Earliest History

The ancient city is cited on a series of hills (most notably, the Mount of Olives, Mount Moriah, and the hill of Ophel) further defined by a series of valleys (Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoean) and an all-important water source that fed the growing population, the Gihon Spring. Systematic excavations have been ongoing in the area of the ancient settlements since the mid-19th century. As a result of these probes, we know that occupation of the area dates back at least to the Chalcolilthic Period (the late 4th millennium BCE) in the area around the Gihon Spring. Sporadic habitation is attested for the early phases of the Bronze Age, but during the Middle Bronze Age (around the 18th century BCE), the settlement changed dramatically with the addition of a massive enclosure wall, occasionally punctuated by bastions. The city rose to sufficient prominence during the Late Bronze Age that it warranted mention among others in the Amarna texts of the 14th century BCE--it is called Urusalim in the Akkadian-language diplomatic correspondence between kings of Canaanite cities and their overlords in Egypt.

Iron Age : 1200 - 586 BCE

During the Iron Age (from the 12th century until 586 BCE), the city apparently becomes the home and eventual capital of the Biblical King David and his successors. When the Israelites came into Canaan they established a loose confederacy of clans or tribes led by charismatic leaders called Judges, not by kings or elected representatives. In Jerusalem, the center of the occupation moved uphill from the City of David hillside, but little of this era remains due to subsequent building campaigns. The first Temple is erected on the Temple Mount by Solomon in the 10th century, supposedly on the ground where David had established an altar. More defensive walls were built, and elaborate tunnels from the Gihon Spring were also built to ensure that the growing city had continuous access to water, especially during waves of sieges. However, in 586 BCE the city and first Temple are destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer after a three-year siege. Large portions of the population were then sent into exile. Houses excavated throughout the city show significant signs of fire.

Persian and Hellenistic Periods : 586 - 62 BCE

During the Persian period (6th to 4th centuries BCE), much of the city was rebuilt (including the defensive walls, and the Temple), particularly after the Babylonians allowed the exiles to return. During the Hellenistic Period (4th to 2nd centuries BCE), the city population center shifted several times, as the population shrank and expanded. After the death of Alexander the Great, the city fell under the sovereignty of the Seleucids. In 164 BCE, the Maccabees revolted against their rule, their outlawing of many Jewish practices, and their conversion of the Second Temple into a pagan shrine. The revolt was successful (celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Hannukah) and an autonomous state was established under Hasmonean rule with Jerusalem as the capital. The urban center gradually shifts from the City of David hill to the upper city around the Temple Mount area and the western hill, and new defensive walls were built. The Hellenistic era ends when the Roman general Pompey conquers the city in 63 BCE, and makes the territory a vassal Roman state.

Roman Period : 63 BCE - 330 CE

Jerusalem reached new grandeur under Herod the Great, a Roman-appointed local king, who ruled from 37-4 BCE. He embarked on a extensive building campaign all over Israel, but in Jerusalem he significantly changed the architecture of the city by vastly enlarging and embellishing the Temple Mount, designing a new Temple much more opulent and larger than any one previous, adding a sumptuous Palace and several villas, and reworking the fortification walls and entry gates to the city, as well as the streets inside the walls. The city next became the focus of regional attention and Christian reverence following the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.

A Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in 69 CE was decisively put down and the Romans burned and destroyed most of the city and the Temple in 70 CE in response. Excavations show that nearly all the city at this time became covered in burnt debris and tumbled walls (except for small portions of the Temple Mount and some areas of the western hill’s city wall). The city lay in ruins for nearly 60 years, until the Emperor Hadrian decided to rebuild it as a typical Roman colony city, renamed Aelia Capitolina, with colonnaded north-south main street, a grid plan, Roman temples, and the campsite of the 10th Roman Legion (it is this layout that can still be seen in the organization of the sectors and streets of the Old City).

Byzantine Period : 330 - 638 CE

When Christianity took hold of the Empire, Jerusalem again became a center for pilgrims and newly emerging clergy. Slowly, the Roman-era constructions gave way to numerous Christian churches and shrines erected to mark events or locations associated with the life or death of Jesus. In 326 CE Queen Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, came to the city to oversee the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher rising over the presumed site of Jesus’ crucifixion, entombment, and resurrection (and indeed, marking a change in the city’s fortunes, over the site of a Roman temple to Aphrodite). The city (with an array of large churches, new fortification walls, and newly built residential districts) reached a new apex in grandeur and regional importance by the 6th century. However, in the 7th century, the city suffered under a series of battles--in 614 the city was captured by the Persians, but then taken back by the Byzantine Christians in 629, only to be surrendered again, this time to the Arabs in 638 under Caliph Omar I, which marks the end of the Byzantine era in the city.

The Islamic Dynasties : 661 - 1517 CE

Although the layout of the city did not change much under Islamic rule of the Umayyad Dynasty, the religious focus moved from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher back up to the Temple Mount, the high point and traditional center of the city’s worship. Caliph Omar built a small shrine on the Temple Mount to mark the spot where Muhammed was said to have risen to heaven turning the moment into a spiritual and religious event. From 687-691 Caliph Abd al-Malik constructed, on that same spot, the sumptuous Dome of the Rock. From 711-713, Caliph Walid al-Malik erected the El ‘Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, and the city became second only to Mecca as a pilgrimage site holy to Islam. A series of earthquakes seem to have hit the city and region during the middle of the 8th century and again during the middle of the 11th century, leveling most of the monuments except the Dome of the Rock.

The city’s fortunes and architecture remained relatively unchanged until the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099. The city walls were realigned and churches were again prominent. When the city returned to Islamic control under the Ayyubid and Ottoman Dynasties (12th-early 20th centuries), the city was again reconstructed, with a series of mosques, new residential quarters, and fortification walls constructed (it is this era’s architecture that is most evident today). The Ottoman Empire is broken up following World War I and much of the Middle East falls under the British Mandate. In 1948, the sovereign state of Israel is created, with Jerusalem as its capital, although it remained a divided city until 1967, continuing a millennia-old trend of political revolts, shifting religious controls, and architectural prominence.