Houses and Wall (Area E)

A picture, looking north, at the lower portion of the eastern slope of the City of David that is located just north of the southern tip of the city.

Just to the left side of the center of the image are the remains of houses that were built outside of the walls of OT Jerusalem.  They date from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC.

The road in the lower right portion of the image is built over the bottom of the Kidron Valley that flows from the top of the image to the lower right.  The neighborhood on the right side is Silwan.  In the upper left, the walls of the Haram esh-Sharif (Temple Mount) are visible.

The wall above the rock scarp on the left side of the image is where the massive 18th century BC wall was constructed—its lower portion resting on the bedrock.  This wall was restored in the late 8th century, perhaps by King Hezekiah, to protect the city from the anticipated invasion of the Assyrian, Sennacherib.  This 8th-century rebuild are the smaller stones above the 18th-century wall.

Then he [Hezekiah] worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David. (2 Chronicles 32:5)