Ottoman Jerusalem

The Ottomans take Constantinople in 1453. Selim I defeats the Mamluks in 1517 at Marj-Dabik. Jerusalem peacefully surrenders to the Ottomans in 1516, and the Ottomans rule Jerusalem from 1516 to 1918. Under the Ottoman administration and a strong centralized government, the Turkish-Ottoman kingdom flourished in 16^th Century.  

Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rules Jerusalem from 1520 to 1566. He builds the Sultan’s Pool in 1532, and he rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem from 1536  to 1541. He enacts an extensive campaign to refurbish the Haram and its monuments and replaces the mosaics on exterior of Dome of the Rock with Syrian tiles. He also builds the Khassaki Sultan complex, a huge public charity for Jerusalem’s inhabitants. His work in Jerusalem parallels that at Mecca and Medina. Jerusalem becomes the third great city of Islam. During his rule, Suleiman establishes a shari’a court. Jewish refugees encouraged to settle in Jerusalem to restore city. The population increases to 13,384 including 1,650 Jews.

From Suleiman to Abdulhamid II, restorations of the Haram coincide with the granting of concessions to foreign rulers and religious groups abroad and in Jerusalem. They also usually immediately preceded or followed a restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The Western Wall is given to Jews by Suleiman as a place of prayer. The Wall begins to attract myths. Suleiman himself clears the site and purifies it. The Shekhinah settles there after the destruction of the Temple. The Jews believe it is where the Gate of Heaven situated directly above the Western Wall. It is the symbol of the destruction of the Temple.

Saladin allows Jews to resettle and is proclaimed as “the New Cyrus.” Ashkelon Jews are given the Maghribi Quarter, which later comes to be known as the Jewish Quarter. Judah Halevi argues that Jews must return to Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is the “Gate of Heaven” wherein Jews need to stake their rightful claim. This idea that Jews need to go to Jerusalem and settle there becomes known as Zionism.

Mamluk Jerusalem

Saladin conquers Jerusalem on September 26, 1187. The Mamluk rules Jerusalem from 1244 to 1516. The Western Wall connecting to the Temple Mount is knocked down, but the wall of the structure becomes and remains a religious significance. During the Mamluk Period, Jerusalem is made a center of religious study with attention to schools and mosques. The population dwindles to 10,000, and the city is economically impoverished. The Jews continue to return to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem becomes politically and militarily insignificant. It is used as a place of political exile. However, Jerusalem gains religious prestige. There are also intensive development of the Haram and building of schools, hospices, and hostels. The Mamluks use Crusader structures as quarries for ston. Colonnaded madrasas are built around the Haram. During 1351 to 1353, Jerusalem suffers from the Black Death.

The Mamluk architecture consists of walls that are built of alternating red and white courses of stone. The structures are dome-shaped, and there are muqarnas decorative technique inside domes and above entrances. Entrances and walls are composed of alternating black and white inlay.

Al-Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya is a Qur’anic school. It is called the “third jewel of Jerusalem” after the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is built in 1482 by Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey. The architecture uses dome-shaped structure and black and white geometric designs. The Ghawanima minaret is on the northwestern corner of the Haram and on the foundations of an Umayyad minaret. It is built by the Chief Judge of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Moses ben Nachman makes aliyah in 1276 CE. He founds Ramban Synagogue, which becomes Jewish Center.  He argues that Aliyah is a commandment upon all Jews. He also develops Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism. It is a vision of a spiritualized Jerusalem and it makes spiritual aliyah to God possible.

Crusader Jerusalem

The early Islamic Kingdoms ruled from 638 to 1099 BC. In 1099, Jerusalem was conquered by Godfrey de Bouillon, the beginning of the Crusaders “The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem” from 1099 to 1291 BC. The Crusades were basically Holy Wars. They were battles between Roman Catholic forces against the Muslims. Crusaders took vows and were granted penance for past sins, called indulgences. The Crusades were launched in response to westward expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia.

There were political and religious causes of the Crusades. Politically, it was a reaction against expansion of Islam in Europe. Religiously, it was a late reaction to persecution of Christian population of Jerusalem. Pope Urban the Second, preached at Clermont in 1095, called for Crusades as a mean to free the Lord’s heritage and as pilgrimage. In 1100, Baldwin became the “King of Jerusalem.”

During Crusader Jerusalem, existing Islamic monuments were modified. The Dome of the Rock became Templum Domini and the Al-Aqsa Mosque became the Templum Solomonis. There were rebuilding of ruined Byzantine churches, such as the churches of the Holy Sepulcher, the Ascension, St. Mary, and St. Lazarus. Crusader Jerusalem were separated into four quarters. The Patriarch’s quarter consisted of the Holy Sepulcher, Muristan, Tower of David, and the Tancred’s Tower. The Templar’s quarter consisted of the Templum Domini, Templum Solomonis, and Solomon’s stables. The Syrian quarter was mainly Christians from Syria after expulsion of Jews. The last was the Armenian quarter.

The Second Crusade, which went from 1147 to 1149 BC, was preached by St. Bernard at Vezelay in 1146. In July 4, 1187, Salah ad-Din routed the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin (Galilee).

Islamic Jerusalem

The end of Byzantine Jerusalem came about when the Sasanians, which was the last pre-Islamic empire, took and reigned Palestine and Jerusalem during 614 to 628 BC. In 614, Jews were allowed to resettle in Jerusalem for the first time since end of Bar-Kokhba Revolt. However, in 628, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius retook Jerusalem and allowed massacres of Jews in Jerusalem. In 638, Caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem and claimed Temple Mount for Islam. In written agreement with the Christian community he did not allow Jewish settlement. He later allowed Jews to move back into the city, and the Jewish population steadily grew.

