Jerusalem - The Old City

Jerusalem-The Old City

Near Damascus Gate, The Old City, Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem - The Old City

Jerusalem is one of the oldest and most important cities is human history. The Hebrew Scriptures may associate the location of Jerusalem with Melchizedek the “King of Salem” in Ge 14:18 and Abraham’s attempted sacrifice of Isaac in Ge 22:2 on Mount Moriah, but the Jerusalem most think of today began a thousand years later in the 11th century B.C.E., when King David conquered the Jebusite fortress city described in 2Sa 5:6-9 and made it the capital of ancient Israel. The city and temple were destroyed by Babylon and rebuilt in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E. and were again destroyed at the peak of it’s grandeur and population by the Romans in the 1st century C.E.. Jerusalem was partially rebuilt and populated by Hadrian as a Roman city in the second century. The City was later conquered by Arab armies in the 7th century, was briefly captured and controlled by the Crusaders in the 11th and 12 centuries and in 1517 Jerusalem was conquered by the Ottoman’s and remained under their control until 1917. In the 16th century C.E. Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the city walls and gates and Jerusalem enjoyed a time of renewal that can be experienced today in what is now referred to as the “Old City”.

The Western Wall

The Western Wall

The large stones on the lower Western Wall are the foundation stones from magnificent temple built by Herod the Great during the Second Temple period starting about 20 B.C.E.. The Temple was completely destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Romans with only the foundation surviving. In 1967 further excavations two more levels of the wall were cleared to create the Western Wall Plaza that visitors see today. This section of the wall, thought to be the closest to where the temple was, is considered the most holy site in Judaism. The full western foundation wall of the ancient temple actually runs for 488m, today most of it is covered by residential buildings and much of it underground. The huge grooved rectangle stones on the bottom are the original foundation stones from Herod’s time, the four courses above of smaller stones were added in the 8th century and the top several rows of smaller stones come from the 13th century to 15th century.

Jerusalem-Western Wall Robinson's Arch Arrow.jpg

Jerusalem Archaeological Park - Davidson Center

Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem Archaeological Park - Davidson Center

The Davidson center Jerusalem Archaeological Park, just south of the Western Wall, is an incredible excavation of both the second temple and first temple periods.

About 12 meters from the southwest corner of the Temple mount foundation is Robinson’s arch, the remains of the massive arched stairway described by Josephus: “Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were four gates ….. the last led to the other city, where the road descended into the valley by a great number of steps”. The arch and stair led out of the temple, wrapping around to the busy markets of the Tyropoeon Valley. Remains of the great stairway, the shops and paving stones of the major street below and the massive stones from the magnificent temple that were thrown down by the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., are all visible in this area of the park.

On the South retaining wall of the Temple Mount are the steps to the Huldah gates Mentioned in The Jewish Mishnah (Middot 1:3). This was the main entrance to the temple for the public and likely the entrance Jesus and the apostles would have used as well. Ruins of the ritual baths can be found around the entrance as well as cisterns, residential houses and fortifications from the first and second temple periods.

Temple Stones, Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Jerusalem, Israel

Temple Mount

The Temple of ancient Israel was first built by King Solomon on the present Temple Mount site and was destroyed in the conquest of Judah by Babylon (2Ki 25:9). The temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel (Ezra 1:5) in the 6th century B.C.E. and greatly expanded by Herod the Great starting in the 18th year of his reign at the end of the 1st century B.C.E. Herod’s expansion almost doubled the size of the previous temple by building a massive new foundation walls and infilling making it the largest constructed platform of the ancient world. Because of Herod’s unpopularity with the Israelites they would never consider his total rebuild as the Third Temple, only as a reconstruction of the Second Temple. It was possibly in the south west corner of today’s platform where Jesus famously threw out the money changers (Joh 2:13-17).

