Mark 11:4

By the door without. Many Oriental dwellings were constructed in the shape of a square, with an open courtyard in the center. From this courtyard a passageway led out to the street. Ordinarily, the ass and the colt would have been tethered in the courtyard rather than at the gate in the open street.

A place where two ways met. Gr. amphodon, “a road round anything,” “a block of houses,” or “a quarter [of a town].” However, the meaning of the word here is obscure. Amphodon is from two Greek words, amphi, “on both sides,” and hodos, “a way,” or “a road.” Some have suggested that amphodon may here refer to a side road, or perhaps to a circuitous road. See Closing Ministry at Jerusalem.