Antiquity (prehistory - 1000 BCE)
The city now known as Jerusalem has known many wars and had various periods of occupation in its long history. Genesis 14:18, mentions a city called Salem, ruled by King
MelchizedekMelchizedek is an enigmatic figure twice mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. Melchizedek is mentioned as the King of Salem, and priest of God Most High, in the time of the biblical patriarch Abram. He brought out bread and wine, blessed Abram, and received tithes from...
, a "priest of God", which most Jewish commentators believe refers to Jerusalem. According to one Jewish tradition reported by the
midrashMidrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
, it was founded by
AbrahamAbraham is the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples, as described in the book of Genesis. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims....
's forefathers
ShemShem was one of the sons of Noah in the Bible. He is most popularly regarded as the eldest son, though some traditions regard him as the second son. Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Shem and his brother Japheth, but with sufficient ambiguity in each to have yielded different translations...
and
EberEber is an ancestor of the Israelites, according to the "Table of Nations" in and . He was a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father of Peleg born when Eber was 34 years old, and of Joktan. He was the son of Shelah a distant ancestor of Abraham...
, and in the midrash Melchizedek is equated with Shem. The
Amarna lettersThe Amarna letters are an archive of correspondence on clay tablets, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru during the New Kingdom...
contain correspondence from
Abdi-HebaAbdi-Heba was king of Jerusalem during the Amarna period . Abdi-Heba's name can be translated as "servant of Hebat", a Hurrian goddess. Some scholars believe the correct reading is Ebed-Nob...
, king of Urusalim (the name of Jerusalem in the Late Bronze Age). At this time his entire kingdom may have had a population of fifteen hundred people, and Urusalim would have been a 'small highlands stronghold' in the fourteenth century BCE with no fortifications or large buildings.
Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah (1000 BCE - 580 BCE)
According to the
Books of SamuelThe Books of Samuel are part of the Tanakh and also of the Christian Old Testament. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Hebrew bibles.Together with what is now referred to as the Book of Kings,...
, the Jebusites managed to resist attempts by the Israelites to capture the city, and by the time of King David were mocking such attempts, claiming that even the blind and lame could defeat the Israelite army. Nevertheless, the
masoretic textThe Masoretic Text is a Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible . It defines not just the books of the Jewish canon, but also the precise letter-text of the biblical books in Judaism, as well as their vocalization and accentuation for both public reading and private study...
for the Books of Samuel states that David managed to capture the city by stealth, sending his forces through a "water shaft" and attacking the city from the inside. Archaeologists now view this as implausible as the
Gihon springThe Gihon Spring was the main source of water for the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem. One of the world's major intermittent springs - and a reliable water source that made human settlement possible in ancient Jerusalem - the spring was not only used for drinking water, but also...
— the only known location from which water shafts lead into the city — is now known to have been heavily defended (and hence an attack via this route would have been obvious rather than secretive). The older
SeptuagintThe Septuagint , or simply "LXX", referred to in critical works by the abbreviation ...
text, however, suggests that rather than by a water shaft, David's forces defeated the Jebusites by using daggers.
There was another king in Jerusalem,
AraunahAraunah is the name given by the Books of Samuel to a Jebusite who owned the threshing floor on the summit of Mount Moriah that David purchased and used as the site for assembling an altar to God. The Book of Chronicles, a later text, renders his name as Ornan.-Biblical narrative:The narrative...
, during, and possibly before, David's control of the city, according to the Biblical narrative, who was probably the Jebusite king of Jerusalem. The city, which at that point was upon
OphelThe City of David, also known as the Ophel is the name of the narrow promontory beyond the southern edge of Jerusalem's Temple Mount and Old City, with the Tyropoeon Valley on its west, the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley on the east.-Archaeology:The previously deep valley ,...
, was, according to the biblical account, expanded to the south, and declared by David to be the capital city of the united
Kingdom of IsraelThe Kingdom of Israel ) was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It existed roughly from the 930s BC until about the 720s BC, when the kingdom was conquered by the Assyrian Empire...
. David also, according to the Books of Samuel, constructed an altar at the location of a threshing floor he had purchased from Araunah; a portion of biblical scholars view this as an attempt by the narrative's author to give an Israelite foundation to a pre-existing sanctuary.
Later, according to the biblical narrative, King
SolomonSolomon is a figure described in the Hebrew Bible as a King of Israel and later in the Qur'an, where he is described as a Prophet. The biblical accounts identify Solomon as the son of David...
built a more substantive temple, the Temple of Solomon, at a location which the Book of Chronicles equates with David's altar. The Temple became a major cultural centre in the region; eventually, particularly after religious reforms such as those of
HezekiahHezekiah was the 12th king of the Kingdom of Judah, not counting queen Athaliah's reign....
and of
JosiahJosiah or Yoshiyahu was a king of Judah who instituted major reforms. Josiah is credited by some historians with having established or discovered important Jewish scriptures during the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule.-Family:Josiah was the son of King Amon and Jedidah, the...
, the Jerusalem temple became the main place of worship, at the expense of other, formerly powerful, ritual centres, such as
ShilohShiloh, Shilo, or Silo may refer to:In religion:*Shiloh , a city in the Ephraim hill-country said to contain the Ark of the Covenant*Shiloh , a figure of contested meaning mentioned in the Hebrew Bible...
and
BethelBethel was a border city described in the Old Testament as being located between Benjamin and Ephraim...
. Solomon is also described as having created several other important building works at Jerusalem, including the construction of his palace, and the construction of the
MilloThe Millo was a structure in Jerusalem mentioned by the Books of Kings, and corresponding passages in the Books of Chronicles. The texts simply describe the Millo as having been built by Solomon and repaired by Hezekiah,, without giving an explanation of what exactly the Millo was...
(the identity of which is somewhat controversial). However, archaeologists have found no major building works at Jerusalem dating from this era (except perhaps the
Large Stone StructureThe Large Stone Structure is the name given to the remains of a large public building in the City of David neighborhood of central Jerusalem, south of the Old City, tentatively dated to 10th to 9th century BCE. The name was given to the structure, as a result of its proximity with another site...
, which is the subject of some controversy), and some have suggested that Solomon's building programme was somewhat mythical - being based on the building programme of the later
OmridesThe term Omrides refers to Omri and his descendants , who were according to the Bible as well as a number of other archaeological remains kings of ancient Israel...
.
When the
Kingdom of JudahThe Kingdom of Judah existed at two periods in Jewish history. According to the Hebrew Bible, a kingdom emerged in Judah after the death of Saul, when the tribe of Judah elevated David, who came from the Tribe of Judah, to rule over it. After seven years David became king of a reunited Kingdom of...
split from the larger Kingdom of Israel (which the Bible places near the end of the reign of Solomon, though
Israel FinkelsteinIsrael Finkelstein is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is currently the Jacob M. Alkow Professor of the Archaeology of Israel in the Bronze Age and Iron Ages at Tel Aviv University and is also the co-director of excavations at Megiddo in northern Israel. Previously, he served as Director...
and others claim it occurred closer to the time of Hezekiah), Jerusalem became the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, while the truncated Kingdom of Israel located its capital at
SamariaSamaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
.
