with the three towers (
Phasael,
Hippicus,
Mariamne from left to right)
Hasmonean period During the 2nd century BCE, the
Old City of Jerusalem expanded further onto the so-called Western Hill. This 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, when what
Josephus Flavius called "the First Wall" was constructed.
Herod's towers 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, 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. Of the original tower itself (now called the
Tower of David), some 16 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. 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
Roman 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.
Early Muslims, Crusaders, Ayyubids After the
Siege of Jerusalem (636–637), the new
Muslim rulers refurbished the citadel. This powerful structure withstood the assault of the
First Crusade 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. Approximately two hundred Jews lived near the Tower of David in 1173, according to
Benjamin of Tudela. 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
Mamluk Sultanate destroyed the citadel in 1260.
Mamluk and Ottoman citadel and
minbar|left In 1310 the citadel was rebuilt by Mamluk sultan
Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, who gave it much of its present shape. 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 ('Prayer niche of David's fortress'), 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 citadel. During
World War I, British forces under General
Edmund Allenby successfully
captured Jerusalem. Allenby formally proclaimed the event standing on a platform at the outer eastern gate of the citadel.
British and Jordanian periods During the period of
British rule (1917–1948), the
High Commissioner for Palestine 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. 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. ==Tower of David Museum==