Includes bibliographical references and index.

Gatehouse Architecture : the Ground Floor -- Gatehouse Architecture, Part 2 : the Upper Floor -- The Architectural Purpose of the Gatehouse -- The Use of the Gatehouse -- Gate Complexes and City Planning -- The Gate as a Public Space -- The City Council in the Gate -- Other Gate Functions -- Figurative Gates -- Gate Symbolism -- Gates as Boundaries -- Summary and Conclusion -- Appendix A. Chart of Gatehouse Dimensions -- Appendix B. Chart of Average Gatehouse Dimensions -- Appendix C. Plans of Gates in Corpus.

"In The City Gate in Ancient Israel and Her Neighbors, Daniel A. Frese provides a wide-ranging portrayal of one of the most prominent social institutions in the kingdoms of the southern Levant during the Iron II period: the use of the city gate as a hub for numerous and diverse civic functions. The book provides an up-to-date description of the architecture of gate complexes based on archaeological evidence, and a systematic description of the many functions of the gate seen in hundreds of texts from the Hebrew Bible and the broader ancient Near East. The final chapters of the book discuss the conceptual significance of gates in Israelite culture, based on idiomatic and symbolic gate terminology in the Hebrew Bible".