the western parts of the Temple Mount wall there were four gates: one that faced the king’s palace through the valley in the middle that was crossed, two to the suburb, and the last gate to the rest of the city”
If we refer to the western wall of the Temple Mount, then a suggestion was made in the past that the differences between the two sources regarding the number of gates, reflect different periods of time during the days of the 2nd Temple. While Yosef ben Matityahu description reflects the appearance of the mountain after it was expanded during Herod’s time, the Mishna reflects the ancient form of the mountain before it was expanded.
Is this reason correct? There is no clear answer. But let’s assume there is something to this claim, how do we explain the difference between four gates according to Ben Matityahu and one gate according to the Mishnah? Since we do know that both Robinson’s Arch and Wilson’s Arch were built by Herod Dynasty, we are left with two gates that we know of: One is Barclay’s Gate and the other is Warren’s Gate. Both of them cannot be explored on the inner side of the Temple Mount in light of the limitations of the Wakf, and therefore, if we continue with the same line of thought, then one of them is the Kiponus Gate. I will add another point for thought, there is also the possibility that the Kiponus gate has not yet been found, and the topic is covered extensively in the dedicated video on Kiponus gate on the HSII YouTube channel or website.
Barclay’s Gate is located in the Western Wall below the Mughrabi Gate, about 80 meters north of the southwest corner of the Temple Mount. This gate was discovered by James Turner Barclay in the mid-19th century. Barclay was an American doctor, missionary and archaeologist, and one of the first archaeologists in Jerusalem. In the early 1850’s Barclay identified a kind of lintel of an entrance gate to the Temple Mount in the southern corner of the prayer plaza. The gate led under the Temple Mount area, and stairs ascended from it to the Temple Mount Square.
Barclay’s Gate is located where the Women’s prayer area is in the Western Wall Plaza. You can see the northern part of the gate’s frame and the stones that block its opening. Its lintel is made of one stone that is 2 meters high and seven meters long, it is a stone weighing many tons. As you can see, the gate’s lintel is at a height of three stone tiers above the floor, and is hidden by the structure that is in the southwest corner of the Women’s praying area.
From the area of the Temple Mount there is an access through an underground mosque called “Maqam al-Buraq”, to Barclay’s Gate. The gate has not been scientifically studied because it is not possible to gain access to it from the inside, so its identification is uncertain.
The distance between the two side pillars of Barclay’s Gate is 5.60meters and its height from the lintel to the threshold is 7.80meters.
According to the Mishna: “All the openings and gates that were at the temple mount, their height was 20 cubits, and the width was 10 cubits.” The exact size of a cubit is not given to us, but we are given the ratio between the height and the width of the gate which should have been: 2:1 and this does not match the ratio between 7.80m and 5.60m which is 1.4.
In the context of the street level, it is worth noting that following the destruction of the 2nd Temple back in the days of the Romans, the walls were partially destroyed, and a large number of the Wall’s stones were thrown onto the paved street. In the centuries after the destruction, in some places along the walls, the inhabitants of the city built their houses over the ruins, so that the street level rose in this part of the city. This process continued over the generations until the surface level in the 19th century was many meters higher than the surface level in the days of the Second Temple.
According to Ben-Dov and based on his excavations in the area south of Barclay’s Gate, the street from the 2nd Temple period was uncovered and this street helped to understand the true height of the gate’s threshold during the 2nd Temple period. With that, the original height of the gate from the original street level at the time of the 2nd Temple to its lintel, is slightly more than 11meters. Now we have that the ratio between the height just over 11 meters and the width of the gate, which is 5.60meters is 2:1 and hence the length of the cubit used in the construction of the gate was 56centimeters. The result obtained is that Barclay’s gate corresponds to the dimensions and the ratio between the height and the width as described in the Mishna.
It is important to note that there were at least two values for cubit, and it is possible that the 56centimeters value was used for the gates, while in the temple or in other sections a different value was used.
And to conclude as usual I have a question for you, apart from his discovery of Barclay’s Gate, James Turner Barclay discovered another important site in Jerusalem. What is the site? The answer will appear at the end of the video.
