3/8/11 Lecture 19

In today’s lecture we started to cover Jerusalem in the 20^th century. Leading up to the 20^th century we saw Jerusalem reestablished as a center for the Jewish faith. The idea of secular Zionism began to immerge when ethnic Jews (not necessarily religious Jews) began to move back to Jerusalem. Deeper than the need to settle in Jerusalem was the need for the Jews to settle together and the Zionists built the city of Tel Aviv as a central city. During this time period there was also a rise in European nationalism, which lead to a large number of Jews leaving for Palestine. The increase in the number of Jews in Palestine lead to increased conflict between the Jews and Arabs. In 1916 the Sykes-Picot Agreement left the areas of Palestine, Jordan, and Southern Iraq under British control. In 1917 the British made their intensions of establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine known with the Balfour Declaration. The condition was that they would do their best to facilitate this as long as it did not interfere with “the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities” (Balfour Declaration). The period of British mandate lasted from 1918-1948 during which time the British promised to protect the holy lands of all faiths. In 1922, Britain partitioned an area for a Jewish settlement west of the Jordan River. The area east of the Jordan was renamed Transjordan. In 1937 the Peel Commission suggested a “two state” solution to the escalating conflict between Arabs and Jews. With this plan, a Jewish state would include Galilee, the Upper Jordan Valley and the Coastal Plain. The Arab state would include the Central Hills, the West Bank, and Negev. Jerusalem would remain a neutral, international city. The U.N. approved the plan in 1947. The Zionists, who would receive less land, accepted the plan as a minimum the Arabs however, rejected the plan. This lead to fights breaking out in Jerusalem. This also marks the end of British mandate, as no resolution could be reached and the battle was not theirs to fight. This lead to the War of Independence, or the Arab-Israeli War, in 1948. The result of the war was the formation of Jordan (Arab) and Israel (Jewish) who split Jerusalem into East and West sides respectively. This is kind of where we left off in lecture, with Jordan and Israel fighting over Jerusalem, with both of them naming it as a capital city. 

2/22/11 Lecture 15

This post is for the lecture from last Tuesday that I missed on Byzantine Jerusalem. This period takes place between 312 CE – 637 CE. Jesus himself was Jewish and the first Christians were actually a branch of Jewish followers. They rejected the temple as a fixed holy place and started the idea of the Holy Spirit that walks with us. Faith became something that you were, that was in your mind, not something that you physically had to go do at a temple. This is all rooted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Once the Jews were exiled from Jerusalem the Romans renamed the city Aelia Capitolia. In 285 CE the Roman Empire was split into 2 parts with two emperors in each kingdom. What ends up happening is that Constantine the Great takes over the entire kingdom and unites the Holy Roman Empire under one emperor again. Constantine the Great used Christianity politically to unite the entire kingdom. In 313 CE he issues the Edict of Milan that legalizes Christianity and fundamentally changes the way Christianity was to be practiced. Christianity was split up into many different sects with varying beliefs so Constantine had to bring them all together under one set of orthodox beliefs at the Council of Nicaea in 324 CE. This is where they came up with the doctrine of the trinity. This was the belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and that Jesus and the Father were both fully human and fully God. Constantine’s mom, Helena, comes to Jerusalem in 324 CE and destroys the pagan temple to Venus to find the place where Jesus was crucified. She then builds a new church over the spot where she though Jesus was crucified and this became the new center of Jerusalem. There is also record of Julian “the Apostate” trying to rebuild the Jewish temple in Jerusalem but he could not complete it, as he faced much resistance. Just like the Jews, the new Christians begin making their own Pilgrimages to Jerusalem. They recognize Jerusalem as a sacred place because it was the place where Jesus walked.

