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Avir ©161130 (905) Avir checks out Herod’s Gate in the Old City
Avir is out and about in the Old City again, visiting places he hadn’t seen before, especially some of the quieter back streets with a few shops and vendors scattered along the way. Avir has stopped on Lion’s Gate Street for a few moments and realises that he has discovered Herod’s Gate which is located in the north-eastern section of the city. Common belief has it that the gate was named after Herod the Great who rebuild the Jewish Temple around 26 B.C.E. although other sources think it was named after his son, Herod Antipas.
Herod’s Gate is also know as Sheep’s Gate because it led to the sheep market in ancient times. The Sheep Gate is mentioned by Nehemiah, a Babylonian Jew who came to Jerusalem with his followers to rebuild the desolate city:
In Nehemiah 3:1 it reads: “Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests went to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set its doors in place, building as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hananel”.
Throughout the history of Jerusalem, Herod’s Gate has been a place of a non-stop bloodshed. Most invaders, including the Babylonians, Romans and Crusaders, came to Jerusalem from the North and inevitably had to use the Sheep’s Gate and adjacent walls to get into the City. On a more pleasant note, Herod’s Gate is also known as the Flowers Gate because of the floral designs engraved on the wall above the gate.