The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors

The Form, Function, and Symbolism of the Civic Forum in the Southern Levant
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-41666-6
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 108, 344 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 794 g

Reihe: Culture and History of the Ancient Near East

In The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors, Daniel A. Frese provides a wide-ranging portrayal of one of the most prominent social institutions in the kingdoms of the southern Levant during the Iron II period: the use of the city gate as a hub for numerous and diverse civic functions. The book provides an up-to-date description of the architecture of gate complexes based on archaeological evidence, and a systematic description of the many functions of the gate seen in hundreds of texts from the Hebrew Bible and the broader ancient Near East. The final chapters of the book discuss the conceptual significance of gates in Israelite culture, based on idiomatic and symbolic gate terminology in the Hebrew Bible.

Autoren/Hrsg.

A Frese, Daniel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1Sources, Goals, Methodology

2Goals of the Present Study

3Synchronic Analysis

4The Hebrew Bible

5Archaeological Data

6Assyrian Reliefs

7Gates and the Rural Population of Ancient Israel

8Corpus of Gates

Section 1: Gate Architecture

1Gatehouse Architecture: the Ground Floor

1Building Materials

2“Gatehouse” in the Hebrew Bible

3Gatehouse Passage and Chambers

4Gatehouse Doors

5Posts and Pivots

6Metal Bands

7Thresholds

8Locking the Gate

2Gatehouse Architecture, Part 2: the Upper Floor

1Ceilings

2Doorways

3Windows

4The Second Floor

5The Gatehouse Roof

6Towers

3The Architectural Purpose of the Gatehouse

1Three Sets of Doors?

2Emergency Blockage?

3Guardrooms?

4Horse Hitching Stalls?

5The Architectural Function of Piers and Chambers

6Metrological Data

7Contemporaneous Architecture in the Southern Levant

8Stacked Broad Rooms

9Middle Bronze Gatehouse Architecture

4The Use of the Gatehouse

5Gate Complexes and City Planning

1Plazas

2Number and Location of Gates

3Water Drainage

4Considerations Affecting Gate Size and Building Materials

5Public Works in the Gate Complex

Section 2: Gate Functions

6The Gate as a Public Space

1Public Notice

2Public Assembly and Public Address

3Display of Corpses or Body Parts

4Public Humiliation

5Propaganda

6Privacy in the Gate

7The City Council in the Gate

1Elders, Kings, and Honor in the Gate

2Legal Transactions in the Gate

3Judicial Proceedings in the Gate

4Punishment in the Gate

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel A. Frese, Ph.D. (2012), the University of California, San Diego, is Assistant Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Kentucky.