3/1/11 Lecture

The early Islamic kingdoms lasted for quite some time, but were characterized by conflicts with neighbors as well as between dynasties.  First the Umayyads ruled from 661-750, then the Abbasids took over from 750-969, and finally the Fatimids came into power from 969-1099.  The Fatimids did not fall willingly in 1099 but were conquered by the Christian Crusaders who were intent on taking back Jerusalem.  This First Crusade was set into motion with a speech by Pope Urban II in 1095, urging an attack on the Muslims and the liberation of Jerusalem.  In addition, he offered indulgences to the crusaders, which were promises of remission for sins in return for funding or other form of support of the Crusade.  To his surprise, he received an overwhelming response from the people and they prepared for the conquest of the Holy Lands.  The causes of the Crusades were both political, a reaction against the spread of Islam, and religious, a reaction to the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem by the Fatimids who destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as well as persecuted the Christians.  With these underlying factors, the people got ready to travel to Jerusalem and take it back in the name of Christ.

Even though they were poor and ill-equipped compared to the veteran Turkish warriors, the Crusaders were successful in what they came to do.  In 1099,  Godfrey de Bouillon led the Crusaders to attack Jerusalem from the north and breach the walls, finally conquering the city in July of 1099.  Jerusalem finally rested in the hands of the Christians again, which was desired in the first place.  Bouillon refuses to take the crown himself and instead gives it to religious authority.  During this time, Jerusalem was split into 4 quarters, different than those that exist today. The NW Patriarch’s Quarter was the religious center because of its main feature, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  In SW was the Armenian Quarter, and in the NE was the Syrian Quarter.  The SE Templar’s Quarter was where the Knights of the Templar resided, the group responsible for protecting the Christians who were embarking on pilgrimages to Jerusalem.  Under the Crusaders, many changes were made to the buildings and structures as well.  They renamed the Islamic monuments of the Dome of the Rock (Templum Domini) and Al-Aqusa Mosque (Templum Solomonis) to rid of Islamic influence.  They also rebuilt many of the Byzantine churches that had been destroyed by the Muslims (including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) and built more new churches (42+).  These changes and additions established the Crusader presence in Jerusalem.

The Crusaders’ rule was short-lived, lasting just over 100 years.  In 1187, the Muslims defeated the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin under Salah al-Din (Saladin) and retook Jerusalem.  In contrast to the Crusaders’ battle tactics, Saladin actually allowed anyone in the city the right to leave if they wanted to and was generally seen as a merciful ruler.  He gave the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Greek Orthodox Church, allowing them to practice their own religion, and also permitted Jews to settle in Jerusalem once again.  After Saladin’s death, his successors had some trouble managing the land, and they continued to struggle with the Crusaders over Jerusalem for another 100 years.  The Crusaders attempted multiple Crusades, most of which failed and did not match the first, and in 1291 their last output at Akko fell.

2/24/11 Lecture

In 614, the Byzantines fell to the Sasanians, who were descendants of the Persians, and their empire dominated the East (Romans controlled the West).  They were very tolerant of the Jews, allowing them to engage in their practices and most importantly to settle in Jerusalem again after having been banned by the Byzantine Christians.  However, in 628, the Byzantines retook Jerusalem for a short period of time during which the Jews were not only again banned from Jerusalem, but they were massacred by the Christians as well.  Even after the Byzantines fell again for good, the Christians kept the Jews out of Jerusalem for awhile by making a deal with the new people in power.

This new group in power was the Muslims, who conquered Jerusalem in 638 under  Caliph Umar and set the stage for a long period of Islamic rule.  The religion of Islam started with the prophet Muhammad and then continued after his death under the caliphs, who were delegates/representatives appointed to lead the Islamic community.  Though the Muslims were united under Muhammad, there eventually was a split that resulted in the two opposing factions of the Shi’ites (kinship-based caliphate) and Sunnis (tradition-based caliphate) that still exist today.  The 5 pillars of Islam are: shahada (testimony), salat (prayer), zakat (almsgiving), sawm (fasting), and hajj (pilgrimage).  Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, preceded by Medina, and then Mecca stands as the holiest.  Located there is the Kaaba, which is a big black box that large numbers of Muslims encircle and use as a focal point of prayer.  Mecca is also the site to which every Muslim is supposed to make a hajj (pilgrimage) at least once in their lives.