Thomas L. ThompsonThomas L. Thompson is a biblical theologian associated with the movement known as the Copenhagen School. He was professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen from 1993 - 2009, lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen.-Background:Thompson obtained a B.A...
argues that it only became a city and capable of acting as a state capital in the middle of the seventh century.
By the end of this
First Temple Period, Jerusalem was the sole acting religious shrine in the kingdom and a centre of regular pilgrimage; a fact which archaeologists generally view as being corroborated by the evidence, though there remained a more personal cult involving
AsherahAsherah , in Semitic mythology, is a Semitic mother goddess, who appears in a number of ancient sources including Akkadian writings by the name of Ashratum/Ashratu and in Hittite as Asherdu or Ashertu or Aserdu or Asertu...
figures, which are found spread throughout the land right up to the end of this era.
Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah for some 400 years. It had survived an
Assyrian siege in 701 BCEIn 721 BCE, the Assyrian army captured the Israelite capital at Samaria and carried away the citizens of the northern kingdom into captivity. The virtual destruction of Israel left the southern kingdom, Judah, to fend for itself in the whirlwind of warring Near Eastern kingdoms...
by
SennacheribSennacherib Sennacherib Sennacherib (Akkadian Sîn-ahhī-erība ("(Moon god) Sîn has replaced (lost) brothers for me") was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (704 – 681 BC).- Rise to power :...
, unlike Samaria, the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel, that had fallen some twenty years previously. This was a miraculous event according to the Bible in which an
AngelAngels are spiritual beings found in many religious traditions. They are broadly viewed as messengers of God, sent to do God's tasks. Traditions vary as to the precise nature and role of these messages and tasks...
killed 185,000 men in Sennacherib's army. According to Sennacherib's own account, recorded in an inscription contemporary with the event (known as the Taylor prism), the king of Judah, Hezekiah, was "shut up in the city like a caged bird" and eventually persuaded Sennacherib to leave by sending him "30 talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty".
However, the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BCE led to the city being overcome by the
BabyloniaBabylonia was a civilization in Lower Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged when Hammurabi created an empire out of the territories of the former kingdoms of Sumer and Akkad...
ns, who then took the young King Jehoiachin into
Babylonian captivityAlthough the term Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile typically refers to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC, in fact the exile started with the first deportation in 597 BC...
, together with most of the
aristocracyAristocracy is a form of government, in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. This may be a hereditary elite, or it may be by a system of cooption where a council of prominent citizens add leading soldiers, merchants, land owners, priests, and lawyers to their number...
.
ZedekiahZedekiah was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, thus he was the brother of Jehoahaz .William F. Albright dates the reign of Zedekiah to 597 – 587 BC, while E. R...
, who had been placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar (the Babylonian Emperor), rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar, who at the time (587/586 BCE) was ruler of the most powerful empire, recaptured the city, killed Zedekiah's descendants in front of him, and plucked out Zedekiah's eyes so that that would be the last thing he ever saw. The Babylonians then took Zedekiah into captivity, along with prominent members of Judah. The Babylonians then burnt the temple, destroyed the city's walls, and appointed
GedaliahAccording to the Hebrew Bible, Gedaliah - the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan served briefly as governor of Judah...
the son of Achikam as governor of Judah. After 52 days of rule, Yishmael, son of Netaniah and a surviving descendant of Zedekiah, assassinated Gedaliah after encouragement by
BaalisBaalis is the name given in the Book of Jeremiah for the king of Ammon. He instigated the murder of Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Jerusalem....
, the king of
AmmonThe Ammon or Ammonites was a kingdom described in the Bible, said to occupy an area east of the Jordan river, Gilead and the Dead Sea....
. The remaining population of Judah, fearing the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar, fled to Egypt.
Restoration and autonomy in the Persian era (- 312 BCE)
After several decades of captivity in Babylon and the
PersianThe Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire was the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran. The Persian and the Median Empire taken together are also known as the Medo-Persian Empire, succeeding the Neo-Assyrian Empire...
conquest of Babylonia, Cyrus II of Persia allowed the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple. The construction was finished in 516 BCE the sixth year of Darius the Great. Then, Artaxerxes I sent
EzraEzra was a Jewish priestly scribe who led about 5,000 Israelite exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem in 459 BCE. Ezra reconstituted the dispersed Jewish community on the basis of the Torah and with an emphasis on the law...
and then
NehemiahNehemiah or Nechemya is a major figure in the post-exile history of the Jews as recorded in the Bible, and is believed to be the primary author of the Book of Nehemiah. He was the son of Hachaliah, and probably of the Tribe of Judah...
to rebuild the city's walls and to govern Judah, which was ruled as
YehudYehud is a city in the Center District in Israel, one of the component parts of the joint municipality of Yehud-Monosson. The population of Yehud was in 2007 approximately 25,600 .- History :...
province under the Persians and minted
Yehud coinageThe term Yehud Coinage refers to a series of small silver coins bearing the Aramaic inscription 'Yehud', the Persian province of Judaea, which were minted in or near Jerusalem during the late Persian period and the Hellenistic period of the 5th and 4th centuries BC after the Babylonian Exile...
. The Temple was rebuilt and Jerusalem was once again the capital of Judah, and the center of Jewish worship.
Autonomy in the Greek era (312 BCE - 164 BCE)
When
Alexander the GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and
JudeaJudea or Judæa is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank Judea or Judæa (Hebrew: יהודה,
Standard Yəhuda
Tiberian , "praised, celebrated"; Greek: Ιουδαία, Ioudaía; ) is the...
fell under Greek control and Hellenic influence. After the Wars of the
DiadochiThe Diadochi were the rival successors of Alexander the Great, and their Wars of the Diadochi followed Alexander's death...
following Alexander's death, Jerusalem and Judea fell under
PtolemaicThe Ptolemaic dynasty was a Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period...
control under Ptolemy I and continued minting Yehud coinage. In 198 BCE as a result of the
Battle of PaniumThe Battle of Panium was fought in 198 BC between Seleucid and Ptolemaic forces as part of the Syrian Wars. The Seleucids were led by Antiochus III the Great, while the Ptolemaic army was led by Scopas of Aetolia. The Seleucids won the battle...
, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the
SeleucidsThe Seleucid Empire was a Hellenistic empire, i.e. a successor state of Alexander the Great's empire. The Seleucid Empire was centered in the near East and at the height of its power included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan...
under
Antiochus the GreatAntiochus III the Great, , younger son of Seleucus II Callinicus, became the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire as a youth of about eighteen in 223 BC. Ascending the throne at young age, Antiochus was an ambitious ruler...
.
Under the Seleucids many Jews began to become Hellenised and with their assistance tried to Hellinize Jerusalem eventually culminating in a rebellion by
MatisyahuMattathias was a Jewish priest whose role in the Jewish revolt against the Syrian Greeks is related in the Books of the Maccabees...
the
High PriestThe term "high priest" may refer to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or may refer to the head of a religious caste.* In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods revered by the Egyptians....
and his five sons:
SimonSimon Maccabaeus was a son of Mattathias and thus a member of the Hasmonean family.He took part in the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire led by his brothers, Judas Maccabaeus and Jonathan Maccabaeus. He became the first prince of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty...
