Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ALEXANDER'S GATE. 237
standing he set a seal upon the peoples of Yagug
(Gog). So Alexander encamped in this place, and
he called unto him the skilled artisans who were
with him, and he chose from their number three
thousand men who were workers in iron, [and
three thousand men who were workers in brass]. Alexander's
And they took the skins of mighty beasts andfn7b°asl°"
made them into bellows for blowing the fire, and
they melted brass together with the iron, and the
one metal mingled with the other, just as when a
man kneadeth clay. And he made a gate, the
length of which was twelve' cubits, and the breadth
thereof was twelve cubits. And he made a large
threshold for the gate and placed it below the
gate, between the two mountains, and he sank it
into them and then he poured brass and iron over
it; and he made bolts of brass and iron, and
drove [them] into the threshold above and below.
Then he set up the gate and gave orders to close
it. And he made two bolts, the length of each
of which was twelve^ cubits, and he drove and
hammered them into the two mountains, and he
ordered [the smiths] to drive nails into the gate,
and he made for it hinges.^ And he said, "This
"gate shall stop the way of the horsemen of the
"nations [which are beyond], and prevent them
' Read Tfl)gflh
' Read HAA = h(h^. b : 7fl)gn?i'n»'l- s
3 See an Arabic life of Alexander published by Lidzbarski
in Bezold's Zeitschrift, vol. VIII. p. 305.