Passing this gate, we stand face to face with a real Migdol.

Two blocks of building enclose a succession of court-yards, which narrow as they recede, and are connected at the lower end by a kind of gate-house, consisting of one massive gateway surmounted by two storeys of chambers.

The eastward faces of the towers rise above an inclined basement, which slopes to a height of from fifteen to sixteen feet from the ground.

This answered two purposes.

It increased the strength of the wall at the part exposed to sappers; it also caused the rebound of projectiles thrown from above, and so helped to keep assailants at a distance.