What is the Origin of the Name
“Golden” for the Eastern Gate
in the Old City of Jerusalem?

(Copyright © 2024 by Daniel B. Sedory)

Introduction:   After finishing my online pages on the prophecy of Ezekiel 44, I began looking into certain quotes about the Greek and Latin words in Acts 3:2 and 10 in an attempt to locate any early documents in which the Latin word Aurem had been used in place of what we find in Latin translations of those Bible verses (“Speciosa”; beautiful) but could not find one! Then I tried to find any Latin documents which described a gate in Jerusalem using the name Porta Aurem (more on that below). This led to questions like, "So why have a number of people continued to reiterate that the name must have originated from a mistranslation of the Greek in that Bible passage into Latin?" That is what this page is about. One caveat: It is impossible to prove that something in general did not occur in history without having all knowledge of the past. Likewise, one cannot have complete assurrance that a conjecture about how something originated is false when it would only take a single documented reference to show it was actually true. However, the lack of any evidence must be a caution for what is written about the origin of the name Golden Gate in Jerusalem!

Earliest Use of Porta Aurea for a City Gate

First use of the Name Porta Aurem in Jerusalem

Conclusion

  After spending a great deal of time researching the origin of the name “Golden Gate” being applied to the eastern gate of the old city of Jerusalem, I have come to the conclusion that any comments relating the origin of its name “Golden” to the Greek word for beautiful in Acts 3:2 and 10 are simply rumors which were passed around by 18th and 19th century scholars who were unable to produce any evidence for such a claim, yet still wanted to believe this was true.

  I am quite willing to alter my beliefs in light of any evidence to the contrary, but these studies have shown that no one should have ever made the claim that the name Golden Gate came from a mistaken assumption by someone reading a Greek word in Acts 3:2 and/or 3:10 (or hearing it spoken) about the “Beautiful” Gate and thinking that word actually meant “Golden” — only because those claiming that must be the case had already assumed that the Golden Gate (or an earlier gate on the same site; or even below it) must be the Temple gate referred to in Acts 3.

First published on: 2024 (2024.01.).

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