This document provides an overview of the religious and historical significance of Jerusalem. It discusses how Jerusalem is sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The document then details the 5000 year history of Jerusalem, including its occupation by various rulers and civilizations like the Canaanites, Jebusites, Israelites, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Ottomans, and British. It describes some of Jerusalem's most important religious sites and provides pictures of landmarks like the Dome of the Rock, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and Western Wall. In conclusion, it notes Jerusalem remains a diverse and active city today as Israel's capital.

1. Jerusalem
By: Benedict “Viktor” Gombocz

2. Jerusalem: Important Facts
• Jerusalem, by merit of the number and variety of people
who have made it holy, is perhaps regarded as the most
sacred city in the world.
• Jerusalem is significant to the Jews because it is Ir Ha-
Kodesh (the Holy City), the Biblical Zion, the City of
David, the site of Solomon’s Temple, and the eternal,
though not internationally recognized, capital of the
State of Israel.
• Jerusalem is significant to the Christians because it is
where the adolescent Jesus astonished the sages at the
Jewish Temple; it is also where He spent His ministry’s
final days, and where the Last Supper, the Crucifixion
and the Resurrection took place.
• Jerusalem is significant to the Muslims because the
prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, went to
heaven there; Jerusalem is the third holiest site of
Islam, after the sacred sites of Mecca and Medina.
• While closely associated with strong religious
commitment and an attraction to numerous pilgrims
and sages, Jerusalem has been torn by thirty centuries
of conflict and fighting.
• Jerusalem is a sanctified city with a rich and ancient
history.

3. Jerusalem: History
• The history of Jerusalem goes back almost 5,000
years.
• The Canaanites occupied the city around 2500 BC.
• The Jebusites were absorbed into the Jews when
David took the city (c. 1000 BC).
• David made Jerusalem his kingdom’s capital;
Solomon built the first Temple, which held the Ark
of the Covenant.
• The Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed
Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC, and deported
the Jews to Babylonia.
• In 537 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia defeated
Babylonia and allowed the Jews to return to
Jerusalem and reconstruct their Temple.
• Until 333 BC, when Alexander the Great annexed
Palestine to his empire, Persia controlled the city.
• In 323 BC, Ptolemy I of Egypt added Palestine to
his kingdom.

4. Jerusalem: History - cont.
• Around 198 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus
III triumphed over Judaea (of which
Jerusalem was a part), which made it a
confluence to Syria.
• The Jews subsequently rebelled under
Macabees’ leadership and overcame the
Syrians.
• The Temple was rededicated in 165 BC; the
Maacabean, or Hasmonean, empire reigned
until Rome took control of the city in 63 BC.
• The Romans established a local empire, the
house of Herod, to govern most of Palestine;
Herod the Great (reigned 40-4 BC) rebuilt
most of Jerusalem, the Temple included.
• However, Roman governors kept tight
control; one of those governors, Pontius
Pilate, administratively approved the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

5. Jerusalem: History – cont.
• While repressing a major Jewish
rebellion, the Romans annihilated the
Second Temple in AD 70.
• In 135, following the failure of the Bar
Kochba revolution, the Jews were
expelled from Jerusalem.
• From the early 4th century, when
Christianity was legalized in the Roman
Empire, Jerusalem became a hub of
Christian pilgrimage.
• The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and
numerous other Christian memorials
were built.
• Other than a short time of Persian reign
(614-628), Jerusalem remained under
Roman (Byzantine later) occupation until
638, when the Muslim Arabs captured
the city.
• Between 688 and 691, the Arabs
constructed the Dome of the Rock on the
site of the Temple.

6. Jerusalem at the time of Christ and
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

7. Dome of the Rock

8. Jerusalem: History – cont.
• Jerusalem was taken by the Muslims,
who ruled the city until the rise of the
Ottoman Empire in 1517.
• In 1917, the British gained control of
Jerusalem and it thus became part of the
British mandate inflicted on Palestine.
• During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the
Arab legions encircled Jerusalem; when
the war ended in March 1949, the city
was split between Israel (the western
city) and Jordan (the eastern city and the
old city).
• During the 1967 Six-Day War, the
Jordanians were pushed eastward past
the Jordan River and the entire city was
annexed to Israel.

9. Jerusalem Today
• Modern Jerusalem is a diverse and active city.
• As the capital of Israel, it is the location of the
Israeli house of parliament (Knesset), along
with numerous government offices.
• Numerous neighborhoods in Jerusalem are
inhabited by Ultra Orthodox Jews (Haridim)
who preserve a unique and characteristic style
of life.
• The neighborhoods of East Jerusalem are
predominantly Muslim Arab or Christian Arab,
having a unique Middle Eastern sense.
• Jerusalem also has a present-day and
distinctive cinematheque, which overlooks the
old city.
• Countless excellent restaurants and cafés are
spread out in Jerusalem’s old neighborhoods,
providing to every kind of taste.

10. Church of Maria Magdalene

11. Mount of Olives and Garden of
Gethsemane

12. Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows)

13. Calvary (Golgotha)

14. Bibliography
• http://physics.technion.ac.il/~icps24/histo.htm
• http://sacredsites.com/middle_east/israel/jerusalem_fact
s.html
• http://www.israirairlines.com/?mode=page&page=15634