The Madaba Map, which is dated to the 6^th century CE, depicts the holy land and Jerusalem and is located on the floor of a church in Madaba. This mosaic helps shed some light on the geography of the city of Jerusalem during that time period. We see the temple mount depicted off on the side of the map and it is no longer the center or most important part of the city. The center of the map is actually the Cardo and Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This shows how much weight they placed on Jesus. All of the religious myths associated with Jerusalem turned away from the temple to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 

2/24/11 Lecture 16

In today’s lecture we discussed the period of early Islamic Jerusalem and the general background of Islam. This early Islamic period begins in 638 CE when Caliph Umar takes over Jerusalem and ends in 1099 CE with the arrival of the crusaders. When Caliph Umar takes Jerusalem, it is part of the treaty with the Christian community that Jews not be allowed to settle in the city. Eventually he backed out of this and let Jews back into the city to settle. The Muslims continued to call the city Aelia initially, which means “the city of the Temple”. They then began to call it Bait Maqdis, which means “the city of the Holy House” but eventually shortened it to al-Quds or “the Holy”. They also referred to the temple mount as the Haram al-Sharif or “the noble sanctuary”. The Dome of the Rock was first constructed in 691 CE by Abd al-Malik in order to divert pilgrimage from Mecca. The Dome was paid for with 7 years of taxes collected from Egypt. The project was finished under budget so they used the remaining money to plate the Dome in pure gold. It was later converted to a church by the crusaders in 1099 CE but taken back in 1187 CE and restored by Salah ad- Din. The Dome is said to cover the stone where Muhammad ascended heaven on the back of his winged horse. The traditions of the Dome are overlapping with Jewish and Christian tradition and the inscription even says that we are all people of the book but states that Jesus was only a Messenger of God not part of God himself. The Al-Apsa Mosque was built during the reign of Caliph Walid, around 710 CE, in the spot of the origianal wooden Mosque that Caliph Umar built. The Islamic art and architecture is said to be amazing as it highlights geometrical design and shows the beauty of the written word. They use no images of people or animals so it really brings out the design.

Next we’ll look at a quick background of Islam the Prof. Cargill gave. Jerusalem has become the third holiest city in Islam behind Mecca and Medina. There are five pillars of Islam: testimony, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. In Jerusalem when a Muslim is on pilgrimage to Mecca they paint the door of their house with bright colors and if anybody steals from them while they’re gone it is one of the worst sins. I also learned today that the division of the Shiite and Sunni sects traces back to the origins of Islam. The Shiites are a kinship-based caliphate that supports Ali, while the Sunnis are more tradition-based and support Muawiya. 

2/15/11 and 2/17/11; Lectures 13 and 14

This week, 7^th week, we discussed Herodian Jerusalem including the time of Christ and Jerusalem in Revolt. When we left off last Pompey was controlling Jerusalem. In 63 BCE, in what was known as the “Abomination of Desolation”, Pompey entered the Holy of Holies, which of course is unheard of unless you are high priest. Eventually Herod the Great took Jerusalem in 37 BCE from the Parthians in a siege. Scholars often argue over whether or not Herod the Great was actually a good king. To me, Herod actually seemed to be a pretty good ruler, even though the Jews hated him. While Herod was loyal to Rome through taxes, he was very sensitive to the Jewish customs. Herod was forcibly “Judaized” as a child and he considered himself the king of the Jews during his reign from 37 – 4 BCE. He was a very effective ruler and he was best known for his massive building projects. He was also known in biblical accounts for the murder of massive amounts of innocent children, 2-years of age and younger, in an effort to kill Jesus. Scholars question whether this event actually took place though. Herod was a strong ruler who ruled with fear. His massive construction projects did give jobs to a large number of people. Some of the building projects credited to the Herodian Rule were: the fortress of Herodion, the city of Caesarea that included theaters and aqueducts, and the complete expansion of the 2^nd temple including the construction of the Western Wall. Closing the lecture on Herodian Jerusalem we talked about the time of Jesus and the lack of archaeological evidence of his existence. Some artifacts of been discovered but nothing that directly related to anybody named Jesus from that time period. We have to ask though, is the absence of evidence of Jesus evidence of absence?