, Yochanan, Eleazar,
JonathanJonathan Maccabaeus was leader of the Hasmonean Dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE. He is called also Apphus = "the dissembler" or "the diplomat", in allusion to a trait prominent in him; 1 Maccabees ii. 5)....
and Judah the Maccabee. As a result of the rebellion, Jerusalem became the capital of the independent
Hasmonean KingdomThe Hasmoneans were the ruling dynasty of the Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel , an independent Jewish state. The Hasmonean dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC...
.
The Hasmonean Kingdom and era (164 BCE - 35 BCE)
The Hasmonean Kingdom lasted for 103 years. It was ruled by
Simon the son of MatisyahuSimon Maccabaeus was a son of Mattathias and thus a member of the Hasmonean family.He took part in the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire led by his brothers, Judas Maccabaeus and Jonathan Maccabaeus. He became the first prince of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty...
; then by his son
YochananJohn Hyrcanus was a Hasmonean leader of the 2nd century BC...
who started minting
coinsHashmonean coinage are the coins minted by the Hasmonean Kings. Only bronze coins in various denominations have been found; the smallest being a prutah or a half prutah. Two Roman silver denarii's are associated with the Hashmoneans; one has the inscription "BACCIUS JUDAEAS"; with its exact meaning...
; then by his son
Yehuda AristobolusJudas Aristobulus I was a king of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty, and the eldest of the five sons of King John Hyrcanus. He was the first of the Hasmonean rulers to call himself "king." According to the Hebrew Scriptures, only descendants of Judah, or, more specifically, the House of David, were...
; then by his wife
Salome AlexandraSalome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem , was the only Jewish regnant queen, with the exception of her own husband's mother whom he had prevented from ruling as his dying father had wished, and of the much earlier usurper Athaliah...
; then by his brother
Alexander YannaiAlexander Jannaeus , king of Judea from , son of John Hyrcanus, inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus, and appears to have married his brother's widow, Shlomtzion or "Shelomit", also known as Salome Alexandra, according to the Biblical law of Yibum , although Josephus is inexplicit on...
; then by his sons
HyrcanusHyrcanus II, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea in the 1st century BCE.-Accession:Hyrcanus was the eldest son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome...
and
AristobulusAristobulus II was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea, 66 BC to 63 BC, from the Hasmonean Dynasty.-Family:Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome. After the death of Alexander in 76 BC, his widow succeeded to the rule of Judea and...
. When the brothers Hyrcanus and Aristoblulus each asked for Rome to intervene on their behalf, Judea fell under the greater rule of Rome as an autonomous province but still with a significant amount of independence. The last Hashmonean king was Aristobulus's son
Matisyahu AntigonusAntigonus II Mattathias was the son of King Aristobulus II of Judea. In 40 BC he led, along with Barzapharnes, a Parthian-supported invasion of Judea, seized Jerusalem, and sent his uncle Hyrcanus II to Babylon in chains .In 37 BC, Herod the Great took back Judea...
.
The Herodian Dynasty (35 BCE - 96 CE)
The
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
installed
HerodHerod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great Herod , also known as Herod I or Herod the Great (born 74 BC, died 4 BC in Jericho, was a Roman client king of Israel. He is often confused...
as a Jewish client king around 19 BCE. As king of the
Province of JudeaIudaea is the term used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
, Herod rebuilt the
Second TempleThe Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 516 BCE and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Jewish worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot...
(see also
Herod's TempleHerod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE...
), upgraded the surrounding complex, and
expanded the minting of coinsHerodian coinage are coins minted and issued by the Herodian Dynasty, Jews of Idumean descent who ruled the province of Judaea between 37 BC–92 AD...
to many denominations. This rebuilding effort is considered the most important of the many improvements Herod made to the city. He also built Caesarea Maritima which replaced Jerusalem as the capital of the
Roman provinceIudaea is the term used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
. After Herod's death in 4 BCE, Judea and the city of Jerusalem came under direct Roman rule in 6 CE through Roman prefects,
procuratorA procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
s, and
legatesA legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
(see
List of Kings of Judea) but Herod's descendants (in the order of
ArchelausHerod Archelaus was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Edom from 4 BC to 6 AD. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace, the brother of Herod Antipas, and the half-brother of Herod Philip I....
,
Agrippa IAgrippa I also called the Great , King of the Jews, was the grandson of Herod the Great, and son of Aristobulus IV and Berenice. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa, and he is the king named Herod in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Bible, "Herod "...
, and
Agrippa IIAgrippa II , son of Agrippa I, and like him originally named Marcus Julius Agrippa, was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great, thus last of the Herodians. He was the brother of Berenice and Drusilla...
) remained kings of Judea. In 66 CE the Jewish population rebelled against the Roman Empire in what is now known as the First Jewish–Roman War. Roman legions under future emperor
TitusTitus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus , was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81...
reconquered and subsequently destroyed much of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE although the rebellion lasted a few more years. Titus' victory is commemorated by the
Arch of TitusThe Arch of Titus is a Pentelic marble triumphal arch with a single arched opening, located on the Via Sacra just to the south-east of the Forum in Rome...
. Agrippa II died circa 94 CE, which brought the
Herodian dynastyThe Herodian Dynasty was a Jewish dynasty of Idumean descent, who ruled Iudaea Province between 37 BC - AD 92.- Origin :During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus 134-104 BCE, Judea conquered Edom and forced the Edomites to convert to Judaism.The Edomites were integrated into the Jewish...
to an end almost thirty years after the destruction of the Second Temple.
Roman and Byzantine rule (6 CE - 638 CE)
Jerusalem became the birthplace of
Early ChristianityEarly Christianity is commonly known as the Christianity of the roughly three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus and the First Council of Nicaea in 325....
in the first century CE. According to the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
, it is the location of the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ, see also
Jerusalem in ChristianityFor Christians, Jerusalem's place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in New Testament and early Christianity:...
.
It was in Jerusalem that, according to the New Testament, the Apostles of Christ received the
Holy SpiritIn Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. In mainstream Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son....
at
PentecostPentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christian liturgical year. The feast is also called Whitsun, Whitsunday, Whit Sunday, and Whitsuntide, especially in the United Kingdom. Pentecost is celebrated seven weeks after Easter Sunday, hence its name...
and first began preaching the
GospelA gospel is a writing that describes the life of Jesus. The word is primarily used to refer to the four canonical texts: the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, probably written between AD 65 and 80...
and proclaiming his resurrection.
Jerusalem eventually became home to one of the five
PatriarchatesIn the History of Christianity, the Pentarchy is "the proposed government of universal Christendom by five patriarchal sees under the auspices of a single universal empire...
of the
Christian ChurchChristian Church and church Christian Church and church Christian Church and church (Greek kyriakon, "thing belonging to the Lord"; also ekklesia (Latinized as ecclesia, "assembly") are used to denote both a Christian association of people and a place of worship. In the phenomenological sense there...
