- Lions' Gate
The Lions' Gate ( _he. שער האריות, also "St. Stephen's Gate" or "Sheep Gate") is located in the Old City Walls of
Jerusalem and is one of sevenGates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls .Located in the east wall, the entrance marks the beginning of the traditional
Christian observance of the last walk ofJesus from prison to execution, theVia Dolorosa . Near the gate’s crest are four figures of panthers, often mistaken forlion s, two on the left and two on the right. They were placed there by SultanSuleiman the Magnificent to celebrate the Ottoman defeat of theMamluks in 1517. Legend has it that Suleiman's predecessorSelim I was captured by lions that were going to eat him because of his plans to level the city. He was spared only after promising to protect the city by building a wall around it. This led to the lion becoming the heraldic symbol of Jerusalem. [Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, "The Holy Land: an Oxford archaeological guide from earliest times to 1700", 2008, p. 21, ISBN 978-0-19-923666-4]Israeli paratroops from the 55th Paratroop Brigade came through this gate during the
Six-Day War of1967 and unfurled theIsraeli flag above theTemple Mount .The Lions' Gate is not to be confused with the
Zion Gate in the Old City Wall, located in the south, leading to the Jewish andArmenian Quarter s.The magnificent walls of Jerusalem's Old City were built by the
Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan Suleiman in1542 . The walls stretch for approximately 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and rise to a height of 5–15 meters (16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 meters (10 feet). [ [http://info.jpost.com/2000/Supplements/Millennium/centuries3.html The Jerusalem Post Millennium Special ] ] Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open.References
External links
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/geo/gates.html The Old City Gates: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org]
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