First settlement, Jerusalem is already mentioned in ancient documents. It was ruled by an Amorite king called Adoni-Zedek. The city was temporarily occupied by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but they were unable to dislodge the Jebusites, who continued to populate the city.
1000 Conquest by King David;
1000-922 Jerusalem capital of the united monarchy
960 King Salomon builds the Temple and a royal palace
701 Siege by the Assyrian King Sennacherib
598 Siege by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. King Jehoiachin and many of his
subjects exiled to Babylon
586 Second siege by Nebuchadnezzar. The city is conquered and burned.
537 Declaration by King Cyrus. The return to Zion begins 516 Completion of the Second Temple 332 Capture of Jerusalem by Alexander the Great 168 Antiochus IV Epiphanes occupies the city 164 Jerusalem occupied by Judah Maccabee 164-37 The Hasmonean period 37-4 Herod captures the city 4 BC-41AD Judea ruled by Roman procurators 34 A.D. Crucifixion of Jesus 41-44 Rule of Herod Agrippa 66-70 The Jewish Revolt 70 Titus captures Jerusalem. His troops raze the city and set fire to its houses and the Second Temple.
131-135 Bar Kokhba Rebellion against Roman rule 135 The Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem as a Roman city and names it ‘Aelia Capitolina’. A temple to Jupiter is erected on the Temple Mount and Jews are forbidden entrance to the city.
324 Rule of the Emperor Constantine. Resurrection Church of the Holy Sepulchre and a new wall surrounding Mount Zion 361-363 Emperor Julian ‘the Apostate’ permits Jews to settle in the city 525-565 Rule of the Emperor Justinian, Construction of the Cardo, the ‘Nea’ Basilica and other Christian sites 614-629 Persian conquest of the city 629-638 Byzantine reconquest of Jerusalem
638 Conquest of Jerusalem by the Arabs under the Caliph Omar 638-650 Umayyad rule. Reconstruction of the Temple Mount. Erection of the Dome of the Rock, the El-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim buildings. Jewish resettlement of Jerusalem 750-969 Abbasid rule 969-1071 Fatimid rule 1012 Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher 1071 Conquest by the Turkish Soljuks 1096 Egyptian conquest
1099 Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. Massacre of the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. Jews are forbidden to live in the city 1099-1187 Rebuilding of the Holy Sepulchre and other churches
1187 Saladin conquers the city and permits the Jews to return 1129-1244 Second Crusader period 1244 Conquest by the Khwarizm (Tartar) Turks 1260 Mongol conquest and destruction of the city
1267 Mamluk conquest. Nahmanides (the Ramban) persuades Jews to return to Jerusalem 1400 Jews begin to settle the ‘Jewish Quarter’. Erection of the Ramban synagogue 1488 Brief Mongol conquest accompanied by widespread destruction
1517 Conquest by Ottoman Turks 1538-1542 Construction of the new city wall 1721 Muslims seize the quarter of the Eastern-European (‘Ashkenazi’) Jews and burn their synagogue 1812 Ashkenazi Jews begin to return to Jerusalem 1854 First residential buildings outside the Old City 1873 Building of the German Colony by the Templars 1877 Establishment ‘municipal council’ in Jerusalem 1892 Inauguration of the railway connecting Jaffa and Jerusalem 1914-1917 First World War in Palestine
1917 General Allenby captures the city
1925 Inauguration of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus
1928-1938 Headquarters of Jewish national institutions established in Jerusalem
1948 Israeli War of Independence. The Jewish Quarter falls into Jordanian hands. Division
of the city under Israeli and Jordanian rule
1949-1967 Jerusalem remains divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule Construction of the Kirya Government district, the Knesset and the Israel Museum in western Jerusalem
1967 The Six-day War. Reunification of both parts of the city under Israeli rule.
By courtesy of Alfa Communication Ltd., 1993, Publishers of ‘Jerusalem of the Heavens’ Photo Book