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The Israelite Tower

Avigad's 8th–7th century BCE gate tower with Babylonian arrowheads in the ash of 586 BCE

Judah, Babylon & Exile · fortification / gate, destruction layer, weapon / tool · Accepted by scholars · found 1975

Massive Iron Age stone walls under a modern building
Photo: User:Ranbar · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons — The Israelite Tower preserved beneath the Jewish Quarter.

Found 1975 — Nahman Avigad (Hebrew University), Jewish Quarter excavations 1969–1982

Where Jewish Quarter, Old City, at the junction of Plugot HaKotel and Shonei Halakhot streets, Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) (Israel (Old City))

Dates from Built 8th–7th century BCE; destroyed 586 BCE · Iron Age IIB–C · Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) to Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah); the Babylonian siege

Now at In situ, preserved beneath a school building in the Jewish Quarter; visitable as part of the Broad Wall and Israelite Tower site

How The Israelite Tower was found

Found deep below the Jewish Quarter, about 14 metres under modern street level, a short distance from the Broad Wall. In the burned layer at its foot lay Israelite and Scythian-type arrowheads, charcoal and 6th-century pottery.

What it is

Two massive walls meeting at a right angle, about 4 metres thick and standing up to 7 metres high, built of large fieldstones: the corner of a tower that probably guarded a gate in the northern city wall. A Hasmonean tower was later built on top. Four arrowheads, one iron and three bronze, including a socketed three-finned Scythian type used by Babylonian archers, came from the ash.

Why it matters for the Bible

Together with the Broad Wall, the tower shows that Yerushalayim's western hill was fortified in the late First Temple period, as Chizkiyahu's and Manasseh's building notices say. The arrowheads and ash are direct evidence of the fighting when Nebuchadnezzar's army broke through the northern wall in 586 BCE, the event Jeremiah and Kings describe, and the layer sat undisturbed until Avigad reached it.

The Hebrew word: mig-DAHL

מִגְדָּל

מִגְדָּל is pronounced mig-DAHL and means tower (Strong's H4026).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Fortification of the western hill under the late kings of Judah · Babylonian breach and burning of Jerusalem, 586 BCE

The Israelite Tower in Scripture

2 Kings 20:21 First mention of Manasseh in Scripture.

2 Kings 25:4 'The city was broken into'; the arrowheads and ash at the tower are the trace of that breach.

2 Chronicles 33:14 Manasseh builds an outer wall and raises it 'a very great height'; the tower's date range includes his reign.

Questions people ask

What is The Israelite Tower?
Two massive walls meeting at a right angle, about 4 metres thick and standing up to 7 metres high, built of large fieldstones: the corner of a tower that probably guarded a gate in the northern city wall. A Hasmonean tower was later built on top. Four arrowheads, one iron and three bronze, including a socketed three-finned Scythian type used by Babylonian archers, came from the ash.

When was The Israelite Tower discovered?
It was found in 1975 by Nahman Avigad (Hebrew University), Jewish Quarter excavations 1969–1982, at Jewish Quarter, Old City, at the junction of Plugot HaKotel and Shonei Halakhot streets, Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).

Where is The Israelite Tower today?
In situ, preserved beneath a school building in the Jewish Quarter; visitable as part of the Broad Wall and Israelite Tower site.

Which Bible verses does The Israelite Tower relate to?
2 Kings 20:21, 2 Kings 25:4, 2 Chronicles 33:14.

Related discoveries

Sources

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