"Tower of David": Herodian tower

The name "Tower of David" was first used for the Herodian tower in the 5th century CE by the Byzantine Christians, who believed the site to be the palace of King David.^[2][1] They borrowed the name "Tower of David" from the Song of Songs, attributed to Solomon, King David's son, who wrote: "Thy neck is like the Tower of David built with turrets, whereon there hang a thousand shields, all the armor of the mighty men" (Song of Songs, 4:4).

Arabic names

An Arabic name of the massive Herodian-Mamluk northeast tower is the Burj al-Qalʾa (برج القلعة, 'Citadel Tower').^[4]

During the Early Muslim and Ayyubid periods it was known in Arabic as Miḥrāb Dāwūd, lit. 'David's miḥrāb (prayer place)'. Note that there is also another mihrab (prayer niche) called Miḥrāb Dāwūd, built into the inner side of the Southern Wall of the Haram esh-Sharif/Temple Mount.^[5]

Hasmonean period

During the 2nd century BCE, the Old City of Jerusalem expanded further onto the so-called Western Hill. This 773-meter-high prominence, which comprises the modern Armenian and Jewish Quarters as well as Mount Zion, was bounded by steep valleys on all sides except for the north. The first settlement in this area was about 150 BCE, around the time of the Hasmonean kings,^[2] when what Josephus Flavius called "the First Wall" was constructed.

Herod's towers

Large Herodian ashlars topped by smaller Mamluk stones

Herod, who wrested power from the Hasmonean dynasty, added three massive towers to the fortifications in 37–34 BCE. He built these at the vulnerable northwest corner of the Western Hill, where the Citadel is now located. His purpose was not only to defend the city, but to safeguard his own royal palace located nearby on Mount Zion. Herod named the tallest of the towers, 44 metres (144 ft) in height, Phasael, in memory of his brother who had committed suicide while in captivity. Another tower was called Mariamne, named for his second wife whom he had executed and buried in a cave to the west of the tower. He named the third tower Hippicus after one of his friends. Of the three towers, only the base of one of them survives today—either the Phasael or, as argued by archaeologist Hillel Geva who excavated the Citadel, the Hippicus Tower.^[6] Of the original tower itself (now called the Tower of David), some sixteen courses of the Herodian stone ashlars still rise from ground level (partially hidden by a much later built glacis), upon which were added smaller stones in a later period, that added back significantly to the height of the remaining stump of the Herodian tower.

During the Jewish war with Rome, Simon bar Giora made the tower his place of residence.^[7] Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, the three towers were preserved as a testimony of the might of the fortifications overcome by the Roman legions, and the site served as barracks for the Roman troops.

When the empire adopted Christianity as its favoured religion in the 4th century, a community of monks established itself in the citadel. It was during the Byzantine period that the remaining Herodian tower, and by extension the Citadel as a whole, acquired its alternative name—the Tower of David—after the Byzantines, mistakenly identifying the hill as Mount Zion, presumed it to be David's palace mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:11, 11:1–27, 16:22.

Early Muslims, Crusaders, Ayyubids

The moat, main gate and tower in 1911

After the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 638, the new Muslim rulers refurbished the citadel. This powerful structure withstood the assault of the Crusaders in 1099, and surrendered only when its defenders were guaranteed safe passage out of the city.

During the Crusader period, thousands of pilgrims undertook the pilgrimage to Jerusalem by way of the port at Jaffa. To protect pilgrims from the menace of highway robbers, the Crusaders built a tower surrounded by a moat atop the citadel, and posted lookouts to guard the road to Jaffa. The citadel also protected the newly erected palace of the Crusader kings of Jerusalem, located immediately south of the citadel.^[8]

In 1187, Sultan Saladin captured the city including the citadel. In 1239 the Ayyubid emir of Karak, An-Nasir Dawud, attacked the Crusader garrison and destroyed the citadel. In their 1244 siege of the city, the Khwarazmians defeated and banished the Crusaders from Jerusalem for a last time, destroying the entire city in the process. The Mamluks destroyed the citadel in 1260.

Mamluk and Ottoman citadel

Masjid Mihrab ed-Dawood, the Ottoman "David's Prayer Niche Mosque", mihrab and minbar

In 1310 the citadel was rebuilt by Mamluk sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, who gave it much of its present shape.^[9]

The citadel was expanded between 1537 and 1541 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, whose architects designed a large entrance, behind which stood a cannon emplacement. For 400 years, the citadel served as a garrison for Turkish troops. The Ottomans also installed a mosque near the southwest corner of the citadel commonly known as the Mihrab el-Qal'a ed-Dawood ("Prayer niche of David's fortress"),^[10] erecting a minaret during the years 1635–1655. In the 19th century the conspicuous minaret, which still stands today, became commonly referred to as the "Tower of David". At least two mosques are known to exist within the Jerusalem Citadel.^[3][11]

During World War I, British forces under General Edmund Allenby captured Jerusalem. General Allenby formally proclaimed the event standing on a platform at the outer eastern gate of the citadel.

British and Jordanian periods

Main gate to citadel, 1920

During the period of British rule (1917–1948), the High Commissioner established the Pro-Jerusalem Society to protect the city's cultural heritage. This organisation cleaned and renovated the citadel and reopened it to the public as a venue for concerts, benefit events and exhibitions by local artists. In the 1930s, a museum of Palestinian folklore was opened in the citadel, displaying traditional crafts and clothing.^[12]

Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Arab Legion captured Jerusalem and converted the citadel back to its historical role as a military position, as it commanded a dominant view across the armistice line into Jewish Jerusalem. It would keep this role until 1967.