Next we discussed the 1^st and 2^nd Jewish Revolts during the Roman Rule, which lasted from 63 BCE – 614 CE. The 1^st Revolt, or the “Great Revolt”, took place from 66 – 73 CE. The 2^nd Revolt, or the “Bar Kokhba Revolt”, lasted from 132 – 135 CE. When Herod’s rule ended his kingdom was split up between his 3 sons: Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. Roman procurators gradually replaced the three sons, basically Jerusalem fell under direct rule by the Romans. These rulers included Pontius Pilate, who is best known for the role he plays in the biblical accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. Eventually, in 66 CE, we begin to see Jewish Revolts break out and the Roman governor of Syria is defeated. We see archeological evidence of this revolt from Jewish revolt coins that have been discovered. In 70 CE Titus, the son of the Roman Emperor, takes over Jerusalem and destroys the 2^nd Temple on the 9^th of Ab. The people of Jerusalem fled to the mountain holdout of Masada that Herod the Great built. In 73 CE the Romans took the holdout and the people committed suicide. Simon Bay Kokhba started the Bar Kokhba Revolt. This revolt has fewer sources but we do find archaeological evidence in the form of coins and letters regarding the revolt that date to the time period. Most of the coins were modeled after the 1^st revolt and some were overstrikes of other coins, which indicated they were trying to save money. The letters found were written in multiple different languages indicating that the people revolting did not speak Hebrew and were trying to make it look like the first revolt. The outcome of the Bar Kokhba Revolt was the massive, bloody punishment of the Jews by Emperor Hadrian. He banned circumcision and kicked the Jews from the rebuilt city of Jerusalem. 

2/10/11 Lecture 12

In today’s lecture we covered Hellenistic and Hasmonean Jerusalem. We started by talking about Alexander the Great and his military conquests from 336- 323 BCE. Jerusalem had been under a long period of Persian rule but Alexander the Great defeated the Persian King Darius in 333 BCE at the Battle of Issus. With that the Persian control of Jerusalem ended. When Alexander died in 323BCE his kingdom was split up and one group of successors, the Ptolemies, captured Jerusalem. This was a period in Jerusalem when the High Priest ruled the city and was in charge of all religious and administrative affairs. The Ptolemies allowed Jerusalem to elect their own High Priest but it was a time of increased Greek influence in the city. The Seleucids then came in and defeated the Ptolemies and began to rule Jerusalem. This is when we begin to see the aggressive Hellenization of the Jews. The Greeks believed that the city, or Polis, was the highest and most natural civil institution. They started to push their beliefs on Jerusalem and shaped it into the city that they felt it should be. It started with a theater and gymnasium but eventually every aspect of Jewish life was affected from coinage to art and entertainment. They kept them from practicing Judaism and even banned circumcision. Even some of the tombs at the time reflected the Greek influence on the city. The Jews had no choice but to either embrace their new culture or revolt.

Eventually the conservative Jews joined together and revolted. This was known as the Maccabean Revolt because of the famous leader Judas Maccabaeus. The revolting Jews attacked the renegade Jews and Gentile villages in Palestine using Guerilla tactics to outwit the superior Seleucid army. The revolt was surprisingly successful and the Jews were able to take back Jerusalem. This restored the golden age in Jerusalem and the Jewish territory expanded. This self-rule lasted for about 100 years. The more power they gained however, the more corrupt they became. They started to do the very thing they were revolting about and began to forcibly “Judaize” the surrounding territories. What was happening was a very Hellenistic form of Judaism. Eventually the rule ended with the Roman Conquest in 63 BCE by Pompey. 

2/8/11 Lecture 11

In today’s lecture we covered the Persian period in Jerusalem. The Persian period lasted from 539 – 333 BCE and marked the beginning of the “2^nd Temple” Period which lasted from 539 BCE - 70 CE. The sources of information we have from this period are mostly biblical. There are no non-biblical texts from this period that deal directly with Jerusalem. The biggest problem for Judaism at this point is finding a foundation for their beliefs without a temple. This comes with the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a new Ark of the Covenant. While his vision was very far out there, what it did was signify the reemergence of God as a mobile being. This brings up the question, what happened to the old Ark? While this topic is greatly disputed, Professor Cargill thinks that it was most likely destroyed during the religious reforms of either Hezekiah or Josiah. There seems to be no evidence to support anybody’s claims on this issue as the Ark simply disappeared from the text after it was placed in the temple.