(after the
Great SchismThe term Great Schism may refer to one of several events in Christianity:* The East-West Schism , between Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity....
, it remained a part of the
Eastern Orthodox ChurchThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
).
After a brief period of Roman rule, the city was ruined when a civil war, accompanied by the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome in Judea, led to the city's sack yet again, at the hands of
TitusTitus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Titus , was a Roman Emperor who briefly reigned from 79 until his death in 81...
in 70 CE. The Second Temple was burnt and all that remained was the great external (retaining) walls supporting the Esplanade on which the Temple had stood, a portion of which has become known as the
Western WallThe Western Wall , sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall or simply the Kotel , and as al-Buraaq Wall by Muslims, is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem...
; also known as the
Wailing Wall.
After the end of this first revolt, Jews continued to live in Jerusalem in significant numbers, and were allowed to practice their religion.
What is today known as "Old City" was laid out by the Roman Emperor
HadrianPublius Aelius Hadrianus was emperor of Rome from AD 117 to 138, as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher...
in the 2nd century, when he began to rebuild Jerusalem as a
paganPaganism is a word with several different meanings.In its broadest definition, pagan denotes all non-Abrahamic religions, that is to say it denotes all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Other usages are:*Paganism may mean Polytheism: The group so defined includes most of the...
city,
Aelia CapitolinaAelia Capitolina was a city built by the emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, which was in ruins since 70 AD, leaning in part to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136.-Politics:...
, in 135 CE. He placed restrictions on some Jewish practices, which caused a revolt by the Judeans, led by
Simon Bar KokhbaThe Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire was the third major rebellion by the Jews of Iudaea Province and the last of the Jewish-Roman Wars....
. Hadrian responded with overwhelming force, putting down the rebellion, killing as many as a half million Jews, and resettling the city as a Roman
coloniaA Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...
under the name
Aelia Capitolina. Jews were forbidden to enter the city but for a single day of the year,
Tisha B'Avis an annual fast day in Judaism, named for the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar. The fast commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart, but on the same date...
, (the Ninth of Av, see
Hebrew calendarThe Hebrew calendar or Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used by Jews, and in recent decades, by a growing number of Christians...
), which is the fast day that Jews mourn the destruction of both Temples.
For the next 150 years, the city remained a relatively unimportant Roman town. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine, however, rebuilt Jerusalem as a Christian center of worship, building the
Church of the Holy SepulchreThe Church of the Holy Sepulchre , also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem....
in 335. Jews were still banned from the city, except during a brief period of
Persian ruleThe Revolt against Heraclius was a Jewish insurrection against the Byzantine Empire, coming to the aid of the Persian invaders. It began in 610 CE with the riots in Antioch and ended with the execution of Benjamin of Tiberias and other revolutionaries by Theodosius in 625 CE.-Revolt:The Jews of...
from 614-629 CE.
Arab Caliphates (638 - 1300s)
Although the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
does not mention the name "Jerusalem", instead it mentions the name
al-Quds which in Arabic is synonymous with Jerusalem, the
hadithHadith are oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Hadith are regarded by traditional schools of jurisprudence as important tools for determining the Muslim way of life, the sunnah. Hadith were originally oral traditions of Muhammad's actions and customs...
unequivocally asserts that it was from Jerusalem that
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
ascended to heaven in the Night Journey (also known as the Isra and Miraj). The city was one of the Arab
CaliphateThe term caliphate refers to the first form of government inspired by Islam. It was initially led by Muhammad's disciples as a continuation of the political authority the prophet established, known as the 'rashidun caliphates'. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah, and was the...
's first conquests in 638 CE; according to Arab historians of the time, the
RashidunThe Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab personally went to the city to receive its submission, cleaning out and praying at the
Temple MountThe Temple Mount , also known as Mount Moriah and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary , is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism and Islam it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.The Temple Mount contains the holiest site in Judaism...
in the process. Sixty years later the
Dome of the RockThe Dome of the Rock is an Islamic shrine which houses the Foundation Stone, arguably the holiest spot in Judaism, and is a major landmark located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was completed in 691, making it the oldest extant Islamic building in the world...
was built, a structure enshrining a stone from which Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven during the Isra. (Note that the octagonal and gold-sheeted Dome is not the same thing as the
Al-Aqsa MosqueAl-Aqsa Mosque , also known as al-Aqsa, is an Islamic holy place in the Old City of Jerusalem...
beside it, the latest version of which was built more than three centuries later). Umar ibn al-Khattab also allowed the Jews back into the city and freedom to live and worship after four hundred years.
Under the early centuries of Muslim rule, especially during the Umayyad (650-750) and Abbasid (750-969) dynasties, the city prospered; the geographers
Ibn HawqalMohammed Abul-Kassem ibn Hawqal was a 10th century Arab writer, geographer, and chronicler. His famous work, written in 977, is called Surat al-Ardh ....
and al-Istakhri (10th century) describe it as "the most fertile province of
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
", while its native son the geographer al-Muqaddasi (born 946) devoted many pages to its praises in his most famous work,
The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Climes. Jerusalem under Muslim rule did not achieve the political or cultural status enjoyed by the capitals Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo etc. Interestingly, al-Muqaddasi derives his name from the Arabic name for Jerusalem,
Bayt al-Muqaddas, which is linguistically equivalent to the Hebrew
Beit Ha-Mikdash, the
Holy HouseThe Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, and a future Temple features in Jewish eschatology. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acts as...
.
Shifts in control: Crusaders, Tatars and Ayubids
The early Arab period was also one of religious tolerance. However, in the early 11th century, the Egyptian
FatimidThe Fatimid Caliphate or al-Fātimiyyūn was an Arab Shi'a dynasty that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Egypt, Sicily, Malta and the Levant from 5 January 909 to 1171. The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the Egyptian city of Cairo as their capital. The term Fatimite is...
Caliph
Al-Hakim bi-Amr AllahAbu ‘Ali Mansur Tāriqu l-Ḥākim, called Al-Hakim bi Amr al-Lāh , was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam ....
ordered the destruction of all churches. Jews were among the most vigorous defenders of Jerusalem against the
CrusadersThe Crusaders are a New Zealand rugby union team based in Christchurch that compete in the Super 14 . They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history. The franchise represents the Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman, and West Coast provincial rugby unions...
. When the city fell, the Crusaders placed all the Jews in Jerusalem inside the city's synagogue and then burned it down.
Jerusalem became the capital of the
Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks....
.
Godfrey of BouillonGodfrey of Bouillon was a medieval knight who was one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until his death. He was the Lord of Bouillon, from which he took his byname, from 1076 and the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1087...
, was elected Lord of Jerusalem on July 22, 1099, but did not assume the royal crown and died a year later. Barons offered the lordship of Jerusalem to Godfrey's brother
Baldwin- Places :Canada*Baldwin, Eagle*Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario*Baldwin, Ontario*Baldwin, QuebecUnited States of America*Baldwin, Florida*Baldwin, Georgia*Baldwin, Illinois*Baldwin, Iowa*Baldwin, Louisiana*Baldwin, Maine*Baldwin, Maryland...
