THE TOWER OF DAVID. 
The citadel of modern Jerusalem, an irregular assemblage of square towers, lies on the 
north-western part of Sion, to the south of the Yaffa gate. It has on the outer side a deep 
fosse. A solid sloping bulwark, rising from the bottom of the fosse, at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, protects the towers. This bulwark bears evident marks of remote 
antiquity, and by Robinson 1 is thought to be of the time of Hadrian. At the capture 
by the Crusaders (a.d. 1099), this was the strongest part of the city, and here the garrison 
made their last stand. When the walls were thrown down by the Moslems (a.d. 1219), 
tins fortress was preserved, and bore the name of the Tower or Citadel of David until the 
sixteenth century, when it was occasionally called the Castle of the Pisans, from having- 
been once rebuilt by citizens of that republic. 2 
The north-eastern tower, now especially called the Tower of David, attracts notice by 
its size and antiquity; for though the upper part is modern, the lower is formed of vast 
stones, wrought in the manner of the ancient masonry, and, in all probability, a remnant 
of the Tower Hippicus, built by Herod, and left standing by Titus when he destroyed the 
other defences. 3 Some of the stones are twelve feet long by three feet five inches broad. 
The height of the ancient portion is about fifty feet. 4 
1 Biblical Researches, vol. i. 454. 
2 Pisanorum Castrum. Adrichonius, 156, quoted by Robinson. 
3 Josephus, Jewish War, vii. 1. 1. * Roberts’s Journal. 
