City Gates
The city gates – bad – performed two functions. On one hand, they served as an entrance to the city like a customs control as we understand it today. On the other, they were a tax collection point as taxes on inbound goods were charged and sometimes on outbound goods as well.
The gates were locked at night, leaving the city cut off from the exterior. In the event of siege the tendency was to brick them up, leaving only one operative. It was also usual for iron plates to be nailed onto the door leaves in order to prevent them from being set on fire by the enemy.
As a general rule, the different gates around the entire perimeter of the walled enclosure – medina – were connected by the city’s more important streets.
The number of gates reflected the city’s importance. They were the most vulnerable part of the defensive system, which was why the search for defensive elements and artefacts was an ongoing endeavour.
The visitor will enter another world in the very distant past, a world of another era.