Next we talked about King Cyrus, the Persian king that conquered the Babylonians. In an effort to be viewed as a liberator and not a conqueror he set the Judean Exiles free. He also gave them money and told them to return home and rebuild their temple. This is tough for the Judeans because they had to rationalize history even if it meant naming a foreign king as God’s chosen deliverer. This is also where we see Judaism split into so many different schools of thought. This is probably because of the Zoroastrian influence that came from their time in exile in Babylon.  Also, while the Hebrew Bible says that God sent Cyrus, the Cyrus cylinder says that the Babylonian god Marduk fought with him to conquer Babylon.

All this time, back in Jerusalem, the people are learning to live just fine without a temple. When the exiled return there is a lot of disagreement as to whether they need another temple. In the end they do build another temple. This temple however, did not match the splendor of the first temple as the city was poor and under populated. They were also facing a heavy tax from the Persians at this time and the city was divided into people who had different opinions about the temple. 

2/1/11 Lecture 9

Today in class we finished talking about Josiah’s Jerusalem and began discussing the exilic Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Finishing up Josiah’s Jerusalem, we continued to look at the development of literacy in the ancient world. We examined the Mezad Hashavyahu Ostracon, which is a letter from a man pleading for his robes back. This is directly related to scripture in Exodus and Amos that requires that robes be returned to workers at the end of the day. This brings up the question of whether the scripture was written first or if it was oral tradition that was later taken down into writing. We also have examples of biblical blessings inscribed on pieces of jewelry long before we see them written in the biblical context.

In 586 BCE the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. This was the 2^nd Babylonian exile where the elites were exiled. The 1^st Babylonian exile took place in 597 BCE when the King Jehoiachin and the prophet Ezekiel were exiled. We have archaeological evidence of the destruction of the temple and a declining populationwith burnt layers and a lack of other artifacts. This marks the fall of the promise to David from 2 Samuel 7. The people have been kicked out of their land, the temple has been destroyed and it looks as if there is no hope for the people of Jerusalem. This is the idea that we closed on: what do you do when everything you believe, the foundation of your religion, contradicts everything you are seeing in reality? 

1/27/11 Lecture 8

In today’s lecture we finished up Hezekiah’s Jerusalem and started talking about Josiah. When we left off last class we were looking at how Hezekiah was preparing for a rebellion from Assyria. Now we turn to the book of Isaiah to see the prophecy of Jerusalem’s deliverance from the Assyrians. Basically the prophet comes to the palace of the king, Hezekiah, and says that Jerusalem will never be destroyed and that there was a descendent of David that will protect the city and its people. When we look at these verses we think that the prophet is referring to Jesus. However, in context, at the time he was referring to Hezekiah. Later after Jerusalem was taken and the Babylonians destroyed the temple this prophecy was reinterpreted to be about other rulers and eventually Jesus. Back to the time of Hezekiah though, when the Assyrians laid siege on Jerusalem, they had the king trapped in his palace and all was over but then they mysteriously leave the city undestroyed. The Assyrians say this was because they got work that their armies were needed back in their homeland, but Jerusalem of course says that it was God who led them out of the city. Professor Cargill said that, “The Assyrian failure to destroy Jerusalem was the single greatest catalyst for the snowballing legend of an inviolable Jerusalem.”

Now we move to the time of Josiah, which was characterized by religious reform and the centralization of religion in Jerusalem. Josiah took the throne when he was only 8 years old. This is one of the reasons we think there was a rise in written law at this time. Instead of being led by a powerful king, Jerusalem was most likely run by advisors to the throne. By creating a written law it is easier to keep the people loyal than if they have them being ordered around by and 8 year old. Also at this time the city was becoming increasingly urbanized and there was a lot of political and religious unrest. This is expected because there were a large number of people moving into the city from a variety of political and religious backgrounds. Josiah solved this through massive religious reform. He destroyed everything related to the worship of any other god and united them through the worship of one god, in one temple. This religious reform and written law increased the expectation of literacy in Jerusalem and we began to see even soldiers who were literate and writing letter.