After the complete burning and destruction of the temple in 70 C.E by the Romans, the platform was desolate until Hadrian constructed his Temple to Jupiter in the second century C.E. which was in later demolished in the 4th century by Constantine. In 637 C.E. Arabs captured the city and Caliph ʽAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan built the Dome of the Rock on the present temple site. South of the Dome of the Rock is the el-Aqsa mosque, first constructed in the eighth century and largely rebuilt in the eleventh century. The Dome of the Rock was reguilded in gold in the 1990’s and today it remains one of the most identifiable buildings of modern Jerusalem. It is viewed by Muslims as one of the holiest shrines in Islam.

Under the Old City

Western Wall Tunnels

The underground tour of the western wall tunnels starts near the prayer area near the Western Wall plaza and follows the foundation wall to the north under the buildings in the Arab Quarter. The tunnel exposes about 300 m of the western side of the wall showing the construction of the wall and the massive size of the lower foundation stones, one of the stones is 10m wide and weighs over 600 tons. The tunnel also reveals Warren’s Gate, a gate discovered in the 19th century by Charles Warren, that is thought to have been the closest gate to the “Most Holy” of the Temple. Other discoveries include a Herodian street from the second temple period, and the remains of the Hasmonean Channel, the water channel supplied the Temple’s water.

The Old City - Jewish Quarter

Jewish Quarter

The Jewish quarter, most famous for the Western Wall plaza, has been home to a Jewish population since the 8th century B.C.E. and today has a population of over 2000. The quarter is built on the ruins of the Upper Marketplace of the city in Roman times. The Cardo (Roman word for north-south streets) Market is the shop lined street from Byzantium times that runs from the Zion Gate in the Jewish section to the Damascus Gate in the Muslim section. The Broad Wall is an city wall excavation from the time of Hezekiah and possibly referred to in Ne 3:8. Other important excavations include The Herodian Quarter – Wohl Museum of Archaeology and the Burnt House - the underground excavations of Second Temple period residences before the destruction of the city by the Romans.

Western Wall and Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel

Jewish Quarter, Old City, Jerusalem, Israel

The Old City - Muslim Quarter

Muslim Quarter

The Muslim Quarter is the largest neighborhood in the old city. The area was included in the city walls of the Second Temple period and has been inhabited ever since. Other than the Temple Mount, perhaps the Quarter’s most next most identifying feature is the bustling Butcher’s, Spice and Goldsmith Markets that run parallel to each other on Souk Al Lakhamin, Souk al-Attarine and Souk Al Khawajat. Some of these markets date back to Crusader times and give an authentic Middle East market experience. Historical remains found in the Muslim Quarter include the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda (Bethzatha) of John 5:2 - discovered in the 1900’s close to the present Lion’s Gate.

Old City - Christian Quarter

Christian Quarter

The Christian Quarter of the city was built around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a traditional location thought to have been where Jesus was buried. The tradition comes from fourth century C.E. when Constantine demolished the temple of Aphrodite (Venus) that Hadrian had built in the second century, perhaps in scorn of Christians. Excavations done since 1960 indicate that the area was used as a burial ground back in the Second Temple period. Another location for Jesus burial has been suggested to the the Garden Tomb, located outside the Damascus Gate of the old city.

Today few live in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, it is primarily populated with tourist amenities, schools and religious sites.

The Old City-Armenian Quarter

Tower of David, Armenian Quarter, The Old City, Jerusalem

The Old City - Armenian Quarter

Armenian Quarter

The Armenian Quarter has been inhabited by Armenians continually since the 4th Century C.E. and today has over 2,400 residents. The most obvious landmark of the quarter is the tower of David, a Citadel rebuilt by Suleiman the Magnificent on the site of previous fortifications dated back to Herodian times and before. Other historical sites include Helen and Edward Mardigian Museum of Armenian Art and Culture that houses Armenian cultural artifacts, a copy of Gutenberg’s printing press and the Calouste Gulbenkian Library which is one of the world’s largest Armenian Libraries.

Armenian Quarter, The Old City, Jerusalem

daniel campbellMarch 28, 2020