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.
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![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)