1/25/11 Lecture 7

In today’s lecture we talked about Hezekiah’s Jerusalem, the expansion of the city, and the Assyrian Empire. Prof. Cargill also announced that the midterm exam would be bumped back to next Thursday the 3^rd of February. Paper 1 will still be due Tuesday the 1^st.

First, we discussed the separation of Judah and Israel into two kingdoms. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah in the South. There was much dispute about where to worship and the Bible is often critical of the northern tribes of Israel for building alternate places of worship because it is written from the Southern perspective. We found out though that there is evidence of alternate sites of worship in both the North and South. Around the same time the Assyrian Empire was rising, which lead to increased urbanization.

The Assyrians were crazy warriors that were feared by all. Their military tactics were brutal and merciless. They would not only kill their enemies, they would mutilate the bodies to send a message. When they took over a city, if they did not kill everybody they would deport them from their own land. For this reason many people fled smaller settlements in favor of larger cities that had walls and other defense systems. This led to a drastic increase in population for Jerusalem as people came in to seek shelter from the Assyrians. As we closed the lecture we were discussing the evidence that Hezekiah was preparing for a rebellion from Assyria by stocking up on food and supplies expecting a siege on the city. 

1/20/11 Lecture 6

In Thursday’s lecture we finished the slides on David’s Jerusalem and started on Solomon’s Jerusalem. In wrapping up David, we looked at God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. Basically God promises David a house and a throne that will last forever. This is however proven false in 586 BCE when the Babylonians take over Jerusalem and destroys the temple. We also looked at five ways Jerusalem derives its Sacredness:

1. God chooses Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12; 2 Samuel 24)

2. The Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem (Exodus 24:12- 31:18)

3. Creation of the Sabbath (Genesis 1-2)

4. Jerusalem & Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22; 2 Chronicles 3)

5. Melchizedek’s Salem & Jerusalem (Psalm 110; 76:2) **

These biblical references and the tradition Jerusalem has built make it the sacred, holy city that it is.

Solomon is credited in the Bible for constructing the first temple in Jerusalem. This was where the Ark of the Covenant was placed and it gave God a physical place to dwell. Today, scholars question whether Solomon actually existed and whether or not he really built a temple. The biggest problem is that there is no archeological evidence of Solomon’s temple anywhere in Jerusalem. This is because when Herod constructed his temple instead of building on top of what was there he cleared everything out. We know that nothing is there but does the absence of evidence for Solomon’s temple constitute evidence of absence? There have been other temples discovered in the Near East that are constructed in a similar fashion to the way Solomon’s was described in the Bible. Whether this is evidence for or against the existence of Solomon’s Temple is debatable. 

**This list is straight from the lecture slides for David's Jerusalem

1/18/11 Lecture 5

In yesterdays quick lecture we discussed David’s Jerusalem, the excavation of the city and the Ark of the Covenant.

Scholars used to question whether David really existed. The Bible describes him in great detail but until recently there was no archeological evidence that David existed. The Tel Dan Inscription was the first non-biblical reference we have seen to David. The inscription is kind of like an execration text but instead of cursing their enemies they would brag again enemies they had conquered. The Tel Dan inscription lists the House of David as a nation that had been conquered.

Later on we looked at Warren’s Shaft and its excavation. When it was originally discovered, archeologists believes that it was a man made shaft to get easier access to water. Today they are starting to think that it is natural and they may have carved certain parts of it. There is a reference to the shaft in 2 Samuel that indicates it may have been used to get water to the city. The shaft also may have been a weak point during attack where enemy soldiers could climb up and into the city. 

As class came to a close we discussed the Ark of the Covenant, how it was built, and the founding of the temple. 

1/13/11 Lecture 4

Last Thursday we worked through the Canaanite Jerusalem slides and started on David’s Jerusalem. We looked at Jerusalem in the earliest non-biblical texts as well as Jerusalem before David in the Bible.

