|
|
|
Gates The gate potentially could be the most vulnerable part
of a city’s defense system because the gate was, in a
sense, a breech in the wall. Cities in the Iron Age
typically only had one gate thereby reducing the risk.
The gate had to be functionally efficient for everyday
requirements in peace times. That meant the gates had to
be wide enough for the citizens to conduct their
business practically. Yet, a gate wide enough for a
horse drawn cart was also wide enough for an enemy’s
chariot, thus a potential problem. Furthermore, gate
doors physically could not be made as strong as the
adjacent walls. This made the city gate a popular point
of attack by opposing armies.
 Ancient
builders tended to build massive gate complexes to compensate
for these potential weaknesses. These complexes provided
multiple doors and flanking towers. Between the doors on each
side were chambers. Typically, Iron Age gate complexes had
either four chambers, such as at Mudaybic, or six
chambers, as at Khirbat al-Mudayna (a site north of ancient
Moab). An overhead perspective of a four-chambered gate can be
described as a two capital “Es” facing each other with a gap
between them representing the actual entrance. Each opening
between the “Es” is a chamber. During peace times, these chambers became a place of commerce or
a room for friendly conversation with friends. In times of war,
soldiers could be stationed in these rooms to help support and
defend the gate complex. Each pair of walls within the complex
could be blocked in times of war to form three or four gate
doors. Only the outer pair of walls had a door in times of
peace, which usually pivoted in a socket and fit against a door
jam. Sometimes these gates complexes were
covered with a roof. Charred beams found in the gate area at
Mudaybic suggest its gate complex had a wooden or wood-supported
roof. [
Photo] Also, the ends of the chamber walls could be decorated
with capitals, such as the proto-aeolic capitals found at
Mudaybi. [
Photos] These capitals gave the gate complex an air of importance
and wealth.
The volute capitals of Mudaybi<sup>c</sup>
|
|
Last Updated on
10/25/2002 08:49 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
