First Temple Period (c. 1000-586 BCE)

Second Temple Period (586 BCE - 135 CE)

One City,Many People (135 CE - 1860)

Expanding Jerusalem (1860 - 1948)

State of Israel (1948 - 1990s)

Information from The Sources of Jerusalem, Chaim Feder and Laura Janner-Klausner, Education Matters Ltd., Jerusalem.

First Temple Period

Once Jerusalem was a small, isolated, mountain city that was under Egyptian control. Then the Jebusites took over the city and called it Jebus. The Jebusites were a quiet, independent people that did not mix with other people living in Canaan, including the Israelites that controlled much of the land around the city of Jebus. Jebus, inhabited by a couple of thousand people, was well protected by deep valleys on three sides, a fortress on the fourth side, and a strong wall all around. Thus, the Jebusites were greatly surprised when a small force of Israelite soldiers, led by David, entered the city through underground water tunnels and conquered it.

c. 1000 BCE     David conquers Jerusalem

c. 967 BCE     Solomon's begins his reign

c. 963 BCE     Solomon builds Temple

927 BCE     Kingdom splits, Northern tribes succeed

722 BCE     Northern Kingdom (Israel) falls

586 BCE     Southern Kingdom (Judah) falls

Immense change took place in Jerusalem during the 400 years following David's conquest of the city. Soon after the conquest, David brought the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Tablets of the Law, from the village of Kiryat Ye'arim to Jerusalem. David made the city the Israelite's national capital. Thus, David made the city both a religious and political center of his kingdom.

Massive construction followed. Most notably, Solomon built the Temple. After Solomon's death, the northern Israelite tribes wanted to set up their own state. While Jerusalem then became the capital of a smaller nation, it still continued to grow. A regular procession of kings - some good and some bad - reigned over the city. The city's population grew to approximately 30,000 people. When the Assyrians threatened the city, fortifications and water systems were added. However, none of this helped once the Babylonians arrived. The Babylonians destroyed the city and the first Temple.

Second Temple Period

After their conquest, the Babylonians left Jerusalem in piles of rubble and led thousands and thousands of Judeans back to Babylonia. In Babylonia, the Jews, with the help of leaders and prophets, acquired a strengthened faith and national determination. A few thousand Jews, after about 50 years in exile, came back to Jerusalem, began to clear the debris and rebuild the Temple.

c. 536 BCE     Jews return to Judea from Babylonian exile

c. 515 BCE     Second Temple is built

c. 444 BCE     Nehemiah rebuilds walls of Jerusalem

332 BCE     Alexander the Great conquers Jerusalem

320 BCE     Ptolemies conquer Jerusalem

200 BCE     Seleucids conquer Jerusalem

c. 164 BCE     Judah Maccabee retakes Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple

c. 63 BCE     Romans gain control of Jerusalem

c. 33 CE     Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem

70 CE     Romans conquer Jerusalem and destroy the Second Temple

132-35 CE     Bar Kochba revolt

During this 600 year period (530 BCE-130 CE), different empires took control of Jerusalem: Persians, Macedonian Greeks (Alexander the Great), Egyptian Greeks, Syrian Greeks, Hasmoneans (nature Judeans) and Romans.

Under the Romans, Herod came into power; he ruled from 37-4 BCE. While Herod was considered a cruel ruler, he was a brilliant builder. Herod built palaces, fortresses and monuments, but his crowning achievement was the reconstruction of the Temple. Herod's building campaign and Roman technology made Jerusalem a beautiful city. The rabbis of the period wrote, "Ten measures of beauty descended on the world; nine of them were alloted to Jerusalem."

Despite the city's beauty, relations between the city's Jewish residents and the Roman troops deteriorated over time. In Herod's time, the population of Jerusalem grew to 60,000 people. The city's Jews were greatly disturbed by many religious insensitivities, such as the Roman edict to decorate the city with statues of the Roman emperor. Over time, Jewish discontent led to revolt which eventually led to a bloodbath. The Romans destroyed the city, including the Second Temple, and banished the Jews.

Information from The Sources of Jerusalem, Chaim Feder and Laura Janner-Klausner, Education Matters Ltd., Jerusalem.

One City, Many Conquerers (135-1860)

After their conquest of Jerusalem (which they renamed Aelia Capitolina), the Romans erased all traces of the Jews who used to live there. Then they rebuilt the city as a pagan city, full of statues of Roman emperors and gods.

