In the midst of a renovation of the Tower of David Museum, located in one the oldest parts of Jerusalem, experts used sophisticated lasers to examine part of what was long thought to be an old Crusader fortress located near the Jaffa Gate. They found something unexpected, writes Amanda Borschel-Dan:
Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders in 1099 and retaken by a Muslim dynasty, the Ayyubids, in 1187. By 1212, the city was ruled by the nephew of Saladin, el-Melek el-Muatem Isa, also commonly known in English as al-Mu’azzam Isa. According to [the archaeologist Amit] Re’em, al-Mu’azzam Isa erected the fortifications of Jerusalem in approximately 1212, “and on every tower he put a large sign in Arabic, ‘I’m the great ruler el-Melek el-Muatem Isa.’” Alongside his name on this stone was the year, 1212.
Rarely do archaeologists hit the jackpot of a securely dated inscription. This one, explained Re’em, also sheds light on the mindset of the Muslim ruler as he faced down encroaching Crusader forces, who moved toward the city in 1217.
Re’em said that as the Crusaders made their way to the Holy Land, the sultan did not have a standing army available in Jerusalem, so he decided to tear down the city’s fortifications, thinking it would be easier to retake that way after the Crusaders presumably entered the city.
Eventually, the walls were rebuilt, and the stone with his name and date was used in the foundation of the walls of the western fortification of the citadel. There it would sit for centuries until being found by Re’em and his team, helping rewrite what we know about the citadel. “So if we have a date on the inscription—1212—and we find it in the foundation of the fortification it means that the fortification is from the 13th century, and not from the 12th century [as was previously thought]. So we are changing history,” said Re’em.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-tower-of-david-looks-to-future-excavations-rewrite-ancient-citadels-past/