First Temple Period, ca. 1000 B.C — 586 B.C. - ca. 1000 B.C. — Kind David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites; the City of David becomes the nation's capital.
- 964 — King Solomon begins to construct the First Temple
- 928 — The Kingdom is divided in two; Israel in the north and the Judah in the south
- 722 — Israel, the Northern Kingdom, falls to the Assyrians.
- 701 — Seeacherid besieges Jerusalem in the reign of Hezekiah.
- 586 — Nebuchadnezzar II destroys the city and the Temple, and exiles the inhabitants to Babylon.
Second Temple Period, 538 B.C. — A.D. 70 - 538 B.C. — Jews receive permission from Cyrus the Great to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
- 445 — Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem, following Ezra.
- 332 — Alexander the Great conquers the country.
- 313 — Ptolmy captures Jerusalem.
- 169 — Antiochus of Syria desecrates the Temple, leading to the Hasmonaean (Maccabaean) revolt.
- 63- Pompey and his Roman legions conquer the city.
- 37 — Herod the Great rules until 4 B.C.
- A.D. 4 — Jerusalem is governed by Roman procurators from Caesarea.
- 4-6 — Birth of Jesus. (many chronologists conclude that the year 6 BC is the most likely year of Jesus' birth. Consequently, Jesus would have been about four to six years old in the year AD 1.
- 27 – Suggested death of Jesus (Earliest).
- 36 – Suggested death of Jesus (Latest);
- 66 — The Jews revolt against the Romans.
- 70 — Jerusalem is demolished by Titus; the survivors are exiled or sold into slavery.
Roman Period, 135 — 324 - 70 — Bar Kochba leads a doomed revolt against Rome
 . - 135 — Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem and renames the city Aelia Capitolina and the country Palestine.
Byzantine Period, 324 — 638 - 326 — Queen Helena discovers Golgotha; her son, Emperor Constantine the Great, builds the church of the Holy Sepulchre (see image above).
- 362 — Under Emperor Julian and unsuccessful attempt is made by the Jews to rebuild the Temple.
- 614 — The Persians invade Jerusalem, aided by the Jews.
- 629 — Emperor Heraclius captures the city.
Early Moslem Period, 638—1099 - 638 — Jerusalem surrenders to the Moslems; Caliph Oman visits.
- 691 — Abd el-Malek builds the Dome of the Rock.
- 715 — Mosque of el-Aqsa is completed by el-Walid el-Malek.
- 750 — Power shifts from Omayyads to Abbasids.
- 969 — Fatimid conquest is soon followed by destruction of churches and synagogues.
- 1071 — Seljuks devastate the city.
Crusader Period, 1099 — 1187 - 1099 — Crusaders conquer city, slaughter Moslems and Jews.
- 1187 — Saladin captures the city from the Crusaders.
- 1229 — Treaty returns city to Christian rule.
- 1244 — City is again in Moslem hands.
- 1260 — Mamluks rule Jerusalem.
- 1267 — Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman establishes the Ramban Synagogue.
- 1492 — Many Jews arrive in Jerusalem after the Spanish exile.
Ottoman Period, 1517—1917 - 1517 — Palestine and Jerusalem become part of Ottoman Empire.
- 1538 — Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds Jerusalem's Wall.
- 1831 — Mohammed Ali of Egypt rules country for nine years.
- 1856 — After Crimean War, Turks begin to liberalize policies toward aliens.
- 1860 — The city begins to spread beyond Old City Wall.
- 1892 — Railroad connects city to the coast.
British Mandate, 1917 — 1948 - 1917 — General Allenby accepts surrender of Jerusalem by the Turks.
- 1920 — The Mandate for Palestine is conferred on Britain.
- 1936 — Lord Peel's Commission proposes partition of Palestine.
- 1947 — The United Nations votes to create Jewish and Arab states in Palestine; plan is rejected by the Arabs.
- 1948 — War breaks out; State of Israel declared on May 14
Under Jordan and Israel, 1948 — 1967- 1949 — Cease-fire finds city divided; Jerusalem is proclaimed capital of Israel.
- 1967 — Israelis capture Old City during Six-Day War; city is reunited.
