City of David

The City of David (Hebrew: (Hebrew: עיר דוד‎‎, Ir David; literal translation to Arabic: مدينة داوود‎‎, Madina Dawud, common Arabic name: Wadi Hilweh, وادي حلوه) is an Israeli settlement and the archaeological site which is speculated to compose the original urban core of ancient Jerusalem. First suggested in 1920, the name was used officially from the 1970s, following the capture of East Jerusalem by Israel, but today the name is increasingly questioned in the archaeological academic community. In 1997 management of the park was taken over by Ir David Foundation. Although it is located within the Jerusalem Municipality, it is considered a settlement, having been built on land in the West Bank that was occupied by and annexed to Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and 1980 Jerusalem Law. The international community regards Israeli settlements illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. It is best known for its Iron Age structures attributed to Judean kings, and it also contains older Canaanite infrastructure dated to the Middle Bronze Age.

The site is now located under the Arab neighborhood of Wadi Hilweh, and extends down from the southern city walls of Jerusalem's Old City. The remains at the site include several water tunnels, one of which was built by King Hezekiah and still carries water, several pools including the Pool of Siloam known from the Old and New Testaments, and here or at the adjacent Ophel scholars expect to find, or claim to have found, the remains of the Acra, a fortress built by Antiochus Epiphanes to subdue those Jerusalemites who were opposed to Hellenisation. City of David archaeologist Eilat Mazar believes that a so-called Large Stone Structure she has discovered at the upper area of the site and tentatively dated to the tenth to ninth century BC, may be the palace of King David. Not far from that excavation area a number of bullae (seal impressions) were unearthed, bearing the names of Yehucal son of Shelemiah and Gedaliah son of Pashhur, two officials mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah.

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