, Count of Edessa, who had himself crowned by the
PatriarchThe Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title possessed by the Latin Rite Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. The Archdiocese of Jerusalem has jurisdiction for all Latin Rite Catholics in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus. In Jerusalem, the Catholic community is the largest Christian community,...
Daimbert on Christmas Day 1100 in the basilica of Bethlehem.
Christian settlers from the West set about rebuilding the principal shrines associated with the life of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was ambitiously rebuilt as a great Romanesque church, and Muslim shrines on the Temple Mount (the Dome of the Rock and the
al-Aqsa MosqueAl-Aqsa Mosque , also known as al-Aqsa, is an Islamic holy place in the Old City of Jerusalem...
) were converted for Christian purposes. It is during this period of Frankish occupation that the Military Orders of the
Knights HospitallerThe Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta is a Roman Catholic order based in Rome, Italy...
and the
Knights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple , were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
have their beginnings. Both grew out of the need to protect and care for the great influx of pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem in the twelfth century. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted until 1291; however, Jerusalem itself was recaptured by
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
in 1187, who permitted worship of all religions (see
Siege of Jerusalem (1187)The Siege of Jerusalem took place from September 20 to October 2, 1187. It resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem by Saladin and the near total collapse of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem...
).
According to
Rabbi Elijah of ChelmElijah Ba'al Shem was a Polish rabbi who studied under Rabbi Solomon Luria and later became the Chief Rabbi of Chełm. He was a co-signer of the Agunah laws and, according to legend, was able to create a Golem creature with Kabbalah. Many legends surround his life in regards to this creation...
, German Jews lived in Jerusalem during the 11th century. The story is told that a German-speaking Palestinian Jew saved the life of a young German man
surnameA surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases a surname is a family name; the family-name meaning first appeared in 1375. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". It is also known as a "last name". In some cultures, the surname may...
d Dolberger. So when the
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
s of the First Crusade came to siege Jerusalem, one of Dolberger's family members who was among them rescued Jews in Palestine and carried them back to
WormsWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"...
to repay the favor. Further evidence of German communities in the holy city comes in the form of
halakicHalakha — also transliterated Halocho and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
questions sent from Germany to Jerusalem during the second half of the eleventh century.
In 1173
Benjamin of TudelaBenjamin of Tudela was a medieval Navarrese adventurer, sometimes called "Rabbi", who traveled through Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
visited Jerusalem. He described it as a small city full of Jacobites,
ArmeniansThe Armenians are a nation and ethnic group which originated in the Caucasus and the Armenian Highland. It is estimated that there are 8 million Armenians around the world. There is a large concentration of Armenians in the Caucasus, especially in Armenia, and there is a significant presence in...
,
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
, and Georgians. Two hundred
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s dwelt in a corner of the city under the Tower of David.
In 1219 the walls of the city were razed by order of
al-Mu'azzamAl-Mu'azzam 'Isa Sharaf ad-Din was an Ayyubid Sultan who ruled Damascus from 1218 to 1227. The son of Sultan Al-Adil I and nephew of Saladin, founder of the dynasty, Al-Mu'azzam was installed by his father as governor of Damascus in 1201. After his father's death in 1218, Al-Mu'azzam ruled the...
, the
AyyubidThe Ayyubids were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin centered in Cairo and Damascus that ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they gradually gained...
sultan of Damascus. This rendered Jerusalem defenseless and dealt a heavy blow to the city's status.
In 1229, by treaty with
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
's ruler
al-KamilAl-Kamil was an Ayyubid sultan of Kurdish descent that ruled Egypt, praised for defeating two crusades but also vilified for ceding Jerusalem to the Christians....
, Jerusalem came into the hands of
Frederick II of GermanyFrederick II of Hohenstaufen was Holy Roman Emperor from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy...
. In 1239, after a ten-year truce expired, he began to rebuild the walls; but they were again demolished by an-Nasir Da'ud, the emir of Kerak, in the same year.
In 1243 Jerusalem came again into the power of the Christians, and the walls were repaired. The
Khwarezmian TatarThe Khwarezmian dynasty, also known as Khwarezmids, Khwarezm Shahs or Khwarezm-Shah dynasty was a Persianate Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin....
s took the city in 1244; and they in turn were driven out by the Egyptians in 1247. In 1260 the Tatars under
Hulagu KhanHulagu Khan, also known as Hulagu, Hülegü or Hulegu , was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. Son of Tolui and the Kerait princess Sorghaghtani Beki, he was a grandson of Genghis Khan, and the brother of Arik Boke, Möngke Khan and Kublai Khan...
engaged in
raids into PalestineMongol raids into Palestine took place towards the end of the Crusades, as a followup to temporarily successful Mongol invasions of Syria, primarily in 1260 and 1300...
. It is unclear if the Mongols were ever in Jerusalem, as it was not seen as a settlement of strategic importance at the time. However, there are reports that some of the Jews that were in Jerusalem temporarily fled to neighboring villages.
In 1267 the Jewish Catalonian sage
NahmanidesNahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Nachman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym Ramban, , was a Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.-Name:...
travelled to Jerusalem. In the Old City he established the
Ramban SynagogueThe Ramban Synagogue is the oldest active synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was founded by Nahmanides in 1267. Today it is located at the corner of Ha-Yehudim Street and the square in the Jewish Quarter.-Features:The foundation of the building comprises vaults resting on Romanesque and...
, the oldest active synagogue in Jerusalem.
Mamluks and early Ottoman rule (1300s - 1800s)
In the middle of the 13th century, Jerusalem was captured by the Egyptian
MamlukA mamluk was a soldier who converted to Islam and served the Muslim Arab caliphs from the 9th to the 16th centuries. They were of mixed ancestry but mainly Kipchak Turks...
s. In 1517, it was taken over by the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and enjoyed a period of renewal and peace under
Suleiman the MagnificentSuleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566...
- including the rebuilding of magnificent walls of what is now known as the Old City (however, some of the wall foundations are remains of genuine antique walls). The rule of Suleiman and the following Ottoman Sultans brought an age of "religious peace"; Jew, Christian and Muslim enjoyed the freedom of religion the Ottomans granted them and it was possible to find a synagogue, a church and a mosque in the same street. The city remained open to all religions, although the empire's faulty management after Suleiman meant slow economical stagnation.
In 1482, the visiting
DominicanThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France...
priest Felix Fabri described Jerusalem as "a dwelling place of diverse nations of the world, and is, as it were, a collection of all manner of abominations". As "abominations" he listed
SaracenSaracen was a term used by Europeans in the Middle Ages for Arabs at first, then later for all who professed the religion of Islam.-Etymology:...
s,
GreeksThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of the Orthodox Church, sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament....