324     Constantine becomes emperor in Byzantium

614     Persians conquer Jerusalem

638     Muslims conquer Jerusalem

1099     Crusaders conquer Jerusalem

1167     Saladin conquers Jerusalem

1260     Mamelukes conquer Jerusalem

1517     Ottomans conquer Jerusalem

1838     Britain opens consulate in Jerusalem

During this 1700 year period, Jews never regained control over Jerusalem, but they were continuously present as a minority. In the midst of grand mosques for the Muslims and churches for the Christians, small synagogues existed for the city's Jews.

Information from The Sources of Jerusalem, Chaim Feder and Laura Janner-Klausner, Education Matters Ltd., Jerusalem.

Jerusalem underwent a period of improvement as the Ottomon's rebuilt the city's walls, reinstated the markets, and refurbished the mosques. At some point, however, the Ottomon empire lost interest in Jerusalem, and then anarchy, poverty, disease and crime overtook the city.

Partly due to the city's deteriorating conditions, Jerusalem residents began to build homes outside the walls of the city in the mid-19th century. Also at this time, for the first time in 1,800 years, Jew became the dominant group in their ancient capital, making up more than half of the city's 18,000 residents.

The growth of the Jewish population and their migration outside the city's walls was supported by Jewish philanthropists from abroad, such as Sir Moses Montefiore. Montefiore, a highly successful British merchant, rebuilt the Hurvah syngagoue, established a printing press, a soup kitchen, housing for the poor, a girl's school, the city's first Jewish hospital, and the first Jewish neighborhood outside the city's walls called Mishkenot Sha'ananim (the Tranquil Abode).

1860     Mishkenot Sha'ananim built

1917     Balfour Declaration

1917     Ottomon rule in Jerusalem ends. British rule begins.

1936-39     Arab Revolt in Palestine

1939     British issue the White Paper

1946     Irgun bombs the King David hotel

1947     United Nations votes on the partition of Palestine

1948     State of Israel gains independence

Building outside the city's walls continued at feverish pace. The Germans, Russians, French and British built churches, hospitals, consulates, orphanages, schools, hotels, and more. In less than a hundred years (1860-1948), the population of Jerusalem grew almost tenfold, from 18,000 to over 160,000 (including 100,000 Jews).

Once the Turks left Palestine at the end of World War I, the British took over. The burgeonling Arab and Jewish nationalist movements challenged the British rule, which consequently only lasted for thirty years.

Information from The Sources of Jerusalem, Chaim Feder and Laura Janner-Klausner, Education Matters Ltd., Jerusalem.

Capital of the Jewish State (1948-today)

The UN vote to partition Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State and the end of British rule led to joyful celebrations for the Jews. The celebrations were very short-lived, however, because almost immediately the fledgling country was at war on all fronts. In additions to the attacks from local Arabs, now five armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Transjordan invaded the new State.

While Israel was victorious against great odds, some 6,000 Jews (about 1% of the total Jewish population) died in the War of Independence. At the end of the war, the ceasefire lines drawn became the borders for Israel during the first decades of her existence. A ceasefire line, running north to south, divided Jerusalem so that the western part of the city was under Israeli rule and the eastern part, including the Old City, were under Jordanian control.

1948     State of Israel is founded

1948-49     War of Independence

1949-52     Waves of immigration

1967     Six Day War and Reunification of Jerusalem

1973     Yom Kippur War

1977     Sadat visits Jerusalem

1982     Lebanon War

1987     First Intifada

1989-1992     Mass immigration from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia

1991     Gulf War

1994     Peace with Jordan

2000-2004     Second Intifada

During the 1967 Six Day War, Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem, giving Jews access to their holy sites such as the Western Wall of the Temple. Throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century, the city and country continued to suffer from the tension of having two people, Jews and Arabs, both claiming their right to the land.

The UN has suggested making Jerusalem an international city, but both Arabs and Jews have rejected this idea.

While many peace initiatives have been pursued, peace will only come once ideas and attitudes are changed. Until there is a psychological, emotional change among the people, tension will continue to reign in Jerusalem.

Information from The Sources of Jerusalem, Chaim Feder and Laura Janner-Klausner, Education Matters Ltd., Jerusalem.