it is known as “ das Loewenthor,” from the pair of roughly carved lions built into the city-wall on either side of the entrance.
Now, as it is a rare thing to find “the likeness of anything in heaven or earth” in the ornamentation of Mohammedan buildings, though here and there (as in the case of the very interesting thirteenth century bridge at Lydda), such representations are met with, one naturally looks for some tradition to explain the unusual ornament. In the case of the Bab el Asbat the story has been preserved in current folk-lore, and is as follows:—
Sultan Selim[1] dreamed a dream in which he imagined he was being torn in pieces by four lions. Awaking in terror, he sent at once for all the learned to interpret his vision. But they could not. He then had recourse to a famous sheykh who dwelt at a distance. This sage, being informed of the matter, asked to know what the Sultan had been thinking about before he slept on the night in question. “I was thinking how to punish the people of Jerusalem,” was the reply. “They have refused to pay their taxes, and are quite unmanageable.” “Ah!” said the sheykh, “Allah has sent the dream in order to prevent your Majesty from committing a great sin. El Kûds is the House of the Sanctuary, the city of the saints and prophets. So holy is it that according to the learned it was founded by the Angel Asrafil, at
- ↑ Sultan Selim conquered Palestine in a.d. 1527, and planned that thorough restoration of the walls of Jerusalem which was carried out by his son and successor, Suleyman, surnamed the Magnificent, who, on the extant inscriptions, is styled: “King of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Rûm (Romans, i.e. Byzantines).”
