The gate was originally built by the Hamdanid ruler Sayf al-Dawla in 964, and fitted with the doors of the gate of Amorium, taken as spoils by Caliph al-Mu'tasim after his sack of the city in 838. Al-Mu'tasim installed them at the entrance of his palace in Samarra, until they were taken, probably towards the end of the 9th century, and installed at Raqqa, whence Sayf al-Dawla in turn took them.