The city of Jerusalem is important to the Muslims in that it’s one of the holy places that the Muslims turn to when they pray.  The Temple Mount is known as the Noble Sanctuary because it includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  To divert people from making pilgrimages to Mecca, Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to be a new destination for the hajj and  Muslims would pray there.  Today, it is a shrine open only to Muslims to pray, which was a change made after the events of 9/11.  It displays beautiful architecture in its design, characteristic of Christian craftsmanship because they hired Christians to work on it.  Like many holy places, the Dome of the Rock attracts many myths such as being Mount Moriah where Ishmael (Isaac) was sacrificed, the location of the temple and/or the holy of holies, the place of judgment, etc.  Next time we will go over the Al-Aqsa mosque.

2/22/11 Lecture

Following the periods of revolt by the Jews, the Byzantines took over in 312 CE and remained in power for about three hundred years.  During this time, Christianity was becoming more prominent especially after the missionary journeys of Paul.  Because Christianity was a Jewish sect that became its own religion, the city of Jerusalem was still important but not to the extent that it had been to Judaism.  The increased spiritualization of the faith drew people away from centering their worship around the temple, and they instead focused on worshiping in “spirit and in truth” (John 4).  In addition, Jesus Himself predicted the destruction of the temple building, implying that it was not that important.  The rest of the New Testament supports this and speaks of the spiritualization of the temple, saying that Jesus’ body was the temple and that Christians become the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians).  Jerusalem itself was spiritualized as well, described in Revelation 21-22.  Despite the decreased reverence for Jerusalem held by Christians, it was still an important location because Jesus taught there, and it is also the place where He was said to have been crucified, buried, and resurrected.

The Byzantine emperor Constantine played a key role in the rise of Christianity when he took power.  In 313, he legalized Christianity and seemed to use it to unite his empire by letting church and state come together (“Holy Roman Empire”).  Constantine’s mother Helena had considerable influence on matters, and she wanted to build things that commemorated the life of Jesus.  Thus the Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem), the Church of the Ascension (Mount of Olives), and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were constructed.  They built other churches as well, celebrating Mary (Nea Church) and Zion (Church of Holy Zion).  In this way, Christianity was important not only in the spiritual sense, but also politically because it influenced these buildings.  People made elaborate maps of Jerusalem, including its many beautiful gates found on all sides of the city.

These sites in Jerusalem were also the destinations of Christian pilgrimages throughout the century, the center (axis mundi) of them all being the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  It is a combination of many smaller chapels and seems to have taken on the responsibility of the temple in that it has attracted many myths.  For one, the Edicule inside supposedly marks the site of Jesus’ burial and is not far away from the site where Jesus was crucified.  Not only is it the site of Jesus’ burial, but Adam is also supposedly buried there.  It has also become the spot where Abraham bound and was about to sacrifice Isaac.  Many people go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to worship.  The Nea Church and Church of Holy Zion are also points of interest.

2/17/11 Lecture

The death of Herod the Great resulted in his kingdom being divided between his three sons.  Archelaus had the best deal because he received approximately half the share of the lands, which included the prominent cities of Jerusalem and Samaria.  However, he was not a very good ruler and the Romans replaced him with procurators, though they did no better of a job because they were not familiar with the Jewish ways.  Another son, Herod Antipas, received about one-fourth of the lands that included Galilee, Perea, and the trans-Jordan and ruled for a good amount of time.  The last son, Herod Philip, obtained the worst part of the deal including the more obscure areas, but he was able to maintain his rule until his death.  The Roman government eventually sent procurators to replace all the Herodian rulers in an attempt to rule the lands directly. One of the more well-known procurators was Pontius Pilate, who ruled as governor of Judea and allowed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible.  In general, the Roman governors were not very effective or well-liked in their rule over the Jewish people, which led to conflicts that escalated over the years between 6 and 66 CE.

