Maktesh

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

mak´tesh, (המּכתּשׁ, ha-makhtēsh, “the mortar”; compare Judges 15:19, “the mortar,” English Versions of the Bible “hollow place that is in Lehi”):

A place in or near Jerusalem inhabited by silver merchants (Zephaniah 1:11). It has been conjectured that it was the “Phoenician quarter” of the city, where the traders of that nation resided, after the Oriental custom.

A quarter of Jerusalem so named, it is supposed, on account of the configuration of the ground and associated (Zephaniah 1:10, Zephaniah 1:11) with the “fish gate” and Mishneh (which see) or “second quarter.” Most authorities think it was in the northern part of the city, and many consider that the name was derived from the hollowed-out form of that part of the Tyropeon just N. of the walls, where foreign merchants congregated; others have suggested a hollow farther West, now occupied by the muristan and the three long bazaars.