Beautiful Gate. A doorway of the temple rebuilt by Herod the Great, the site of Peter’s healing of the man who was lame from his mother’s womb. (Ac 3:1-10) There is a tradition that identifies this gate with the existing Golden Gate in the city wall, but it may be that the Beautiful Gate was an inner gate of the temple area, corresponding possibly to the ancient “East Gate.” Some say that it may have been one of the gates E of the temple building itself, opening upon the Court of Women, a gate described by Josephus as being 50 cubits (22 m; 73 ft) in height and having doors of Corinthian brass.

The Jewish Mishnah (Middot 1:3), speaking of the temple rebuilt by King Herod the Great, mentions only five gates to the Temple Mount, that is, in the wall surrounding the entire square of the temple area. These were: the two Huldah Gates on the S, the Kiponus Gate on the W, the Tadi (Todi) Gate on the N, and the Eastern Gate, on which was portrayed the Palace of Shushan. Josephus, on the other hand, refers to four gates on the W. (Jewish Antiquities, XV, 410 [xi, 5]) These four gates have now been identified by archaeological investigation. From S to N, they are: the gate that leads over Robinson’s Arch to steps going down into the Tyropoeon Valley; the Barclay Gate at street level; the gate leading over Wilson’s Arch, supporting a bridge over the Tyropoeon Valley; and the Warren Gate, also at street level. The Kiponus Gate may be identified with either the Barclay Gate or the gate over Wilson’s Arch.

The Mishnah additionally states that there were seven gates to the court immediately surrounding the temple.​—Middot 1:4; see TEMPLE.