Persian Satrap Dictating Terms to Grecian Chiefs at the Gate of a City. Bas-relief from Lycian Monument
Persian Satrap Dictating Terms to Grecian Chiefs at the Gate of a City. Bas-relief from Lycian Monument 1) The usual gateway was provided with double doors, swung on projections that fitted into sockets in the sill and lintel. Ordinarily, the material was wood ( Neh 2:3, 17 ), but greater strength and protection against fire was given by plating with metal ( Ps 107:16; Isa 45:2 ). Jos (BJ, V, v, 3) speaks of the solid metal doors of the Beautiful Gate ( Acts 3:2 ) as a very exceptional thing. Some doors were solid slabs of stone, from which the imagery of single jewels ( Isa 54:12; Rev 21:21 ) was derived. When closed, the doors were secured with a bar (usually of wood, Nah 3:13 , but sometimes of metal, 1 K 4:13; Ps 107:16; Isa 45:2 ), which fitted into clamps on the doors and sockets in the post, uniting the whole firmly ( Jgs 16:3 ). Sometimes, perhaps, a portcullis was used, but Ps 24:7 refers to the enlargement or enrichment of the gates. As the gate was esp. subject to at...