Image Details

Damascus Gate. Built in 1542 A.D. by the Ottoman emperor Suleiman the Magnificent, the present gate stands atop a much older entryway that has been extensively excavated only within the last decade. The Roman emperor Hadrian erected the earlier, triple arched entryway (see reconstruction) when he rebuilt Jerusalem in about 132 A.D. as a pagan city, named Aelia Capitolina. Hadrian’s building program probably helped spark the Second Jewish Revolt led by Bar-Kochba. The eastern side-archway of Hadrian’s gate appears at lower left. The larger central archway was covered by later Ottoman construction and only the jamb has been found.