nd of the city stood the Tower of the Furnaces and the Valley Gate of
which the foundations have recently been laid bare. The gate itself was
narrow, being only eight feet wide, but the wall was here nine feet in
thickness. The eighteen hundred or two thousand feet of wall along the
Valley of Hinnom was evidently practically intact, for its repair was
Intrusted to but one group of workmen. Across the southern end of the
Tyropoean Valley the ground was almost level, so that a strong wall was
required. Excavations have shown that it was twenty feet thick at its base
and supported by six strong buttresses. The Fountain Gate, through which
ran the main street down the Tyropoean Valley out into the valley of the
Kidron, was the chief southern gate of the city. It was nine feet wide
and defended by a tower about forty-five feet square. Portions of this
ancient thoroughfare, with its stones, worn smooth by the feet of the
inhabitants of the ancient city, have here been uncovered. Just above the
Pool of Siloam, which was within the city walls, was the King's Garden.

Thence the Hill of Ophel ascended rapidly making necessary the stairs
mentioned in Nehemiah 3. The wall on the southeast was readily repaired,
for it ran along the sloping western side of the Kidron Valley. The Water
Gate probably led down to the Virgin's Fount, and the Horse Gate further
to the north opened directly from the Kidron Valley to the public
buildings that occupied the site of Solomon's palace immediately to the
south of the temple. It is the space to-day occupied by the southern end
of the temple area, which was thus extended in the days of Herod. Opposite
the northeastern end of the temple area the wall curved westward until it
reached the great towers that guarded the northern end of the city.

VI. Completion and Dedication of the Walls. Under the inspiration of
Nehemiah's leadership, and as a result of the constant fear of attack, the
building of the walls proceeded rapidly and without interruption. To the
threats of hostile foes Nehemiah paid little heed. Trained in the Persian
court, he saw at once their murderous purpose when they requested a
conference in southwestern Samaria on the border of the Plain of Ono.
Through the treacherous prophets in the Judean community they sought to
play upon his fears and to lead him to compromise himself by taking refuge
in the sacred precincts of the temple, but his courage, as well as his
high respect for the s