| | | Jerusalem is the holiest city of Judaism (since the 10th century BCE) and some denominations of Christianity (since the 5th century CE) and, after Mecca and Medina, the third holiest city of Islam (since the 7th century CE). A heterogeneous city, Jerusalem represents a wide range of national, religious, and socioeconomic groups. The section called the "Old City" is surrounded by walls and consists of four quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. | | The status of the united Jerusalem as Israel's capital is not widely recognised by the international community and Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem is particularly controversial. Jerusalem's Old City Wall |  From Palestine and Syria. Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, 5th Edition, 1912
(larger image) | Jerusalem's Old City Wall encompasses an area of barely 1km². The existing wall was built in the 16th century (1535-1538) by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Turks. The 4,018 meter long wall incorporates older parts from the Second Temple, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval periods. Before King David's conquest of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-10) in the 10th century BC the city was known as Jebus and the home of the Jebusites. The Bible describes the city as heavily fortified with a strong city wall but not much is known about it. King Solomon extended the city walls. In about 440 BC, under the Persian empire, Nehemiah arrived from Babylon and rebuilt them. The current walls of the Old City do not include the original area conquered by King David. This area, which is now called the City of David, is located to south east of the current Old City Outside The Dung Gate (see also The Temple Gates) | | In AD 41-44 Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, built a new city wall known as the "Third Wall". In 135, after Emperor Hadrian's total destruction of Jerusalem and renaming it to Aelia Capitolina he rebuilt the walls. In 1219 the walls of the city were razed by order of the al-Mu'azzim Sultan of Damascus; in 1229, by treaty with Egypt, Jerusalem came into the hands of Frederick II of Germany. In 1239 he began to rebuild the walls; but they were again demolished by Da'ud, the emir of Kerak. |  The Old City in Jerusalem with Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives
(larger image) | | In 1243 Jerusalem came again into the power of the Christians, and the walls were repaired. The Kharezmian Tatars took the city in 1244 and Sultan Malik al-Muattam razed the city walls, rendering it again defenseless and dealing a heavy blow to the city's status. Some images from the old city of Jerusalem | Ophel meaning hill/mound is the name of the the long, narrow, rounded promontory beyond the southern edge of the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, with the Tyropoeon Valley (valley of the cheesemakers) on its west, the Hinnom valley to the south, and the Kidron Valley on the east. The previously deep valley (the Tyropoeon Valley) separating Ophel from what is now referred to as the Old City of Jerusalem currently lies hidden beneath the accumulated debris of centuries. Despite the name, the Old City of Jerusalem dates from a much later time than the settlement on Ophel, which is generally considered to have been the original Jerusalem; ironically Ophel lies outside the Old City walls. |  Ophel (City of David), Jerusalem, Israel. The Kidron Valley and Mount of Olives are in the background.
(larger image) | | Ophel was once surrounded by a city wall; this wall has been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund at the south-eastern angle of the temple area, 4 feet below the present surface level. Since the Books of Samuel credit David as the first Israelite ruler of the city on Ophel, the archaeological remains of the city are usually referred to by Jews as the City of David (see also biblical archaeology). Ophel was considered part of Jerusalem until the 12th century AD, but after that point became regarded as a separate village (and was mentioned as such by al-Muqaddasi). In 1961 it was absorbed into the municipality of Jerusalem, though it still retains a largely detached character. The modern settlement there is known as Silwan, a corruption of the word Siloam, and has a population of roughly 40,000. In 1882, a Yemenite Jewish community moved into the village, but they were forced to flee during 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. The population of the place is now 40% Jewish and 60% Muslim. The area includes several sites of archeological interest, notably Hezekiah's tunnel (a water supply system, where the Siloam inscription was found), Warren's shaft (an earlier water supply system), and the Pools of Siloam (the presently extant Byzantine-era pool, and the recently discovered Second Temple-period pool). All these water supply systems took their water from the Gihon Spring which lies on the eastern slope of Ophel, and is generally considered the original reason that the City was built at this location. In the 1999 book The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot Dr. Ernest L. Martin claims that Ophel was the location of the original Jewish temple, though this opinion is disputed by most archaeologists, as well as standing in stark contradiction to the tradition that the temple was located at or near the Dome of the Rock. | |