taken from JerusalemWalks, Rivised Edition, Nitza Rosovsky ISBN 0-8050-1553-1, 1992 (p. 27-31) Each of these days has an associated holy text, the Hagada for Pesach (Passover) and the Machzor for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), which stresses the desire to return to Jerusalem. Today, with over a quarter million Jews practicing Orthodox Judaism living in Jerusalem, the Jewish festivals come to life in the Old and New Cities. The Western Wall, as well as synagogues throughout the city, host tens of thousands of fervent worshippers and celebrants. The saddest day on the Jewish religious calendar is the Ninth of Av, when Jews traditionally spend the day mourning over the loss of their two Holy Temples and the destruction of Jerusalem. In accordance with Jewish mourning custom, hundreds of people come to the Western Wall, site of the former Temples (see The Temples of Jerusalem), throughout the night and day of this 24-hour fast to sit on the ground and cry over the destruction. Besides the Ninth of Av, two minor, dawn to dusk fast days also commemorate aspects of the destruction of Jerusalem. On the Tenth of Tevet, Jews mourn the time when Babylonia laid siege to the First Temple. On the Seventeenth of Tammuz, the mourning recalls the day that the army of Rome broke through the outer walls of the Second Temple. The words used when Jews console any mourner during the customary Seven Days of Mourning are: "May God comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem" Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Torah but is mentioned in later parts on the Tanakh, and Old Testament, a text sacred to both Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism it is considered the Written Law, the basis for the Oral Law (Mishnah, Talmud and Shulkhan Arukh) studied, practiced and treasured by Jews and Judaism for three millennia (list of Jewish prayers and blessings). In Christianity, it is considered as the account of God's relationship with His chosen people — the original covenant — and the essential prelude to the events narrated in the New Testament, including both universal commandments (e.g. the Ten Commandments) and obsolete or Judaism-specific ones. For example, the book of Psalms, which has been frequently recited and memorized by Jews and Christians for centuries, says: (etc.) "By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion." (Psalms 137:1) "For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning . If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof; O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us." (Psalms 137:3-8). "O God, the nations have entered into your inheritance, they have defiled the sanctuary of your holiness, they have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble..they have shed their blood like water round Jerusalem.." (Psalms 79:1-3); "...O Jerusalem, the built up Jerusalem is like a city that is united together..Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.." (Psalms 122:2-6); "Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains as God surrounds his people forever" (Psalms 125:3); "The builder of Jerusalem is God, the outcast of Israel he will gather in..Praise God O Jerusalem, laud your God O Zion." (Psalms 147:2-12) For 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, as described above. Jerusalem is the place where Jesus was brought as a child, to be 'presented' at the Temple (Luke 2:22) and to attend festivals (Luke 2:41). According to the Gospels, Jesus preached and healed in Jerusalem, especially in the Temple courts. There is also an account of Jesus' 'cleansing' of the Temple, chasing various traders out of the sacred precincts (Mark 11:15). At the end of each of the Gospels, there are accounts of Jesus' Last Supper in an 'upper room' in Jerusalem, his arrest in Gethsemane, his trial, his crucifixion at Golgotha, his burial nearby and his resurrection and ascension. Tradition holds that the place of the Last Supper is the Cenacle, on the second floor of the Mosque of the Prophet David (Masjid an-Nabi Daud), with the supposed tomb of David on the first floor. The place of Jesus' anguished prayer and betrayal, Gethsemane, is probably somewhere near the Church of All Nations on the Mount of Olives. Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate may have taken place at the Antonia Fortress, to the north of the Temple area. Popularly, the exterior pavement where the trial was conducted is beneath the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Other Christians believe that Pontius Pilate tried Jesus at Herod's Palace on Mount Zion. The Via Dolorosa, or way of suffering, is the traditional route to Golgotha, the place of crucifixion, and is an important pilgrimage. The route ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (perhaps the most holy place for Christians). The Holy Sepulchre is traditionally believed to be the location of Golgotha and Jesus' nearby tomb. The original church was built in 336 by Constantine the Great. The Garden Tomb is a popular pilgrimage site near the Damascus Gate (see The Temple Gates). It was suggested by Charles George Gordon that this site, rather than the Holy Sepulchre, is the true place of Golgotha. The Acts of the Apostles and Pauline Epistles show James the Just, the brother of Jesus, as leader of the early Jerusalem church. He and his successors were the focus for Jewish Christians until the destruction of the city by Emperor Hadrian in 135. The exclusion of Jews from the new city of Aelia meant that gentile bishops were appointed under the authority of the Metropolitans of Caesarea and, ultimately, the Patriarchs of Antioch. Emperor Constantine I and his mother, Helena, endowed Jerusalem with churches and shrines, making it the foremost centre of Christian pilgrimage. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 raised the bishop of Jerusalem to the rank of patriarch, fifth in rank behind Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch . However, Byzantine politics (see Byzantine Empire) meant that Jerusalem simply passed from the Syrian jurisdiction of Antioch to the Greek authorities in Constantinople. For centuries, Greek clergy dominated the Jerusalem church. In 638, Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, handed over the keys of the city to Calif Umar's Muslim forces. The relation between the Christian populace and the Muslim authorities in the city appear to have been good (with the one exception of Calif al-Hakim's execution of the patriarch and destruction of the Holy Sepulchre), and Christian artisans were used to build the Dome of the Rock (see The Temple Mount). On 15 July 1099, the army of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem and brutalized its inhabitants. The crusaders showed equal, if not greater, animosity towards Eastern Christians to that showed against Muslims. Jerusalem became the capital of a 'Latin Kingdom' with a Latin church and a Latin Patriarch, all under the authority of the Pope. In 1187, when Saladin captured the city, the Holy Sepulchre and many other churches were returned to the care of Eastern Christians. From the 17th to the 19th century, various Catholic European nations petitioned the Ottoman Empire for Catholic control of the 'holy places'. The Franciscans are the traditional Catholic custodians of the holy places. Control swung back and forth between the western and eastern churches throughout this period. Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I (1839-1861), perhaps out of despair, published a firman that laid out in detail the exact rights and responsibility of each community at the Holy Sepulchre. This document became known as the Status Quo, and is still the basis for the complex protocol of the shrine. The Status Quo was upheld by the British Mandate and Jordan. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and the passing of the Old City into Israeli hands, the Knesset passed a law protecting the holy places. Five Christian communities currently have rights in the Holy Sepulchre: the Greek Patriarchate, Latins (Western Rite Roman Catholics), Armenians, Copts and Syriac Orthodox. The 'New Jerusalem' is the focus of a vision at the end of the Book of Revelation. It is the perfect city where God lives among his people. See also |