The name is a misnomer. Byzantine Christians took the hill for Mount Zion and applied the name to a Herodian tower. In the 19th century it shifted to the Ottoman minaret, and since 1967 it refers to the whole citadel. The first settlement is dated to about 150 BCE, and Herod added the towers Phasael, Mariamne and Hippicus between 37 and 34 BCE. About 16 courses of Herodian stone remain, and scholars are split on whether the base is Phasael or Hippicus.
Ayyubid forces destroyed the citadel in 1239. Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun rebuilt it in 1310, giving it much of its present shape, and Suleiman expanded it from 1537 to 1541 with a large entrance and a cannon emplacement. The minaret was built between 1635 and 1655.
The Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem opened in 1989, with archaeological remains about 2,700 years old in the courtyard. Visitors can climb the ramparts.
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