The Tower of David

The Middle East is filled with mysteries and misperceptions. We came across a striking one in one of our visits to Jerusalem. On that trip we toured the Tower of David, a citadel near right near the Jaffa Gate, one of the most popular entrances through the walls of the old city. The most iconic part of the citadel is the tower pictured below. You'll find images of this tower in paintings, illustrations in prayerbooks, tour guides, and even matchboxes.


This tower began to be referred to as the Tower of David by Western visitors in the nineteenth century. They mistakenly thought that it had been built by King David, the Jewish king who had his capital in Jerusalem around a thousand years BC. Although King David was one of the great builders of Jerusalem, the Tower of David has nothing to do with him. Indeed, it’s about as far removed from King David as could be.

To start with, the Tower of David was not built during King David’s time. It was built in 1653 by the Turks, who ruled Jerusalem at the time. It’s actually a minaret for a mosque built by the Mamluks, who ruled Jerusalem mainly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Another tower within the Citadel, the Tower of Phasael (pictured below), has also from time to time been referred to as the Tower of David. It was built by King Herod, about 35 years BC.


The citadel itself (pictured below, first from the outside and then on the inside) was probably established by King Hezekiah around 700 BC, and added onto by numerous rulers ever since. The Tower of David isn’t even in the part of Jerusalem built by King David. His city was to the east of what we now know as the old walled city of Jerusalem.



Here we are relaxing at our favorite coffeehouse and bakery in the old city after our tour of the Tower of David citadel.


The Tower of David is a great example of why in the Middle East one needs to be very skeptical. Whenever someone here tells us something, the first thing we’ve learned to think is, “I wonder if that’s true.”