Wikipedia's first sentence called it “formidable guard tower/fort at the medieval city-port of acre which overlooked the harbour from a small island”. Today it says “formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of acre”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “The ruins of the "”. It now reads “Fort at the medieval city-port of Acre, Israel The ruins of the "”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Fort at the medieval city-port of Acre, Israel The ruins of the "Tower of Flies" today. The Tower of Flies ( Latin : Turris Muscarum ) was a formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of Acre , Israel , which overlooked the harbour from a small island and protected the city's rich maritime trade. It also served as a lighthouse. Its precise origins are unknown, but it is an ancient structure, most likely built in Phoenician times. It was the Crusaders of Europe that redeveloped the tower to the height of its prowess during a re-fortification of the ancient port after the city's capture in the First Crusade . The tower was also attached to a giant harbour chain that was strung across the harbour to prevent the entry of ships. The ruins of the tower are still visible today.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1268218608.
The opening as it stood in 2015
The ruins of the "Tower of Flies" today. The Tower of Flies was a formidable guard tower/fort at the medieval city-port of Acre which overlooked the harbour from a small island and protected the city’s rich maritime trade. It also served as a lighthouse. Its precise origins are unknown, but it is an ancient structure, most likely built in Phoenician times. It was the Crusaders of Europe that redeveloped the tower to the height of its prowess during a re-fortification of the ancient port after the city’s capture in the First Crusade . The tower was also attached to a giant harbour chain that was strung across the harbour to prevent the entry of ships. The ruins of the tower are still visible today.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 628956715.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The ruins of the "Tower of Flies" today. The Tower of Flies was a formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of Acre , Israel , which overlooked the harbour from a small island and protected the city’s rich maritime trade. It also served as a lighthouse. Its precise origins are unknown, but it is an ancient structure, most likely built in Phoenician times. It was the Crusaders of Europe that redeveloped the tower to the height of its prowess during a re-fortification of the ancient port after the city’s capture in the First Crusade . The tower was also attached to a giant harbour chain that was strung across the harbour to prevent the entry of ships. The ruins of the tower are still visible today.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 797322249.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
The ruins of the "Tower of Flies" today. The Tower of Flies ( ) was a formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of Acre , Israel , which overlooked the harbour from a small island and protected the city's rich maritime trade. It also served as a lighthouse. Its precise origins are unknown, but it is an ancient structure, most likely built in Phoenician times. It was the Crusaders of Europe that redeveloped the tower to the height of its prowess during a re-fortification of the ancient port after the city's capture in the First Crusade . The tower was also attached to a giant harbour chain that was strung across the harbour to prevent the entry of ships. The ruins of the tower are still visible today.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1151077208.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “formidable guard tower/fort at the medieval city-port of acre which overlooked the harbour from a small island”. Today it says “formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of acre”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “The ruins of the "”. It now reads “Fort at the medieval city-port of Acre, Israel The ruins of the "”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
formidable guard tower/fort at the medieval city-port of acre which overlooked the harbour from a small island
Now
formidable guard tower /fort at the medieval city-port of acre
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
