Damascus Gate

Damascus Gate
باب العامود (Arabic)
שַׁעַר שְׁכֶם (Hebrew)
Damascus Gate is located in Jerusalem
Damascus Gate
Location in Old Jerusalem
Former namesSt. Stephen's Gate (Latin: Porta Sancti Stephani; Crusader period)
General information
Town or cityJerusalem
Coordinates31°46′53.9″N 35°13′49.8″E / 31.781639°N 35.230500°E / 31.781639; 35.230500
Completed1537

The Damascus Gate is one of the main Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem.[1] It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side and connects to a highway leading out to Nablus, which in the Hebrew Bible was called Shechem or Sichem, and from there, in times past, to the capital of Syria, Damascus; as such, its modern English name is the Damascus Gate, and its modern Hebrew name is Sha'ar Shkhem (שער שכם), meaning Shechem Gate, or in modern terms Nablus Gate.[1][2] Of its historic Arabic names, Bāb al-Naṣr (باب النصر) means "gate of victory", and the current one, Bāb al-ʿĀmūd (باب العامود), means "gate of the column".[1] The latter, in use continuously since at least as early as the 10th century, preserves the memory of a Roman column towering over the square behind the gate and dating to the 2nd century AD.[1][3]

  1. ^ a b c d LaMar C. Berrett (1996). Discovering the World of the Bible (3rd ed.). Cedar Fort. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-910523-52-3.
  2. ^ Adrian J. Boas (2001). Jerusalem in the time of the crusades: society, landscape, and art in the Holy City under Frankish rule (Illustrated, reprint ed.). Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-415-23000-1.
  3. ^ Margoliouth, David Samuel (2010). Cairo, Jerusalem & Damascus: Three Chief Cities of the Egyptian Sultans. Walter S. S. Tyrwhitt, illustrator. Cosimo, Inc. p. 329. ISBN 978-1-61640-065-1.

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