Tower of David - Jerusalem, Israel - Satellite Imagery Oddities on Waymarking.com

Despite being referred to as the 'Tower of David', the citadel dominating views as you enter Jaffa Gate started life as a palace of Herod the Great. Also used by the Romans and Crusaders, the structure was extensively remodelled by the Mamluks and the Ottomans. Today it's home to the impressive Museum of the History of Jerusalem, which tells the city's story in a series of chronologically arranged exhibits starting in the 2nd millennium BCE and finishing in 1948.

A megalomaniacal builder, Herod furnished his palace with three enormous towers, the largest of which was reputedly modelled on the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The chiselled-block remains of one of the lesser towers still serve as the base of the Citadel’s main keep. Following Herod’s death, the palace was used by the Roman procurators, so it's highly possible that this was the location where Pontius Pilate judged Jesus (John 18:28–19:16). The building was largely destroyed by Jewish rebels in 66 CE, and the Byzantines, who came along some 250 years later, mistook the mound of ruins for Mt Zion and presumed that this was David’s palace – hence the name Tower of David. They constructed a new fortress on the site.

As Jerusalem changed hands, so too did possession of the Citadel, passing to the Muslim armies and then to the Crusaders, who added the moat, which was opened to the public only in recent years. It took on much of its present form in 1310 under the Mamluk sultan Malik An Nasir, with Suleiman the Magnificent making further additions between 1531 and 1538. Suleiman is responsible for the gate by which the Citadel is now entered. The Citadel's erroneous association with David continued in the 19th century, when Europeans mistook its Ottoman minaret for David's tower. It was on the Citadel steps that General Allenby accepted the surrender of the city on 9 December 1917, ending 400 years of rule by the Ottoman Turks. Source: (visit link)

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