Ancient history of Jerusalem

Jerusalem is situated in the heart of the Judean Mountains, on the crest of the ridge that forms the dividing line between the Judean lowlands to the west and the Judean desert to the east.

People have lived in Jerusalem for at 5000 years. In about 1000 BC, King David captured the city from the Jebusites and made Jerusalem the capital of the Jewish kingdom of Israel.

According to the biblical narrative, the boundaries of the city expanded northward in the middle of the tenth century BC at the time of King Solomon. The Jews built the First Temple of Jerusalem in the 900s BC.

David’s dynasty was ended in 586 BC by the invasion of King Nebuchadnezzar who sacked the Temple and deported most of the Jews to Babylon.

In the second century BC the Hasmoneans founded an independent Jewish state that lasted until Jerusalem came under Roman control in 67 BC following internal stride and conflicts within Hasmonean Dynasty.

From 37 the Herod family led the state under the aegis of the Roman Empire. The city was destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman, and its inhabitants were massacred. In 135, after the rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba, the Roman destroyed Jerusalem =, renamed the city Aelia Capitolina and expelled the Jews from Judea.

The city was taken by the Persian in 614 and finally was lost to the Arabs under Omar.
Ancient history of Jerusalem