Bible Synapse
Southern Steps and Huldah Gates
Site · c. 19 BC – 1st century AD · Time of Jesus · also called Temple Mount southern steps, Double Gate, Triple Gate
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 19 BC – 1st century AD (Herod's Temple Mount and its southern entrances)
- Found
- Southern wall of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, 1968. Uncovered in the excavations south of the Temple Mount that Benjamin Mazar of the Hebrew University began in 1968.
- Now
- At the site
- Passages
- Luke 2:41–42, John 7:10–14, John 10:22–23
What it is
A broad stairway climbing to the southern wall of the Temple Mount, where two sets of gates, the Double and Triple Gates, led through vaulted passages up onto the platform. The Mishnah calls the southern gates the Huldah Gates. Most pilgrims came into the Temple from this side, and many ritual baths found nearby allowed worshippers to purify themselves before going in.
How it connects to the Bible
The Gospels describe Jesus going up to the Temple at the feasts, from the yearly journey his parents made “to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover” to his teaching in Solomon's porch at the feast of the dedication. These steps are one of the few surviving parts of the way by which pilgrims of that time reached the Temple courts.
What scholars debate
The gates themselves were rebuilt later. Only the Triple Gate's western jamb is Herodian, while the Double Gate keeps a Herodian lintel and relieving arch over its eastern opening.