Conflicts both between the Jewish people and Roman rulers and within the Jewish people peaked in the summer of 66 CE when Jewish militants engaged in open revolt.  Jewish nationalism was on the rise, embracing apocalypticism and awaiting the coming Messiah from the heavens.  To assert their authority, the Jewish militants minted their own “Jewish Revolt Coins” each year.  In 67 CE, Rome sent Vespasian to crush the revolt and he is successful in wiping out the Jewish forces in Galilee.  He then returned to Rome and became emperor, leaving his son Titus to complete the suppression of the revolt.  In 70 CE, his army entered Jerusalem from the north and destroyed the Temple on the 9th of Ab, which scattered the Jewish people.  Some had fled to Masada and held out for three years before committing suicide rather than be overtaken by the Roman army.  The temple site remained in ruins for quite some time, and the dilemma of cognitive dissonance reemerged among the Jewish people.  Without a temple in which to carry out their Jewish religious rituals, the Jews had to question again how to define themselves as a people.  It was at this time that the Jewish sects who had already been moving away from being tied to the temple and instead using other mechanisms to practice their faith grew.  Such mechanisms included prayer, worshiping in synagogues, various eating practices, etc. that stressed the behavior rather than place to demonstrate faith.

The second Jewish revolt began in 132 CE with Simon bar Kokhba, named after him as the “Bar-Kokhba” Revolt.  However, despite their efforts, it was not as successful as the first.  The rebels attempted to mint their own coins as the previous revolters had, but there were many mistakes in the Hebrew writings on them.  Bar-Kokhba tried to sell himself as “the prince” and stir people up around retaking Jerusalem, but in the end, his efforts failed and the Jews were faced with harsh consequences.  The new emperor Hadrian who took power punished the Jews by outlawing them from Jerusalem and banning practices like circumcision.  He also rebuilt the city of Jerusalem but made it a Roman city by the name of Aelia, which marked the end of the city of Jerusalem for a long time.  Instead of going to the temple to worship since they couldn’t anymore, the people started worshiping at synagogues, which was part of the movement towards a more spiritualized faith rather than one dependent on the temple itself.  The religions that came out of this and are still alive today are Judaism and Christianity.

2/15/11 Lecture

The Hasmonean period of Jewish self-rule came to an end in 63 BCE when the Roman general Pompey invaded Jerusalem and intervened in the conflict between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II that was going on. The siege took all of 3 months, and Jerusalem was annexed for Rome.  Hyrcanus was appointed as ethnarch, and Antipater from Idumea (whose family had been forced to be Jewish) was chosen to be the procurator.  This continued for about 20 years until Herod the Great came onto the scene.

In 43 BCE, Herod the Great began his rise to power and by 37 BCE he had taken the city of Jerusalem and the areas surrounding it.  Herod was a terrifying ruler who eliminated any kind of threat to his authority, but at the same time enjoyed much success.  He was a client king who sought to appease both the Jews and the Romans at the same time so that neither would overthrow him.  In Idumea his family had also been forcibly Judaized, so he knew the Jewish traditions and therefore ruled effectively because he knew how not to upset them.  Like many rulers, Herod wanted to make a legacy for himself and he did this by starting many building projects in and around the city of Jerusalem.  One building project was the expansion and beautification of the Temple, since it was known that it paled in comparison to the glory of its precursor.  His Temple Mount spanned over 172,000 feet (15 football fields) He also erected the huge retaining wall, which includes the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism.  People in modern times go there to pray daily, sometimes even multiple times a day, and one of the most common prayers is for peace in Jerusalem.  Also included in his building projects were gates (Hulda), arches (Robinson’s), miqvahs (ritual baths), citadels, palaces, theaters, fortresses, and much more.  The style of the architecture of these buildings were generally Roman.

