Tower of David is a historical name given to the northeast tower of the Citadel of Jerusalem. It has been identified as a Herodian structure, either the Phasael Tower or the Hippicus Tower described by the ancient Jewish historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

History

Herodian towers

The towers named Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamne were situated in the northwest corner of the so-called First Wall, the Hasmonean and Herodian city wall protecting the Western Hill of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. They were situated close to where the

Jaffa Gate Jaffa Gate (; , "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate from 1538, and for the wide gap in the city wall adjacent to it to the ...

is today and were built by

Herod the Great Herod I or Herod the Great () was a History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the ...

at the same time he built his immediately adjacent

royal palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

. These towers protected the main entrance to the city, as well as the palace, constituting a potential last refuge for the king. All three towers have vanished except for the base of the Hippicus (or Phasael) Tower, upon which the present "

Tower of David The Tower of David (), also known as the Citadel (), is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The citadel that stands today dates to the Mamluk Sult ...

" rests. The towers were named by Herod after his brother

Phasael Phasael (died 40 BCE; ,; ; from ), was a prince from the Herodian Dynasty of Judea. Name Origins and early career Phasael was born in the Hasmonean Kingdom to a Jewish aristocratic family of Edomite descent. His father, Antipater the Idumaean ...

, his friend, Hippicus, who had fallen in battle, and his favourite wife,

Mariamne Mariamne is a name frequently used in the Herodian royal house. In Greek it is spelled Μαριάμη (Mariame) by Josephus; in some editions of his work the second ''m'' is doubled (Mariamme). In later copies of those editions the spelling was ...

. When the city was razed in AD 70, all three towers were left standing, in order to show off the strength of the fortifications the Roman army had to overcome. With time though, only one of Herod's towers survived - either the Phasael Tower, or, according to some, including archaeologist Hillel Geva who excavated the Citadel, the Hippicus Tower.

Byzantine name, "Tower of David"

During the Byzantine period, the remaining tower, and by extension the Citadel as a whole, acquired its alternative name - the

- after the Byzantines, mistakenly identifying the hill as

Mount Zion Mount Zion (, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; , ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City to the south. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew Bible first for the City of David ( ...

, presumed it to be David's palace mentioned in .

Early Muslim "Mihrab Dawud" tradition

In medieval times,

Muslim Arabs Arab Muslims () are the Arabs who adhere to Islam. They are the largest subdivision of the Arab people and the largest ethnic group among Muslims globally, followed by Bengalis and Punjabis. Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population ...

called the gate next to the tower ''Bab

Mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

Dawud'', or "Gate of David's Chamber or Sanctuary", on the belief that the room atop the Herodian tower stump represented the "private chamber" or "prayer room" of

Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

Dawud (

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

), which is specifically mentioned in the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

(

Surah A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...

38. Sad, Ayah 21).

Citadel extension

The Citadel was gradually built up under

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

rule and acquired the basis of its present shape in 1310, under the Mamluk sultan

Malik al-Nasir Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun (), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad (), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qalawun (1285–1341) was the ninth Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty who ruled Egypt between 129 ...

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

later constructed the monumental gateway in the east that you enter through today. The

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

, a prominent Jerusalem landmark, was added between 1635 and 1655, and took over the title of "Tower of David" in the nineteenth century, so that the name can now refer to either the whole Citadel or the minaret alone.

Description

Of the original tower itself, some sixteen courses of the original stone

ashlars Ashlar () is a cut and dressed stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, and is generally ...

can still be seen rising from ground level, upon which further courses of smaller stones were added in a later period, which significantly increased its height. On the way up, a terrace overlooking the Citadel excavations has plaques identifying the different periods of all the remains. These include part of the Hasmonean city wall, a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

cistern, and the ramparts of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

citadel, which held out for five weeks before falling to the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

1099 Year 1099 ( MXCIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place First Crusade * January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and he ...

. From the top of the tower, there are good views over the excavations inside the Citadel and out to the Old City, as well as into the distance south and west.

Gallery

File:Outside of Migdal Phasael.jpg, Southern outer wall File:The Tower of Phasael, in David's Tower.jpg, The tower from northeast File:Citadel (4106768217).jpg, The tower and medieval glacis from northeast File:Tower and mote.jpg, The tower and the moat separating it from the city File:Jerusalem-TowerOfDavid 001.jpg, The Citadel, inner view with the ancient tower on the left (small section, with flags)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phasael Tower Towers Classical sites in Jerusalem Medieval sites in Jerusalem Establishments in the Herodian kingdom Archaeological sites in Jerusalem