,
SyriaSyriac Christianity is an ancient near Eastern Christian group represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India. Particularly notable is the liturgical use of ancient Syriac, a dialect related to the Aramaic of Jesus.-History:...
ns,
JacobitesThe West Syrian Rite is the rite used by certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic churches. It is in its origin simply the old rite of Antioch in the Syriac language. Into this framework the Oriental Orthodox have fitted a great number of other anaphoras, so that now their liturgy has...
,
AbyssiniansEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
, Nestorians, Armenians,
GregorianGregorian might refer to:*Named for Pope Gregory I:**Gregorian chant**Brotherhood of Saint Gregory*Gregorian reform *Named for Pope Gregory XIII**Gregorian calendar**Gregorian University, Rome...
s, Maronites,
TurcomanThe Oghuz were a group of Turkic peoples. In the ninth century the Oghuz Turks from the Aral steppes drove the Pecheneg Turks of the Emba region and the River Ural toward the west...
s,
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
s,
AssassinThe Hashshashin from which the word assassin is thought to originate, was the Arabic designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages...
s, a possibly
DruzeThe Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a...
sect, Mamluks, and "the most accursed of all", Jews; Only the
Latin ChristianWestern Christianity is a term used to include the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, the Churches of the Anglican Communion and Protestant Churches, which share common attributes that can be traced back to their medieval heritage. The term is used in contrast to Eastern Christianity...
s "long with all their hearts for Christian princes to come and subject all the country to the authority of the Church of Rome".
In 1700,
Judah he-HasidJudah he-Hasid , was a Jewish Sabbatean preacher who led the largest organized group of Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel in centuries.-Departure from Europe:...
led the largest organized group of Jewish immigrants to the
Land of IsraelThe Land of Israel is, according to the Hebrew Bible, the region which was promised by their God to the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. This land forms part of the Abrahamic, Jacob and Israel covenants...
in centuries. His disciples built the Hurba Synagogue, which served was the main synagogue in Jerusalem from the 16th century until 1948 (when it was destroyed by the
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion was the regular army of Transjordan and then Jordan in the early part of the 20th Century.-Creation:...
).
Late Ottoman period (1800s - 1917)
The modern history of Jerusalem began in the mid-nineteenth century, with the decline of the Ottoman Empire. At that time, the city was a backwater, with a population that did not exceed 8,000. Nevertheless, it was, even then, an extremely heterogeneous city because of its significance to
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
, Christianity, and
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
. The population was divided into four major communities - Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian - and the first three of these could be further divided into countless subgroups, based on precise religious affiliation or country of origin. An example of this would be the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was meticulously partitioned between the
Greek OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
,
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
,
ArmenianArmenian Church can refer to various religious movements and religious buildings:* Armenian Apostolic Church founded in 1st century AD, recognized by state 301* Armenian Catholic Church founded in 1742* Armenian Evangelical Church founded in 1846...
, Coptic, and Ethiopian churches. Tensions between the groups ran so deep that the keys to the shrine were left with a 'neutral' Muslim family for safekeeping.
At that time, the communities were located mainly around their primary shrines. The
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
community surrounded the Haram ash-Sharif or Temple Mount (northeast), the Christians lived mainly in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (northwest), the Jews lived mostly on the slope above the Western Wall (southeast), and the Armenians lived near the Zion Gate (southwest). In no way was this division exclusive, however, it did form the basis of the four quarters during the British Mandate period (1917-1948).
Several changes occurred in the mid-nineteenth century, with long-lasting effects on the city: their implications can be felt today and lie at the root of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict over Jerusalem. The first of these was a trickle of Jewish immigrants from the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The first such immigrants were
OrthodoxOrthodox Judaism is a formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim.Orthodox...
Jews: some were elderly individuals, who came to die in Jerusalem and be buried on the Mount of Olives; others were students, who came with their families to await the coming of the
MessiahMessiah literally means "anointed "...
, and adding new life to the local population. At the same time, European colonial powers also began seeking toeholds in the city, hoping to expand their influence pending the imminent collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This was also an age of Christian religious revival, and many churches sent missionaries to proselytize among the Muslim and especially the Jewish populations, believing that this would speed the Second Coming of Christ. Finally, the combination of European colonialism and religious zeal was expressed in a new scientific interest in the biblical lands in general and Jerusalem in particular. Archeological and other expeditions made some spectacular finds, which increased interest in Jerusalem even more.
By the 1860s, the city, with an area of only 1 square kilometer, was already overcrowded. Thus began the construction of the New City, the part of Jerusalem outside of the city walls. Seeking new areas to stake their claims, the Russian Orthodox Church began constructing a complex, now known as the Russian Compound, a few hundred meters from Jaffa Gate. The first attempt at residential settlement outside the walls of Jerusalem was begun by Jews, who built a small complex on the hill overlooking Zion Gate, across the Valley of Hinnom. This settlement, known as
Mishkenot Sha’ananimMishkenot Sha’ananim was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, on a hill directly across from Mount Zion.-History:...
, eventually flourished and set the precedent for other new communities to spring up to the west and north of the Old City. In time, as the communities grew and connected geographically, this became known as the New City.
British Mandate period (1917 - 1948)
The British were victorious over the Turks in the Middle East during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
and with victory in Palestine, General Sir Edmund Allenby, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force entered Jerusalem on foot, out of respect for the Holy City, on December 11, 1917.
By the time General Allenby took Jerusalem from the Ottomans in 1917, the new city was a patchwork of neighborhoods and communities, each with a distinct ethnic character. This continued under British rule, as the New City of Jerusalem grew outside the old city walls and the Old City of Jerusalem gradually emerged as little more than an impoverished older neighborhood. One of the British bequests to the city was a town planning order requiring new buildings in the city to be faced with
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow,...
and thus preserving some of the overall look of the city, even as it grew. During the 1930s, two important new institutions, the
Hadassah Medical CenterHadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America is an American Jewish volunteer women's organization. Founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold, it is now one of the largest Jewish organizations, with some 270,000 members around the world, most of them women....
and Hebrew University were founded in Jerusalem's
Mount ScopusMount Scopus is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem, Israel...
.
British rule marked a period of growing unrest. Arab resentment at British rule and the influx of Jewish immigrants (by 1948 one in six Jews in Palestine lived in Jerusalem) boiled over in anti-Jewish riots in Jerusalem in 1920, 1929, and the 1930s that caused significant damage and several deaths. The Jewish community organized self-defense forces in response to the Jerusalem pogrom of April, 1920 and later disturbances; while other Jewish groups carried out bombings and attacks against the British, especially in response to suspected complicity with the Arabs and restrictions on immigration during World War II imposed by the
White Paper of 1939The White Paper of 1939, also known as the MacDonald White Paper after Malcolm MacDonald, the British Colonial Secretary who presided over it, was a policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine, as recommended in...
. The level of violence continued to escalate throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In July 1946 members of the underground zionist group
IrgunIrgun was a militant Zionist group that operated in the British mandate of Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah...
blew up a part of the King David Hotel, where the British forces were temporarily located, an act which led to the death of many civilians.