The basic Islamic hierarchy started with Muhammad as the founder of the religion and the messenger of the Islamic god. Below were the caliphs, which were established to lead the Islamic community. The first three caliphs were Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. After Uthman, the Islamic community was split into two divisions, the Mu’awiya and Ali. Supporters of Mu’awiya came to be known as “The People of Tradition (Sunna) and the Community” and very tradition-based. Supporters of Ali formed the “Shi’atu Ali” and very kinship based.  

The five “pillars” of Islam: 1)Shahada: “Testimony” or “witness” in which one recites the Muslim profession of faith. 2)Salat: Prayer five times a day (at the appointed times) towards Mecca. 3)Zakat: Almsgiving to the needy. 4)Sawm: Fasting in the month of Ramadan, in which the Qu’ran was first revealed. 5)Hajj: Making pilgrimage to Mecca once in one’s lifetime.

The Umayyad Dynasty ruled from Damascus during 638 to 750 BC. Caliph Umar built a wooden Mosque. Abd al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock in 691 BC to divert pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem. He also improved road network that linked Jerusalem with other parts of the country.

Byzantine Jerusalem

Byxantine JerusalemThis is the chronological framework of Jerusalem during this period. The Romans rule Jerusalem from 63 BCE to 614 CE, and they rename Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina. Then, it begins the Byzantine Jerusalem from 312 to 637 CE. The Persians capture Jerusalem in 614 CE. In 638 CE, Jerusalem surrenders to Arabs.

During the Byzantine period, the Temple has decreasing influence in Jerusalem, because Jesus keeps on making predictions about the destruction of the Temple. Jesus and his apostles promote the spiritual nature of the Temple. Christianity has been very active in Jerusalem, and it has been gaining influence in the community of the non-Jews. This concept of a spiritual Jerusalem is very different from traditional religion, which usually involves taking a holy sacrifice and sacrifing it at the Temple or mountain. Christianity revolutionizes the view of religion by having people accept Jesus as the spiritualized and internalized body of the Temple. Overall, Jerusalem is important to Christianity because that is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, buried, and resurrected.

In 285 CE, Emperor Diocletian splits administration of Roman Empire between West and East. Constantine the Great comes into power because of the split in power. Constantine rules from 312 to 337 CE. The Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity. His mother, Helena, also brings rise to Christianity by finding the Church of Nativity and Church of the Ascension.

Jerusalem in Revolt

Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE and began the Roman rule from 63 BCE to 614 CE. There were two Jewish revolts. The first Jewish revolt, also known as the “Great Revolt,” went from 66 to 73 CE. The second revolt, known as the “Bar Kokhba Revolt,” went from 132 to 135 CE. After the failure of the two revolts, Jerusalem ceased to be Jerusalem for a while and became Aelia Capitolina.

Some sources for the first revolt came from Flavius Josephus, Tacitus, and some archaeological evidences. Josephus, in the Antiquities of the Jews dated to 80 CE, tried to explained the revolts as resulting from zealot, or corrupt Roman governors, or religious infidelity, or eschatological expectations, or social polarization, or deteriorating relationships with the gentile population. Tacitus explained the revolts as arising from messianism and also from an inept administration. After Herod died in 4 BCE, his kingdom was divided among three of his sons, whose powers were much more limited. His son, Archelaus, became ethnarch of Judea. He was a very ineffective ruler, thus he was recalled to Rome and sent into exile in 6 CE. His second son, Herod Antipas, became tetrarch of Perea and Galilee. He ruled from 4 BCE until his exile in 39 CE. His third son, Herod Philip, became tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, northwest of the Sea of Galilee. He rued from 4 BCE until his death in 34 CE. Only Herod Philip put human images on his coins, and he got away with it because the place the he ruled was far away from conservative Jews. In the end, the Herodian rulers were gradually replaced by Roman procurators.

Pontius Pilate was the only Roman governor of Judea mentioned in the Gospels. He was governor from 26 to 36/7 CE. He was ineffective, and he provoked the Jews. He was the one that tried Jesus and ordered his execution. He was recalled to Rome in 36/7 CE. Roman governors in Jerusalem during 6 to 66 CE were inexperienced and inept, which caused Jewish nationalism to rise.

Roman Jerusalem

Roman rule in Palestine began in 63 BCE. The fight between the Pharisees and the Sadducees were so intense that Pompey, the Roman general, didn’t have to do much to besiege Jerusalem and annex it for Rome. During 63 BCE, Pompey assumed control of Jerusalem. He appointed Hyrcanus as “ethnarch,” the ruler of the ethnicity or people. He also chose an Idumean man named Antipater to be installed as procurator and his sons as local rulers Jerusalem. Pompey chose a family from Idumea because they would be sympathetic to the Roman rule, since Idumeans were only half Jewish because they were forcefully circumcised by the Hasmoneans.

Herod the Great rose to power when he expelled the Parthians and became King of Rome and Judah. In 37 BCE, he got Jerusalem from Parthians after siege. Herod was from Idumea, so he was superficially “Jewish.” His knowledge of Jewish tradition enabled him to rule without provoking the Jews to rebel. Herod was very sensitive to his Jewish subjects. For examples, coins of Herod the Great had no pagan images. He did not defile the Temple when besieging Jerusalem, and he allowed the Jews to select their High Priest. All in all, he was a puppet king for the Romans. He terrorized the Jews, and he was a successful brutal dictator.