Saturday, May 20, 2006

Guards On the Walls of Jerusalem

Solomon’s seal Jerusalem Walls 

In the past I read several times about Stars of David decorating the walls around the old city of Jerusalem. I even went to take a photo of the one that was supposed to be on the dung gate - but couldn't find it. Recently Rafi Kfir, lecturer and owner of the Ahavat Yerushalayim company, told me on the phone where are these Stars of David on the walls of Jerusalem. He told me about two places but I found a third one by myself. I enjoyed so much riding in the car slowly along the walls searching for these symbols...

 Anyhow I didn't know what's behind this phenomenon until I stumbled upon an article about Sultan Suleiman (1494-1566) the Magnificent who built these walls (1535-1538). 

It was Sultan Suleiman's messianic consciousness which led him to develop the link between himself and King Solomon. 

From the above excerpt readers may conclude that the Stars of David on the Walls of Jerusalem are not merely aesthetic Muslim decorations but that they are connected to the Jewish sources, to King Solomon.

2 comments:

zeevveez said...

More details from:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/1999/2/King%20Solomon-s%20Seal
"In 1536 ce, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered extensive restorations on the Temple Mount and converted the church which had been built on Mount Zion during the Crusader conquest into a mosque. By building this mosque, Suleiman linked himself both to Solomon the son of David and the Davidic Messiah who, according to Christian belief, is Jesus. It was Sultan Suleiman's messianic consciousness which led him to develop the link between himself and King Solomon. On the walls which be built around Jerusalem are stone decorations in the form of two interlocking triangles Stars of David, known to Moslems as Khatam Suleiman and to Jews as Khatam Shlomo (King Solomon's Seal) whose function was to protect the city".

zeevveez said...

I found on http://www.accounting.unsw.edu.au/PEOPLE/rmjc/fotw/flags/tr-zulf.html an interesting explanation by Denis Ojalvo about the reasons of Suleiman the Magnificent to use the hexagram:
Soliman the Magnificent attached a lot of importance to his name which means Salomon. Some historians claim that his mother or his wife was of Jewish origin.