Gate, Door, the entrance to enclosed grounds, buildings, dwelling-houses, towns, etc. Thus we find mentioned—
Gates of cities, as of Jerusalem, its sheep-gate, fish-gate, etc. (;;; ); of Sodom (); of Gaza ().
Gates of royal palaces ().
Gates of the Temple. The temple of Ezekiel had two gates, one towards the north, the other towards the east; the latter closed (), the other must have been open.
Gates of tombs ().
Gates of prisons. In , mention is made of the iron-gate of Peter's prison (). Prudentius speaks of gatekeepers of prisons.
Gates of caverns ().
Gates of camps (; see ). The camps of the Romans had generally four gates. The camp of the Trojans is also described as having had gates.
We do not know of what materials the enclosures and gates of the temporary camps of the Hebrews were formed. In Egyptian monuments such enclosures are indicated by lines of upright shields, with gates apparently of wicker, defended by a strong guard.
Gates of Towns
As the gates of towns served the ancients as places of security [FORTIFICATIONS], a durable material was required for them, and accordingly we find mentioned—
1. Gates of iron and brass (;; ). It is probable that gates thus described were, in fact, only sheeted with plates of copper or iron; and it is probably in this sense we are to interpret the hundred brazen gates ascribed to the ancient Babylon. Thevenot describes the six gates of Jerusalem as covered with iron, which is probably still the case with the four gates now open. Other iron-covered gates are mentioned by travelers, such as some of the town gates of Algiers, and of the towers of the so-called iron-bridge at Antioch. The principal gates of the great mosque at Damascus are covered with brass. Gates of iron are also mentioned by Hesiod and by Ovid.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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