In addition to building projects in Jerusalem itself, Herod oversaw construction elsewhere.  At Caesarea in the north along the coast, he built a theater that is in such good condition that it is still used today.  It is a huge landmark that appears massive even from the surrounding ocean.  He also built an aqueduct at Caesarea, which was useful because water was important at the time.  One of the most amazing feats he accomplished was artificially creating a port at Caesarea.  Using concrete that hardened underwater, he established a port that stretched far out into the ocean to welcome sailors to Caesarea.  Another amazing project was the Herodion just south of Jerusalem, which was basically an artificial mountain raised up to serve as a fortress.  The middle was dug out and a palace was placed in the middle, a strategic setup to defend against enemies because they had no way to get in except scale the walls of the mountain.  Within the Herodion were things like the Triclinium where people reclined and ate, and miqvahs for ritual baths.  The best part about all these building projects was that they supplied the people with constant jobs, so they couldn’t protest Herod’s ways completely.  This leads to the bigger question of whether Herod was a good king or bad king, based on his tactics and accomplishments during his reign.

Jerusalem is important to Christians because it is where Jesus lived and taught while He was alive, as well as the site of His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  While there are no archaeological facts that confirm His existence, people generally believe that Jesus existed if only as a historical figure.  Some of the things that were thought to have been evidence turned out to be fakes.  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is said to sit on the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  I think all the evidence we need about Jesus can be found if you just read the Bible.  It contains everything you need to know about Him and His life, and there really isn’t any need for archaeological evidence.  He was a real person and exactly who the Bible describes Him to be – God who became a man, so that He could die for sinners like you and me.

2/10/11 Lecture

Last time we learned about the Persian period in Jerusalem, which was followed by the Hellenistic Period, a time of Greek influence.  Alexander the Great was the dominant force at the time and defeated the Persian King Darius in 333 BCE to usher in this this new era.  His conquests during 336-323 BCE included the areas formerly known as Israel and Judah, now referred to as “Palestine”.  After his death in 323 BCE, his territory was divided under the rule of 2 groups, the Ptolemies (ruled out of Egypt) and Seleucids (ruled out of Syria).  The Jews enjoyed autonomy under the Ptolomies (as long as they paid taxes and didn’t rebel), but after the Seleucids defeated the Ptolomies and took power in 198 BCE, the Jews were in for a rude awakening.  Life as they knew it was about to change dramatically.

The Seleucids aggressively Hellenized the Jews, meaning they sought to impose their culture and ways of thinking on them, and they were largely successful in these attempts.  They forced the Jews to learn Greek for the sake of unity, which had such implications as the New Testament being written in Greek as well as the Hebrew Bible being translated into Greek (Septuagint).  The Seleucids also turned Jerusalem into a polis, a Greek city, which was the “highest and most natural Civil Institution”.  Essential elements of  polis included a supply of food, skills and crafts, military supplies, commerce, religion, justice system, municipal office, gymnasium, theater, agora, and public water supply.   Especially new to the Jews was the idea of the gymnasium, where people would work out in the nude, and the theater.  This Hellenization affected every area of Jewish life, which is evidenced in the art and architecture that has been found from this period.  Even the position of High Priest, extremely important to the Jews, was “sold out” to someone who continued to input Greek culture.  Antiochus IV was the Seleucid ruler who finalized the Hellenization by outlawing Jewish practices like circumcision and converted the Temple into a temple for Zeus.

