Ancient Settlement
City of David
SIT-ee of DAY-vid · Modern City of David, Jerusalem, Israel · 31.7736° N, 35.2356° E
The City of David is the oldest inhabited core of ancient Jerusalem, on the ridge south of the Temple Mount. Biblical tradition identifies it as the Jebusite stronghold King David conquered around 1000 BC and made his capital, and it remained the heart of Jerusalem through the era Jesus and his disciples would have known.
Archaeology
Excavations spanning over 150 years have uncovered the Gihon Spring fortifications and Warren's Shaft, the Stepped Stone Structure, the Large Stone Structure that E. Mazar identified as David's palace, the Second Temple-period Pool of Siloam, and the Pilgrimage Road that climbed from it to the Temple Mount. Hezekiah's Tunnel runs beneath the ridge from the spring to the pool. The identification of the Large Stone Structure as a Davidic palace is genuinely contested among scholars, and so is the date of the upper part of the Stepped Stone Structure; each has its own article here.
On a modern map
Further reading
Reflect
Beneath modern streets, the City of David preserves the small ridge where the great city began — how do you stay connected to your own beginnings?
More sites
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