The “cock crow” or “crowing of the rooster” is an idiom in scripture, and well may not be speaking of a literal rooster. The Talmud, The Mishnah, and Historian Josephus, all mention that chickens were not allowed in Jerusalem at the time. Historically there were priests who forbid anyone in Jerusalem from having chickens, to avoid dirty and wandering birds from desecrating The Temple, or worse yet, The Holy of Holies. The “crowing of the rooster” refers to a moment of time, beginning at 3 a.m. in the morning. Let’s look in the Bible to see its definition. Mark 13:35, (NASB), "Therefore, be on the alert-- for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning.” Every morning Roman troops were summoned from their barracks at the Tower of Antonia, situated at the northwest corner of the Temple in Jerusalem. They were summoned at the “cock crow”, the third watch of the night, at 3 a.m. in the morning. One trumpet blast summoned them. A second blast dismissed them. The U.S. military does the same, at their chosen time. It’s called “Reveille”. One horn sounds to gather the troops. A second to dispatch troops. The word for trumpet call in Latin is “gullicinium” which means, “cock crow”. The Romans used “gallicinium”, “conticinium”, and “diluculum” for “cock crow”, “end of cock crow”, and “dawn”, respectively. This may also speak to why the Gospels don’t all agree on how many times the “rooster crowed”. Matthew, Luke, and John, all say the cock crowed, then Peter denied our Lord for the third time. But Mark’s Gospel states that before the cock crows twice, Peter would deny our Lord three times. Early church father’s attest that Mark had been a scribe for Peter, therefore the detail is no surprise. We can deduce that Matthew, Luke, and John, were mentioning the cock crow as a single event. However, they had in mind the second “crowing of the rooster” or the second trumpet. Mark’s Gospel specifically mentions that the cock crowed twice, two trumpets, and it would be after the second trump that Peter denied our Lord for the third time.