Naturally, this caused conflicts with the conservative Jews who did not appreciate foreigners coming in and changing everything.  They were angry at both the Greeks and also their fellow Jews who went along with the changes.  Conflict escalated and the Maccabean Revolt ensued.  Led by Judas Maccabaeus, the rebelling Jews used guerilla tactics and successfully took back Jerusalem and the temple from the enemy Seleucids.  The resulting Hasmonean dynasty saw 100 years of Jewish self-rule, which was the last time this would happen until the establishment of the modern state of Israel.  To celebrate their victory, the holiday of Hanukkah was established.  The Hasmoneans reinstituted the sacrificial system and restored Jerusalem to its glory of the “Golden Age” of David and Solomon, largely expanding their territory.

However, the Hasmoneans had problems of their own, and became characterized as increasingly Hellenized, secular, and corrupt.  Though they themselves had just revolted against a foreign power who had ruled them oppressively, they ironically began to do the same to other peoples around them.  They “Judaized” the Gentiles around them, forcing them to become Jewish and follow certain practices like circumcision.  Their expansion tactics were brutal and they even meddled with certain Jewish traditions that they had earlier sought to protect.  In theory, they declared their rule as “temporary” until a rightful ruler who was of the line of David emerged, but this never happened.  Instead, there was so much conflict and division within Jerusalem at the time, that they did not put up much of a fight when the Romans took over in 63 BCE and ended the Hasmonean Period.

2/8/11 Lecture

After last week’s busy schedule of the paper due and midterm, we resumed our progress through the history of Jerusalem with a lecture on Persian Jerusalem.  This period lies within the bigger “2nd Temple Period” that spanned from 539 BCE to 70 CE.  There has not been a lot recorded about this period; in fact, the Bible is pretty much the sole source of information, specifically in the books of Chronicles, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, and “second” Isaiah.  The concept of “second” (and “third”) Isaiah is interesting to me.  Professor Cargill said that given the amount of time that the book of Isaiah spans, there were probably other writers after Isaiah but writing in Isaiah’s name, starting with Chapter 40.  However, there is no real indication in the book of Isaiah of multiple writers.  The very fact that Isaiah is a prophet serves as explanation for why the book covers such a long period of time – he himself didn’t necessarily have to have lived through it all, he was merely recounting what God revealed to him.

We then looked more closely at what the book of Ezekiel says regarding Jerusalem.  In Chapter 1, Ezekiel envisions a mobile God and a new Ark of the Covenant-like contraption for Him.  After the destruction of the temple, some of the people must have thought that God had broken His promise and left them, since there was no longer a dwelling place for Him.  However, Ezekiel’s vision serves to reassure them that God was indeed still with them, He was just mobile.  He describes the structure with its beasts and its wheels, floating along.  The reason another Ark is even necessary is because no one knows what happened to the first even to this day.  Some groups claim to have it, but even the Bible stops mentioning it, especially not being included in the list of things that were removed during the exile.  This fact leads Professor Cargill to think that the Ark had been gone by then, perhaps destroyed in the time of Hezekiah or Josiah as they sought to get rid of anything that rivaled the temple of Jerusalem as a place of worship to God.

Another change gong on at that time was the Israelites being “exiled” from exile in Babylon.  The Persians under Cyrus were now in control and they did things much differently than the Assyrians/Babylonians, who oppressed the nations under them.  The Persians were diplomats – while they still wanted control of and revenue from the Israelites, they sought to do this slowly and in a way where the Israelites would like them.  Because of this, they let the people go and even gave them money to rebuild the temple.  According to the Bible, God was using Cyrus to help save His people and Cyrus is even referred to as God’s anointed.  Some people take it further to suggest that Cyrus was the Messiah, but problems quickly come up when we realize that he was not part of the line of David.

Lastly we talked about Jerusalem at this time of many changes.  Conflicts arose between those that were already living in Jerusalem and those returning from exile.  People questioned whether or not it was necessary to build a second temple, but it ended up being built – though it was nowhere near as glorious as the first.  An interesting observation to make is that both temples were constructed and destroyed on the same day.  Extra-Biblical texts (Elephantine Letter, Dead Sea Scrolls) also confirm he building of the 2nd temple or the promises of another temple.