After Felix Portnov/Courtesy the Staff Officer of Archaeology

The sacred precinct from the Persian period was a nearly square compound more than 300 feet on each side with walls over 3 feet thick. Impressive six-chamber gates (with entrance halls)—similar to those at Gezer, Hazor and Megiddo in the First Temple period—were located on the northern, eastern and southern walls of the Samaritan precinct. The assumed proximity of the temple’s holy of holies to the western wall explains the absence of a gate on that side of the complex.