Evidence of settlement in Jerusalem can be seen as far back as 1900 BCE in execration texts. Execration texts were basically clay figures that people would make to curse their enemies like voodoo dolls. They would write the names of their enemies on the figure and then break them to symbolically conquer their enemies. The particular execration text we discussed was found in Sakkara, Egypt and has “Rusalimum” or Jerusalem listed as one of Egypt’s enemies. This is really interesting because it proves that there were people in Jerusalem at this time and that they were powerful enough to warrant cursing. We also looked at the Amarna Letters from around 1350 BCE that shows further non- biblical evidence of settlement in Jerusalem. The Amarna Letters were proposed vassal treaties where the rulers of smaller states would write the pharaohs of Egypt and ask for shelter or help in battle in return for allegiance and support. 6 of the letters discovered were from the Jerusalem ruler Abdi- Kheba to the pharaoh.

We then discussed some of the textual problems with the “conquest” of Jerusalem. Several different places in the Bible give different accounts and different outcomes of how the Israelites got to Jerusalem. Prof. Cargill broke this down to three theories that should be known for the exam. The first is that you except that the conquest is true and that the Israelites were just suddenly there. The second is that the Israelites slowly immigrated to Jerusalem. The third and the most accepted theory today is that the Canaanite City was of mixed ethnic origins and the Israelites were always there. That they were actually Canaanites that staged an internal revolt. 

1/11/11 Lecture 3

In today’s lecture we finished up the slides on Jerusalem as Sacred Space. Prof. Cargill originally planned on covering through Canaanite Jerusalem but cut class short so he wouldn’t have to stop in the middle of a topic.

First we recapped the major events of the Jewish Temple. Solomon’s Temple was built about 950 BCE and destroyed 586 BCE. The “2^nd” Temple was rebuilt in 515 BCE and aggrandized by Herod in 20 BCE were he established the Western or Wailing Wall. The “2^nd” Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. The Dome of the Rock was first built in 691 CE.

We then examined the question why a temple? We compared Mesopotamian Ziggurats as places of worship to pyramids as burial sites. Looking through many different examples we see that when a temple is constructed it can be traced back to divine origins. Places for the worship of god are not of human conception but based on god given instructions. We see an example of this when man tried to construct his own holy place with the tower of Babel and God destroyed it.

Jerusalem is made into a sacred place by attracting stories and drawing things to it. It is like when you hear stories about parties at a house, half the stories might be untrue but it still makes a good place to hang out. Prof. Cargill looked at a few examples of how Jerusalem is made sacred in Genesis 2-3 with the Garden of Eden, in Genesis 14 with Melchizedek, and in Genesis 22 with the Binding of Isaac. All of these contain references to Jerusalem geography that pull the story there.

There are also a few key dates for the Dome of the Rock. In 691 CE the dome was completed, this was the “72^nd year of the Moslem era”. In 1099 CE crusaders conquered Jerusalem and converted Dome of the Rock into a church. In 1187 CE Saladin re-concquered Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock.

Gehema is the New Testament word for hell, which comes from Gai Hinnom or the Valley of Hinnom.

1/6/11 Lecture 2

Today was the second day of class and the first real lecture. Prof. Cargill discussed Jerusalem as sacred space and covered the geography of city. Jerusalem is thought to be the sacred place for three major religions including Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Before discussing any of these in depth we must first look at what makes a place “sacred”. This could be any number of things but basically something special has to happen there.

Jerusalem is very unique when it comes to major cities as it sits on top of a hill and no major routes run through it. There are three valleys that surround Jerusalem: The Kidron Valley (Eastern Valley), The Hinnom Valley (Western Valley), and the Tyropean or Central Valley. The city is also very unique because of the extreme lack of water. Water is a holy, purifying element in many religions so it is interesting to find out that it is a major problem in Jerusalem. Prof. Cargill said that the biggest issue and source of conflict throughout history in Jerusalem is not who settles where in the city, but water. One of the major springs, Gihon, is mentioned as one of the four branches of the river that flows through the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2. Prof. Cargill stressed that Jerusalem is a magnet as it consistently pulls things towards it. 

Prof. Cargill also mentioned a possible exam question about the Western Wall. This is referring to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, not the Temple. In Judaism this is the closest place you can get to the holy temple.