Gates were the centers of public assembly and public life. Broad places, such as the public square before the Water Gate in Jerusalem, were usually provided near the gates. (Ne 8:1) The gates were the city’s news centers not only because of the arrival of travelers and merchants but also because nearly all the workmen, especially those working in the fields, went in and out of the gate every day. So the gate was the place for meeting others. (Ru 4:1; 2Sa 15:2) The markets were located there, some of the gates of Jerusalem being named evidently for the commodities sold there (for example, the Fish Gate).​—Ne 3:3.

Fish Gate. Hezekiah apparently built a part of the wall around the second quarter as far as the Fish Gate. (2Ch 32:5; 33:14) In Nehemiah’s reconstruction and procession accounts, the Fish Gate is placed W of the Sheep Gate, perhaps near the N end of the Tyropoeon Valley. (Ne 3:3; 12:39) It is mentioned in conjunction with the second quarter at Zephaniah 1:10. The name may be due to the gate’s nearness to the fish market where the Tyrians sold fish.​—Ne 13:16.