The turning ramp that rises from the northeast corner up to the door of the upper floor. One went up facing west, went the whole length of the north face to the west, turned south, went the whole length of the west face, then turned east, and walked along the south to the door of the upper floor, which opens to the south. It was also by this ramp that one went up onto the roofs of the cells.
Dimensions
- 3 amot wide, its wall 5, in the north strip
- a single circuit: north, then west, then south
- to the south, in the 3-ama strip that Middot 4:7 names Beit Horadat HaMayim (tour's choice)
- arrival at the level of the floor of the upper story, 51 amot above the pavement: otem 6, ground floor 40, flooring 5 (Middot 4:6), the otem counted from the pavement of the Azara (tour's calculation)
Sources
- Middot 4:5“וּמְסִבָּה הָיְתָה עוֹלָה מִקֶּרֶן מִזְרָחִית צְפוֹנִית לְקֶרֶן צְפוֹנִית מַעֲרָבִית, שֶׁבָּהּ הָיוּ עוֹלִים לְגַגּוֹת הַתָּאִים”
- Middot 4:7“כֹּתֶל הַמְּסִבָּה חָמֵשׁ, וְהַמְּסִבָּה שָׁלֹשׁ… וּבֵית הוֹרָדַת הַמַּיִם שָׁלֹשׁ אַמּוֹת”
- Middot 4:3“וּבְקֶרֶן מִזְרָחִית צְפוֹנִית הָיוּ חֲמִשָּׁה פְתָחִים… וְאֶחָד לַמְּסִבָּה”
Project decisionTour's choice: Middot 4:7 reserves a strip for the Messiba only on the north; on the south, the three amot are the Beit Horadat HaMayim, and on the west it counts none. Middot 4:5 nonetheless runs the ramp along the west and the south: the tour cuts the west corridor into the thickness of the cell wall and runs the south ramp in the strip of the Beit Horadat HaMayim, up to the door of the upper floor. The slope and height of the corridor, which no source gives, are also choices.