| Revision as of 21:01, 8 November 2003 view sourceWhisperToMe (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users662,778 editsNo edit summary | Revision as of 06:37, 12 November 2003 view source Mav (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users77,874 edits #REDIRECT Jerusalem; moving back; summarize the history there and then move the detail hereNext edit → | ||
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| == Antiquity == | |||
| This city has known many wars and various periods of occupation. At one time it was the capital of the ]s. Later it came under Jewish control. The ] records that ] defeated the Jebusites in war and captured the city, making it the capital city of the ]. | |||
| Later, the ] was built in Jerusalem by ]. The Temple became a major cultic center in the region, eventually overcoming other ritual centers such as Shilo and Bethel. By the end of the "First Temple Period", Jerusalem was the sole acting religious shrine in the kingdom and a center of regular pilgrimage. It was at this time that historical records begin to corroborate the biblical history, and the kings of Judah are historically identifiable. | |||
| Jerusalem was the capital of the ] for some 400 years. It had survived (or, as some historians claim, averted) an ] siege in ], unlike ], the capital of the ], which had fallen in ]. However, the city was overcome by the Babylonians in ], who then took the young king ] into eternal captivity, together with most of the aristocracy of that time. However, the country rebelled again under ], prompting the city's repeated conquest and destruction by ]. The temple was burnt, and the city's walls were ruined, thus rendering what remained of the city unprotected. | |||
| After several decades of ], the Jews returned to Judah and rebuilt the city's walls and the Temple. It has continued to be the capital of Judah, as a province under the Persians, Greek and Romans, with a relatively short period of independence. The Temple complex was upgraded and the Temple itself rebuilt under ], however by convention it is considered ] (not Third). | |||
| The city was ruined yet again when a civil war accompanied by a revolt against Rome in ] led to the city's repeated sack and ruin, by the hands of ] at ] AD. The ] 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 ] or Western Wall. | |||
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| == First millennium == | |||
| Sixty years later, the Roman emperor Hadrian ordered the city to be resettled, under the name ''Aelia Capitolina''. Jews were forbidden to enter the city, but for a single day of the year, The Ninth of Av (see ]), when they could weep for the destruction of their city at the Temple's only remaining wall. The ], which came to control the region in after the split of the ], cherished the city for its Christian history. However, in accordance with traditions of religious tolerance often found in the ancient East, Jews were allowed into it in the ] A.D. | |||
| Although the ] never mentions the name "Jerusalem", Islamic tradition holds it that it was from Jerusalem that Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven to receive the Koran. The city was one of the ]'s first conquests in ] AD. Sixty years later, the Dome of the Rock was built, a structure in which there lies a stone, from which as tradition says Muhammad rose up. (This is also reputed to be the place 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. | |||
| == Second millennium == | |||
| On ], ] during the ], Christian soldiers took Jerusalem after a difficult one month siege. They then proceeded to slaughter most of the city's Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. ], chaplain to ], Count of Toulouse, wrote: | |||
| :''Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one's way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared to what happened at the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious ceremonies were ordinarily chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, it will exceed your powers of belief. So let it suffice to say this much, at least, that in the Temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle-reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. The city was filled with corpses and blood.'' (Edward Peters, The First Crusade: The chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and other source materials, p. 214) | |||
| Jerusalem became the capital of the ], which lasted until ], although Jerusalem itself was recaptured by ] in ]. In ] ] visited Jerusalem. He described it as a small city full of ]s, ]s, ], and ]. Two hundred ]s dwelt in a corner of the city under the ]. | |||
| In ] the walls of the city were taken down by order of the ]; in ], by treaty with ], Jerusalem came into the hands of ]. In ] he began to rebuild the walls; but they were again demolished by ], the emir of ]. | |||
| In ] Jerusalem came again into the power of the ]s, and the walls were repaired. The ]s took the city in ]; and they in turn were driven out by the Egyptians in ]. In ] the Tatars under ] overran the whole land, and the Jews that were in Jerusalem had to flee to the neighboring villages. | |||
| The early Arab period was also one of religious tolerance. However, in early 11th century, the Egyptian Caliph ] ordered the destruction of all churches and synagogues in Jerusalem. The ]rs, at the end of the century, captured Jerusalem and massacred the whole Jewish and Muslim population. They made Jerusalem the center of a feudal state, of which the King of Jerusalem was the chief. Neither Jews nor Muslims were allowed into the city during that time. In ], Jerusalem was retaken by ], who permitted worship of all religions. | |||
| In ], Sultan ] razed the ], rendering it again defenseless and dealing a heavy blow to the city's status. In the middle of the ], Jerusalem was captured by the Egyptian ]s. In ], it was taken over by the ] and enjoyed a period of renewal under ] - 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 city remained open to all religions, although the empire's faulty management after Suleiman meant slow economical stagnation. | |||
| In ], the visiting Dominican 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 Saracens, Greeks, Syrians, Jacobites, Abyssianians, Nestorians, Armenians, Gregorians, Maronites, Turcomans, Bedouins, Assassins, a sect possibly Druzes, Mamelukes, and ''the most accursed of all'', Jews. Only the Latin Christians ''long with all their hearts for Christian princes to come and subject all the country to the authority of the Church of Rome''. (A. Stewart, Palestine Pilgrims Text Society, Vol 9-10, p. 384-391) | |||
| == 19th-early 20th centuries == | |||
| 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 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 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 Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, and Ethiopian churches. Tensions between the groups ran so deep that the keys to the shrine were kept with a 'neutral' Muslim family for safekeeping. | |||
| At that time, the communities were located mainly around their primary shrines. The Muslim community, then the largest, 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, which had 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, which shifted the balance of population. The first such immigrants were ultra-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 Messiah, 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 their with the imminent collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This was also an age of Christian religious revival, and many churches sent missionaries to ] 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 Shaananim, 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. | |||
| 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 neighborhoods flourished and the Old City of Jerusalem gradually emerged as little more than an impoverished older neighborhood. | |||
Revision as of 06:37, 12 November 2003
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