On November 29, 1947, the
United Nations General AssemblyFor two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:*General Assembly members*General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...
approved a
planThe United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine or United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 Future Government of Palestine was a plan adopted by a decision of the General Assembly. The resolution was approved by a vote of 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions on November 29, 1947...
which partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine into two states: one Jewish and one Arab. Each state would be composed of three major sections, linked by extraterritorial crossroads, plus an Arab enclave at Jaffa. The Greater Jerusalem area would fall under international control.
The 1948 War
After partition, the fight for Jerusalem escalated, with heavy casualties among both fighters and civilians on the British, Jewish, and Arab sides. By the end of March, 1948, just before the British withdrawal, and with the British increasingly reluctant to intervene, the roads to Jerusalem were cut off by Arab irregulars, placing the Jewish population of the city under siege. The siege was eventually broken, though massacres of civilians occurred on both sides, before the
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
began with the end of the British Mandate in May 1948.
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War led to massive displacement of Arab and Jewish populations. According to Benny Morris, due to mob and militia violence on both sides, 1,500 of the 3,500 (mostly ultra-Orthodox) Jews in the Old City evacuated to west Jerusalem as a unit. See also Jewish Quarter. The comparatively populous Arab village of
LiftaLifta was an Arab village on the outskirts of Jerusalem depopulated in 1948. It is believed to have existed since Biblical times...
(today within the bounds of Jerusalem) was captured by Israeli troops in 1948, and its residents were loaded on trucks and taken to East Jerusalem. The villages of
Deir YassinDeir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the civil war between Arab and Jewish Palestinians...
, Ein Karem and Malcha, as well as neighborhoods to the west of Jerusalem's Old City such as
TalbiyaTalbiya or Talbiyeh is an upscale neighborhood in Jerusalem, Israel, located between Rehavia and Katamon. It was built in the 1920s and 1930s on land purchased from the Greek Patriarchate...
, Katamon,
Baka-People:* Baka , an African ethnic group.* Baka , a Sudanese ethnic group.* Baka-Nswazwi, ethnic group from Botswana* Uma baka', tribe from the center of Borneo...
,
MamillaMamilla was an early neighbourhood constructed outside Jerusalem's Old City west from the Jaffa Gate, and now refers to the $400 million commercial and housing district developed in selected parts of the area....
and
Abu TorAbu Tor is an affluent neighborhood in central Jerusalem, located along the pre-1967 border between East and West Jerusalem, just south of the Old City...
, also came under Israeli control, and its residents were forcibly displaced; in some cases, as documented by Zionist historian
Benny MorrisBenny Morris is professor of History in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Be'er Sheva, Israel. He is a key member of a group of Israeli historians known as the 'New Historians', because they are rewriting the history of Israel since its...
and Palestinian historian
Walid KhalidiWalid Khalidi is an Oxford University-educated Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus...
, among others, expulsions and massacres occurred.
In May 1948 the US Consul,
Thomas C. WassonThomas Campbell Wasson was an American diplomat who was assassinated while serving as the Consul General for the United States in Jerusalem, Palestine. Wasson was also a member of United Nations Truce Commission.-Career:...
, was assassinated outside the YMCA building. Four months later the UN mediator, Count Bernadotte, was also shot dead in the Katamon district of Jerusalem.
Division between Jordan and Israel (1948 - 1967)
The
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
proposed, in its 1947 plan for the partition of Palestine, for Jerusalem to be a city under international administration. The city was to be surrounded completely by the "Arab State", only a highway connected international Jerusalem to the "Jewish State".
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem was divided. The Western half of the New City became part of the newly formed state of Israel, while the eastern half, along with the Old City, was annexed by Jordan.
According to David Guinn,
"Concerning Jewish holy sites, Jordan breached its commitment to appoint a committee to discuss, among other topics, free access of Jews to the holy sites under its jurisdiction, mainly in the Western Wall and the important Jewish cemetery on the Mount of OlivesThe Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge in east Jerusalem with three peaks running from north to south. The highest, at-Tur, rises to 818 meters . It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes...
, as provided in the Article 8.2 of the Cease Fire Agreement between it and Israel dated April 3, 1949. Jordan permitted the paving of new roads in the cemetery, and tombstones were used for paving in Jordanian army camps. The Cave of Shimon the Just became a stable.
According to
Gerald M. SteinbergGerald M. Steinberg is an Israeli political scientist. He obtained his doctorate in government from Cornell University, in 1981. M.A. Government Department, Cornell University, 1978. M.Sc. Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, 1975.B.A. University of California, Berkeley,...
, Jordan ransacked 57 ancient synagogues, libraries and centers of religious study in the Old City Of Jerusalem, 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals. Appeals were made to the United Nations and in the international community to declare the Old City to be an 'open city' and stop this destruction, but there was no response.
(See also Hurva SynagogueThe Hurva Synagogue, , also known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid, located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem was for centuries the site of Jerusalem's main Ashkenazi synagogue...
)
It should be added, as noted by David Guinn,
"Similar to Jordan's treatment of Jewish holy sites, numerous Muslim holy sites (mosques and cemeteries) under Israeli rule in West Jerusalem fell into disuse and suffered from neglect. Some were destroyed due to Israeli development projects. For example, the Muslim cemetery in Mamilla area was damaged due to the construction of Independence Park in the center of Jerusalem...[O]ne justification that was offered [for the increasing demolition of mosques] was to "[spare] Arab citizens sorrow...".
On January 23, 1950 the
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
passed a resolution that stated Jerusalem was the capital of Israel. It is also the largest city in the country.
Israeli occupation (since 1967)
East JerusalemEast Jerusalem refers to the parts of Jerusalem captured by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and subsequently by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. It includes Jerusalem's Old City and some of the holiest sites of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, such as the Temple Mount, Western Wall, Al-Aqsa...
was captured by Israel Defense Force following the Six Day War in 1967. The
Moroccan QuarterThe Moroccan Quarter or Mughrabi Quarter was an 800 year old neighborhood in the southeast corner of the Old City of Jerusalem, bordering on the western wall of the Temple Mount on the east , the Old City walls on the south , the Jewish Quarter to the west, and the Muslim Quarter to...
containing several hundred homes was demolished and their inhabitants were expelled; thereafter a public plaza was built in its place adjoining the Western Wall. However, the
WaqfA waqf is an inalienable religious endowment in Islam, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes...
(Islamic trust) was granted administration of the Temple Mount and thereafter Jewish prayer on the site was prohibited by both Israeli and Waqf authorities.
Most Jews celebrated the event as a liberation of the city; a new Israeli holiday was created,
Jerusalem DayJerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967.The Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to thank God for the 6-day victory and for answering the...
(
Yom Yerushalayim), and the most popular secular
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
song, "Jerusalem of Gold" (
Yerushalayim shel zahav), became popular in celebration. Many large state gatherings of the State of Israel take place at the Western Wall today, including the official swearing-in of different Israel army officers units, national ceremonies such as memorial services for fallen Israeli soldiers on
Yom HazikaronYom Hazikaron is Israel's official Memorial Day. In 2009, Israel honored the memory of 22,570 soldiers killed in the line of duty and 1,723 civilian terror victims.-Observance:...
