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Fortress

Tower of David

TOW-er of DAY-vid · Modern Jerusalem Citadel, near Jaffa Gate, Old City of Jerusalem · 31.7761° N, 35.2278° E

Later in his reign, during his great building program (c. 23 BC), Herod the Great fortified this corner of Jerusalem's Upper City with a royal palace complex and three massive defensive towers. Josephus (Jewish War 5.4.3) says he named them for the people dearest to him, all by then dead: his brother Phasael, his friend Hippicus, and his wife Mariamne, whom he himself had executed in 29 BC. He also describes these towers as key elements of Jerusalem's defenses during the First Jewish-Roman War.

Archaeology

Excavations have exposed roughly 16 courses of massive Herodian-period ashlar stones at the base of the citadel, identified as the remains of one of Herod's towers, along with earlier Hasmonean-period wall sections beneath it. The name "Tower of David" is not ancient — it originated in the Byzantine period when Christian tradition mistakenly identified this part of the Upper City hill as biblical Mount Zion and presumed the ruins to be King David's palace; archaeologically there is no evidence connecting the structure to David.