History
Antiquity (Prehistory - 6 CE)
Archaeological ruins from King David's
time This city has known many wars and
various periods of occupation. According
to Jewish tradition it was founded by
Abraham's forefathers Shem and Eber. In
Genesis it was ruled by Melchizedek, regarded
in Jewish tradition as being a priest
of God and identical to Shem. Later it
was conquered by the Jebusites. After
this it came under Jewish control. The
Bible records that King David defeated
the Jebusites in war and captured the
city without destroying it. David then
expanded the city to the south, and declared
it the capital city of the united Kingdom
of Israel.
Later,
according to the Bible, the First Jewish
Temple was built in Jerusalem by King
Solomon.
The
Temple became a major cultural center
in the region, eventually overcoming
other ritual centers such as Shilo and
Bethel. Near the end of the reign of
King Solomon, the northern ten tribes
split off to form the Kingdom of Israel
with its capital at Samaria. Jerusalem
then become the capital of the southern
kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah.
By
the end of the "First
Temple
Period," Jerusalem was the sole
acting religious shrine in the kingdom
and a center of regular pilgrimage.
Although recent archaeological finds
may push the date yet earlier (see Tel
Dan Stele), around the ninth century
BCE clear historical records begin to
corroborate some of the biblical history,
the kings of Judah become historically
identifiable, and the significance the
Temple
had in Jewish religious life is clear.
Jerusalem
was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah
for some 400 years. It had survived
(or, as some historians claim, averted)
an Assyrian siege in 701 BCE, unlike
Samaria, the capital of the northern
Kingdom of
Israel, which had fallen some twenty
years previously. However, the city
was overcome by the Babylonians in 586
BCE, who then took the young king Jehoiachin
into Babylonian captivity, together
with most of the aristocracy. However,
the country rebelled again under Zedekiah,
prompting the city's repeated conquest
and destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. The
Temple
was burnt, and the city's walls were
ruined, thus rendering what remained
of the city unprotected.
After
several decades of captivity and the
Persian conquest of Babylon, the Persians
allowed the Jews to return to Judah
and rebuild the city's walls and the
Temple. It has continued to be the capital
of Judah and center of Jewish worship,
as a province under the Persians, Greek
and Romans, with a relatively short
period of independence under the Hasmonean
Kingdom. The Temple complex was upgraded
and the Temple itself rebuilt under
Herod the Great, a Jewish client-king
under Roman rule, around 19 BCE. That
structure is known as the Second Temple,
and was the most important of the many
improvements Herod made to the city.
After Herod's death, the province and
city came under direct Roman rule in
6 CE.
Roman
Rule (6 CE - 638 CE)
After
a brief period of oppressive Roman rule,
the city was ruined yet again when a
civil war accompanied by a revolt against
Rome in Judea led to the city's repeated
sack and ruin at the hands of Titus
in 70 CE. The Second Temple was burnt,
and the whole city was ruined. The only
remaining part of the Temple was a portion
of an external (retaining) wall which
became known as the Western Wall.
After the end of this first revolt,
the Jews continued to live in Jerusalem
in significant numbers, and were allowed
to practice their religion. In the second
century the Roman Emperor Hadrian began
to rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city
while restricting some Jewish practices.
Angry at this affront, the Judeans again
revolted led by Simon Bar Kokhba. Hadrian
responded with overwhelming force, putting
down the revolution and killing as many
as half a million Jews, and resettling
the city as a pagan polis under the
name Aelia Capitolina. Jews were forbidden
to enter the city, but for a single
day of the year, Tisha B'Av, (the Ninth
of Av, see Hebrew calendar), when they
could weep for the destruction of their
city at the Temple's only remaining
wall.
For another 150 years, the city remained
a relatively unimportant Roman town.
Under Byzantine Emperor Constantine,
however, rebuilt Jerusalem as a Christian
center of worship, building the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher in 335. Jews were
banned from the city, except under a
brief period of Persian rule from 614-629.
Arab,
Crusader, and Early Ottoman Rule (638-1800s)
Map of Jerusalem as it appeared in the
years 958-1052, according to Arab geographers
such as al-Muqaddasi. Although the Qur'an
does not mention the name "Jerusalem",
the Hadith specifies that it was from
Jerusalem that the Prophet Muhammad
ascended to heaven in the Night Journey,
or Isra and Miraj. The city was one
of the Arab Caliphate's first conquests
in 638 CE; according to Arab historians
of the time, the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab
personally went to the city to receive
its submission, cleaning out and praying
at the Temple Mount in the process.
Some Muslim and non-Muslim sources add
that he built a mosque there. Sixty
years later, the Dome of the Rock was
built, a structure in which there lies
the stone where Muhammad is said to
have tethered his mount Buraq during
the Isra. This is also reputed to be
the place where Abraham went to sacrifice
his son (Isaac in the Jewish tradition,
Ishmael in the Muslim one.) Note that
the octagonal and gold-sheeted Dome
is not the same thing as the Al-Aqsa
Mosque beside it, which was built more
than three centuries later.
Crusader,
Ayyubid, and Mamluk period
In 1099, The Fatimid ruler expelled
the native Christian population before
Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders,
who massacred most of its Muslim and
Jewish inhabitants when they took the
solidly defended city by assault, after
a period of siege; later the Crusaders
created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By
early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population
had declined from 70,000 to less than
30,000.[64]
In 1187, the city was wrested from the
Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews
and Muslims to return and settle in
the city.[65] Under the Ayyubid dynasty
of Saladin, a period of huge investment
began in the construction of houses,
markets, public baths, and pilgrim hostels
as well as the establishment of religious
endowments. However, for most of the
13th century, Jerusalem declined to
the status of a village due to city's
fall of strategic value and Ayyubid
internecine struggles.[66]
In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the
Khwarezmian Tartars, who decimated the
city's Christian population and drove
out the Jews.[67] The Khwarezmian Tartars
were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247.
From 1250 to 1517, Jerusalem was ruled
by the Mamluks. During this period of
time many clashes occurred between the
Mamluks on one side and the crusaders
and the Mongols on the other side. The
area also suffered from many earthquakes
and black plague. |
![You will receive coins from the ALEXANDER JANNAEUS era, who ruled from 103-76 BCE. These famous coins minted in Israel were circulated from the 1st Century BCE until the destruction of the 2nd Beis HaMikdash [Temple] in 132 CE. Nice with brown patina. Crudely struck "leptons" or small, shirt button sized copper coins, struck in the name of the Jewish King ALEXANDER JANNAEUS, who ruled from 103-76 BC.](http://www.milechai.com/images4/lepton-S2.jpg)