, huge celebrations on
Yom Ha'atzmautYom Ha'atzmaut is the national independence day of Israel, commemorating its declaration of independence in 1948.Celebrated annually on 5th of the Jewish month of Iyar, it centers around the declaration of the state of Israel by David Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948 , and the end of the...
(Israel Independence Day), huge gatherings of tens of thousands on Jewish religious holidays, and ongoing daily prayers by regular attendees. The Western Wall has become a major tourist destination spot.
Under Israeli control, members of all religions are largely granted access to their holy sites. The major exceptions being security limitations placed on some Arabs from the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
and
Gaza StripThe Gaza Strip lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide, with a total area of . The area is recognized internationally as part of the Palestinian territories...
from accessing holy sites due to their inadmissibility to Jerusalem, as well as limitations on Jews from visiting the Temple Mount due to both politically motivated restrictions (where they are allowed to walk on the Mount in small groups, but are forbidden to pray or study while there) and religious edicts that forbid Jews from trespassing on what may be the site of the Holy of the Holies. Concerns have been raised about possible attacks on the al-Aqsa Mosque after a serious fire broke in the mosque in 1969 (started by Denis Michael Rohan, an Australian fundamentalist Christian found by the court to be insane). Riots broke out following the opening of an exit in the Arab Quarter for the
Western Wall TunnelThe Western Wall Tunnel is an underground tunnel exposing the Western Wall in its full length...
on the instructions of the Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He previously held the same position from June 1996 to July 1999 and is currently the Chairman of the Likud Party....
, which prior Prime Minister
Shimon Peres' is the ninth and current President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
had instructed to be put on hold for the sake of peace (stating
it has waited for over 1000 years, it could wait a few more).
Conversely, Israeli and other Jews have showed concerns over excavations being done by the Waqf on the Temple Mount that could harm Temple Relics, particularly excavations to the north of
Solomon's StablesSolomon's Stables is the common name of an area located directly underneath the south eastern corner of the Temple Mount, an area where the bedrock falls away steeply from the level of the Temple Mount platform...
that were designed to create an
emergency exitAn emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked by fire, etc....
for them (having been pressured to do so by Israeli authorities). Some Jewish sources allege that the Waqf's excavations in Solomon's Stables also seriously harmed the Southern Wall; however an earthquake in 2004 that damaged the eastern wall could also be to blame.
East Jerusalem
The status of East Jerusalem remains a highly controversial issue. The international community does not recognize the annexation of the eastern part of the city, and most countries, including the US, maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv. The
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
has pledged to move its embassy to Jerusalem, subject to Presidential approval, which has not been forthcoming as the peace process continues. The
United Nations Security Council Resolution 478United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law null and void and required that it be rescinded forthwith while affirming that it was a violation of international law. This resolution called upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city...
declared that the Knesset's 1980 "
Jerusalem LawThe Jerusalem Law is a common name of Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel passed by the Knesset on July 30, 1980 .It began as a private member's bill proposed by Geula Cohen, whose original text stated that "the integrity and unity of greater Jerusalem in its boundaries after the Six-Day War...
" declaring Jerusalem as Israel's "eternal and indivisible" capital was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith". This resolution advised member states to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. The council has also condemned Israeli settlement in territories captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem (see UNSCR
452United Nations Security Council Resolution 452, adopted July 20, 1979, was on the issue of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, specifically the illegality thereof...
,
465United Nations Security Council Resolution 465, adopted March 1, 1980, was on the issue of the Israeli settlements and administration in "the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem"...
and
741United Nations Security Council Resolution 471 was on the issue of the Israeli occupation and settlement activity in the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. It criticized the Israeli occupation of these territories...
).
Since Israel gained control over East Jerusalem in 1967, Jewish settler organizations have sought to establish a Jewish presence in neighborhoods such as
SilwanSilwan, or Kfar Shiloah, is a mostly Arab neighborhood of roughly 45,000, adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem, extending along the Kidron Valley and running alongside the eastern slopes of Jabal al-Mukaber...
. In the 1980s,
Haaretz reports, the Housing Ministry "then under Ariel Sharon, worked hard to seize control of property in the Old City and in the adjacent neighborhood of Silwan by declaring them absentee property. The suspicion arose that some of the transactions were not legal; an examination committee...found numerous flaws." In particular, affidavits claiming that Arab homes in the area were
absentee propertiesLand and Property laws in Israel refers to the legal framework governing land and property issues in Israel. Following its establishment, Israel designed a system of law that legitimized both a continuation and a consolidation of the nationalisation of land and property, a process that it had begun...
, filed by Jewish organizations, were accepted by the Custodian without any site visits or other follow-up on the claims. ElAd, a settlement organization which Haaretz says promotes the "
JudaizationJudaization is a complex word.-Personal acculturation:In modern Hebrew, it is used to describe the cultural life of baalei teshuvah, or 'returnees', and refers to 'a process through which secular, non-observant, young Israelis who have grown up in Israel within the majority culture, have become...
" of
East JerusalemThe Judaization of Jerusalem refers to the view that Israel has sought to transform the physical and demographic landscape of Jerusalem to correspond with a vision of a united and fundamentally Jewish Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty.The question of whether there is an Israeli government policy...
, and the
Ateret CohanimAteret Cohanim, , also known as Ateret Yerushalyim, is a Religious Zionist yeshiva located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem in Israel. Founded in 1978, it uses the building of the historic Torath Chaim Yeshiva...
organization, are working to increase Jewish settlement in Silwan in cooperation with the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Village in Shiloah.
City of David digs and the Arab village of Silwan
The Israel Antiquities Authority has given over responsibility for the City of David digs, featuring excavation of the ancient Silwan aqueduct tunneling around and under the Old City, to ElAd. According to Israeli archaeologist Yoni Mizrachi, among others, 'Ir David' is "one of the few sites operated by private organisations and it is the only one run by a right-wing organisation." Islamic-era skeletons discovered in the course of excavations were removed from the site without informing the Muslim authorities and have since disappeared; furthermore ElAd has been accused of conducting archaeological digs on Arab properties. According to the London
TimesThe Times is a UK daily newspaper. Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times, a Chicago newspaper group*The Times *The Times , Louisiana*The Times of India...
, "Jewish settler groups are digging an extensive tunnel network under Muslim areas of Jerusalem's Old City while building a ring of settlements around it to bolster their claim to the disputed city in any future peace deal." Elad began the City of David tunnels without applying for a permit from the Jerusalem municipality. As of April 2008, the
Supreme Court of IsraelThe Supreme Court is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. It is the highest judicial instance. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem. The area of its jurisdiction is the entire State. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme Court itself...
had issued a temporary order staying further construction.
In 2005, the Israeli government stated that it would demolish 88 Arab homes in Al-Bustan neighborhood to make way for expansion of the archaeological park and a nearby Jewish settlement housing 50 people. No municipal court has ever ruled that any of the Arab homes slated for demolition were built illegally or without permits. Building on ongoing housing construction in conjunction with archaeological excavation, in 2008 the Jerusalem municipality began "the process of approving a plan for a new housing complex, including a synagogue, in the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan".
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