Interesting History of Jerusalem

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Hello you and Welcome:

What do you think about Jerusalem and its background history?

Do you have have any interesting thoughts about what may be presented to you here?

If you would like to know more about Jerusalem and some of its History. ~ Please read down below.

This information has came from a bible known as the Thompson Chain Study Bible (NKJV)- From 1997. Archaeological Supplement ~ JERUSALEM ~ History - 4391 (Thompson Chain Reference number) ~ These bibles can be found sold on sites like ebay, they are a bit expensive but have a lot of history and reference, and study helps on thousands of topics.

4391 ~ ~ ~ Jerusalem a city of central importance to three of the world's major religions, was called by Pliny the Elder "by far the most renowned city of the ancient East." The city has been besieged, captured, or destroyed in whole or in part more than forty times over the past six thousand years. It has provided endless challenged for archaeologist because of its complex history and because of the present-day occupants living on top of the ancient remains.

~~~ Explorations within the city have required elaborate and often dangerous underground excavations and rapid rescue archaeology digs near the surface when new construction is being undertaken. Due to these complications, we know far more about archaeological history of the sites like Megiddo, Hazor, Dan, and Samaria than about that of Jerusalem.

~~~ Significant early archaeological work in Jerusalem was undertaken by E. Robison, F. Bliss, A. Dickie, C. Warren, C. Clermont-Ganneau, L. H. Vincent, R. Weill, j. G. Duncan, and R. A. S. Macalister. Unfortunately much of this work was hampered by poor archeological methods that has limited its value in archaeological reconstruction effort by present-day archaeologists. Kathleen Kenyon undertook extensive excavations in the Ophel Hill area from 1961-1967, finding the Jebusite wall that faced David and his men and putting the archaeology of Old Testament Jerusalem on a much sounder archaeological footing. Since the Israeli occupation of the entire city there has been more excavations within Jerusalem than during all previous decades combined. Major excavation have been undertaken B. Mazar, M. Ben-Dov, N. Avigad, Y. Shiloh, D. Bahat, M. Broshi, A. D. Tushingham, S. Ben-Arieh, and E. Netzer. Due to this work, the major outlines of the city are known reasonably well, although there remain major disagreements and questions among experts.

~~~ The Old Testament city and its Jebusite precursor lay on the Ophel Ridge south of and extending up to the present Temple Mount (see the idealized map at 4308g for a general orientation). The walls of the present- day Old City of Jerusalem date to the time of the Crusades and beyond, although along lower portions of some parts of the wall, and giant foundation stones from Herodian times may be seen. The streets of the time Jesus Christ, lie several feet underneath the winding streets of the present-day Old City.

~ ~ ~ The excavations upon the Ophel Ridge, especially by Keyon and more recently by Shiloh, established that fortifications existed there since 1800 bc, The Jebusite city that David's men conquered has been mapped in a general way based upon excavations at selected points along its circumference. Early work by c. warren uncovered a water shaft that he believed men to conquer the city. (2 S 5:6-10; 1 Chr 11:4-9) This water system, however, is to recent to be the one used by David's men and can only be traversed today by skilled climbers using mountain-climbing equipment.

(Total 1 of 3 parts)

 

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(Part 2)

~~~ Fortifications and some houses from the Late Bronze Age (1550 - 1200 B. C. ) and Iron Age I (1200-1000 B. C.) have been located. The interpretation of these of these fragmentary findings, however, is far from settle. The extent and nature of the Iron Age II (1000-586 B. C.) city, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. is much clearer. Archaeological evidence indicated considerable expansion of the city in the eighth century B. C., which likely peaked during the reign of Hezekiah. A massive 9-foot-high fortification wall from this period has been found. Integrated within these fortifications were a series of city buildings. The entire west Hill was occupied by the city walls and buildings. Hezekiah's water tunnel was constructed (see the Siloam entry -- 4436).

~~~ A house within these layers contained a set of fifty-one clay sealings, or bullae, which were used to seal documents. Most of them were fully preserved due to the fires set by the Babylonians. Fifty-one personal names appear on the bullae in Hebrew script. Two have been tentatively identified with biblical characters: Gemariah the son of Shaphan (Je 36:9-12) and Azariah the son of Hilkiah (1 Chr 6:13; 9:11; Ezr 7:1).

~~~ Archaeological evidence for the told destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians has been extensively documented ( 2 Ki 25:8-10. Je 39:8; 2 Chr 36:18-19), The pottery from this destruction layer accords well with pottery from destruction layers found at Lachish, Arad, and Ramat Rahel.

~~~ The Bible Records that the temple and the walls of ancient Jerusalem were rebuilt during the time of the Persians under the direction of Ezra and Nehemiah. Portions of the reconstructed walls have been identified in excavations by Macalister and Duncan, Kenyon, and Shiloh. The Persian style pottery and the uncovered fortifications indicate that only the southeast hill was occupied during this time and that the city was relatively small. Hellenistic and Roman remains have also been found on the Old testament city site, but they are not as extensive as those found throughout the upper city of the New Testament period.

(Total 2 of 3 parts)

 

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(Part 3) ~ Final

~ ~ ~ New Testament Jerusalem occupied the two hills on either side of the shallow Tyropean Valley (see the map at entry 4308) The majority of the remains of the temple from Herod's time were destroyed by the Roman general Titus in A. D. 70. For the features and information about this templed, we are dependent upon the New testament and the writings of Josephus (she the schematic model at 4319). Only the lower portions of the retaining wall foundation remain. A modern visitor to Jerusalem can view these portions of Herodian construction at the southeast corner of the temple mount area, the west side of the Wailing Wall, and south of the Wailing Wall at the excavations conducted by B. Mazar. The closed and walled-up Double and Triple Gates in the south wall of the city also date to this period in the history of the city.

~~ ~ Remains of the ancient Castle of Antonia can be seen under the present Convent of our Lady of Sion and the Franciscan Convent of the the Flagellation. Portions of the three walls that have been found, but the exact location of the perimeters of these walls is still in question. The best way to gain an appreciation of the city of Jesus' time is to visit the archaeological model of Herodian Jerusalem at the holylandHotel in the modern city's suburbs. This model is updated on a continuing on a continuing basis to reflect current archaeological understandings of the New Testament City.

(Total 3 of 3 parts)

 

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It's a good city to fight in and fight over. I'm reminded of the brawls between Christian sects at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre not to mention that Jews, Christians and Muslims have fought over it and occupied it for millennia leaving a truly rich archeological record.