GATEWAY. The passage or opening in which a gate or large door is hung. This may be either a mere opening in a wall or a covered way vaulted or roofed over. It differs from a door way in that it does not open directly into a building. A monumental gateway and doorway are often both called a portal (q.v.). The gate way, being a most important point in all fortified places, is usually protected by various devices. It is flanked by towers with loopholes, from which assailants may be attacked, and is frequently overhung by a machicolated battlement, from which missiles of every description were poured upon the besiegers. City gates, and gates of large castles, have in all ages been the objects. of great care in construction; and when from some cause, such as the cessation of constant fighting, or a change in the mode of warfare, gateways have lost their importance in a mili tary point of view, they have maintained their position as important architectural works, and where no longer useful, have become ornamental. In very ancient times, we read of the 'gate' as the most prominent part of a city where proc lamations were made, and where the kings ad ministered justice. This was especially the case in the Orient, where the gateway held the same place as the Greek agora and the Roman Forum„ business of all kinds being transacted there. Hence the modern term 'The Sublime Porte' used of the Turkish Government. Such gateways are often mentioned in the Old Testament, and the great Assyro-Babylonian city gates, especially those of Sargon's city, at Khorsabad (q.v.), il lustrate the texts. They were great inclosurcs with cool passages and courts where scribes, venders, and lawyers sat. The Greek and Roman gates were frequently of great magnificence. The Propylaea at Athens is a beautiful example, and the triumphal arches of the Romans were often identical with their city gates. The Lion Gate way at Mycenae and the city gates of Segni and Alatri in Italy are good examples of early Cyclo pean structures before the seventh century B.C. Those at Frentino, Viterbo, and Falerii show the pre-Roman arched style. The Roman gates at Verona, the Golden Gateways at Jerusalem, the gates at Spalato and Benevento, and others in Gaul, Syria, Asia Minor, and North Africa show every variety of design and number of openings. In the Middle Ages the city gateways were often crowned by towers of imposing architecture, es pecially in North Germany, as in Lubeck and Nuremberg, and the same was the ease with the gateways of bridges and secular buildings, such as those of Oxford and Cambridge. The castle gateways, of which many remain, have but sel dom any decorative character, being for defense, but the monastic doorways, leading into the great inclosed courts, were often architecturally beauti ful, as in the Cistercian monastery at Casamari in Italy, with its double porch, porter's lodge, and living-rooms. The abbey gates of Canterbury
and Bury Saint Edmund's are well known. All closes, whether of abbeys, colleges, law courts, guilds, fraternities, or the like, had architectural gateways. The Gothic Renaissance and Rococo styles are especially rich in designs, which have been followed by modern architects. Parks, pri vate grounds, and avenues are often entered through such gates.
GATH (Heb., wine-press). One of the five cities of the Philistines. It was probably situ ated at the modern Tell es-Safiyeb, 'the white hill'; though the Crusaders identified it with Yebna, the ancient Jamnia, and some modern scholars have adopted this view. The first men tion of Oath is in the list of Palestinian towns conquered by Thothmes III., where it is re ferred to as Kntu (Kintu). In the Amarna letters it occurs several times as Gimti and Ginti, there being an Egyptian governor in this city in the time of Amenhotep IV. Its posi tion on the borders of Judean territory made it of great importance in the wars with the Philistines. The Philistine champion Goliath (q.v.) came from Gath (1. Sam. xvii. 4). David took refuge with Achish, King of Gath (ib. xxi. 10), and probably also obtained a wife in Oath. It is possible that Oath was in the hands of the Israelites in the time of David. Whether Solomon and Relmboam were able to keep it cannot be determined in view of the probable late date of the statements. During the wars with Assyria Oath seems to have formed a part of Ashdodite territory. Sargon mentions in the Khorsabad inscription that he besieged and conquered Ciintit, probably in the year n.c. 711. The absence of Oath in many passages where the other Philistine cities are mentioned may be accounted for by its being regarded as a de pendency of Ashdod. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome the city still existed, and the descrip tion of the site in the Onomasticon seems to point to Tell es-Satlyeli. At this place the Blanca Guarda was erected by Foulques of Anjou in 1144. The fortress was taken by Saladin in 1191. and recaptured and fortified by Richard in 1192. Situated on a hill 300 feet above the plain with steep walls upon three sides, it was at alI times a difficult place to capture and an im portant stronghold. There is to-day a small vil lage on the top of the hill. Consult: Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land (London, 1895) ; Buhl, Geographic des alten Paliistina (Leipzig, 1896).