Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/224

 2o6 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.ea. S :.::£ 4: — r building, together with the special tastes, the manners and habits of the nation who erected it. On the other hand, he will be obliged partly to reveal the character of the elevation in his plan. That the Eastern Gate is not a mere opening in the wall, but a structure with some ten chambers at the sides, is clearly shown in the words of the text : " Then came he to the gate which looketh east, and went up the stairs thereof and measured the threshold of the gate ; one reed broad, and the other threshold of the gate, one reed broad" (Ezek. xl. 6-12). As will be seen, the prophet is no agrimenson ; and has but a very small idea of how to economize ?"^v;:::.v::::»:.v;.v.::".::::r| his steps. For no apparent reason, he travels to the " vestibule towards the temple ; " i.e. the extreme end of the building, and then retraces his steps, this time noting down such de- tails as attract his notice [Ezek. xl. 7). The numbers at first sight look a bewildering maze ; but they gradually fit in place, forming a whole of easy apprehension, as may be seen in our diagram (Fig. 132). The eastern and northern gate- ways were preceded by seven steps ; there were eight for those leading into the court of Israel, 1 and ten for that fronting the temple ; 2 so that the sacred area must be conceived as having been divided into three plat- forms on different levels, which ran from east to west, the temple standing on the uppermost. It is about the disposition of the Haram-esh-Sherif, the so-called Mosque of Omar, which is three or four metres above the general level of the sanctuary, Open archways preceded by steps led to the building (Fig. 133)- Fig. 132.— Plan of exterior Gateway. 1 Steps are not specified for the Eastern Gate ; but we may assume their number to have been the same as that for the northern doorway, since we read that both portals were identical (Ezek. xl. 22, 27, 31, 32). 2 Ibid., xl. 49. The number of steps is given in the version of the Seventy, although not found in Hebrew text.