During the first five centuries after the quelling of the second Jewish revolt, peace prevailed in the holy city of Jerusalem^[1] and from 324 AD- 638 AD Christianity was the official religion of the empire.^[2]

In 330 AD, Emperor Constantine’s rule extended from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire, and shortly after Christianity became the dominant religion of the Empire upon his conversion to Christianity.^[3] Byzantium was renamed Constantinople^[4] and became the capital of both empires: the western in Rome and the eastern in Byzantium.^[5]

A Flourishing Era of Churches

Constantine and his mother Helena ordered the erection of many churches in Jerusalem.^[6] The most important church built then was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, also referred to as the Church of Resurrection. They also ordered the building of the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, the Church of Martyrium midway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem,^[7] and the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem.^[8]

Similar to Emperors before him, Constantine prohibited Jews from entering Jerusalem and soon the city became inhabited entirely by Christians. Although the prohibition of the entry of Jews into the city existed as the general policy of the Roman Empire from the fourth century until its fall in the seventh century, during the reign of Emperor Julian, there was a brief period when Jews were allowed to return to the city.^[9] Julian persecuted Christians while allowed Jews to return to the city and rebuild their temple. After he died, e Jews were expelled once again, before they had a chance to rebuild their temple in the city.^[10]

Christians once again became the dominant inhabitants of the city and they continued to establish and expand their churches. From the beginning of the rule of Empress Eudokia in 444 AD, there was a flourishing of churches.^[11] The empress ordered the building of many churches including the Church of St Stephen where she is believed to be buried.^[12]

A pictorial map of the holy land, produced in mosaic form, was discovered in the ruins a church in Madaba, Jordan in 1897. The map dates back to the sixth century and is the oldest representation of Jerusalem. It includes the churches and monasteries of the city, its walls, streets and markets. The map is a witness to the flourishing era of both Christianity and culture in Jerusalem.^[13]

Flourishing Commercial Life

With the erection of many churches in Jerusalem, the city became a center of Christian pilgrimage. The Jerusalem that witnessed the last days of Jesus according to the Christian tradition, now attracted pilgrims from different places, which resulted in the prosperity of commerce and business. Soon the city became the richest in the East.^[14] he Fifth Church Council cemented the place of Jerusalem by declaring it the center for the Patriarchate.^[15] However, the economic and cultural growth of the city also made it a target for invasion campaigns from the competing empire of the East, Persia.^[16]

The Persian Invasion

In 614 AD, the Persian emperor Chosroes II invaded Jerusalem.^[17] Many Jews living in the northern parts of Palestine joined Chosroes’ invading troops and made their way into the city.^[18]

Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Persians and Jews massacred Christian inhabitants, destroyed churches and took The True Cross, upon which Jesus was believed to be crucified, with them to Persia.^[19]

The Persian victory, however, did not last, and ; 627-628 AD Heraclius, the emperor of Byzantium, attacked the Persians, defeated Chosroes II and restored Jerusalem to Byzantine rule again.^[20] The True Cross was also taken back to Jerusalem.^[21] Muslims believe that this battle between the two empires was mentioned in Quran in the chapter on the Romans (Surah al-Rum) where Quran predicted the victory of Rome after its defeat at the hands of the Persians.^[22]

Once again, Heraclius followed in the footsteps of Hadrian and issued an edict forbidding the Jewish presence in the city under penalty of death.^[23]

While the great empires of Persia and Byzantium were fighting over n Jerusalem, a new power emerged under Prophet Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula that threatened both empires.^[24] The new Muslim nation fought the Romans first in Mu’ta (a city in the south of present day Jordan) and shortly afterwards, defeated them in 636 AD in the battle of Yarmouk.^[25]

In 637 AD the Arabs lay siege to the city of Jerusalem and one year later the Muslim Caliph Umar Bin Al-Khattab received a message that Aelia (Jerusalem) would surrender to him alone. The Patriarch of Jerusalem handed the city’s keys to the Caliph upon a guarantee of the city’s security to begin a new chapter of the city’s history.^[26]

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After the death of Herod the Great and from 4BC-41 AD, Jerusalem was ruled by Roman officials called procurators.^[1] it was under the rule of procurators that Jesus was born.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth and Galilee, and preached in Jerusalem.^[2] According to the Christian tradition, crucified and buried in the city as well.^[3]

The bible mentions that Jesus visited the city number of times, one of them when he was thirteen years old at a time when Jerusalem was a great prosperous Roman city.

In 33 AD, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman Procurator of Jerusalem, Jesus visited the city..^[4] According to the bible, he was arrested, put to trial and crucified. After his trial in Pilate’s castle, Jesus walked via Dolorosa^[5] towards Golgotha^[6] which was the city’s place of execution. Christians came to sanctify this route and consider it a route of pilgrimage.^[7]

The Gospel of John narrates the full story of the crucifixion. It states that Pilates did not want to kill Jesus and was sure he was both righteous and innocent of blasphemy and corruption charges brought against him, but that he bowed under the pressure of the Jewish masses in the city calling for the kill of the Messiah.^[8] This admission can also be found in one of the letters Pilates sent to the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar, which is now preserved in the British Museum. ^[9]

It took the Roman Empire a long time to adopt Christianity as an official religion. This happened only in the fourth century with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I declared it the official and sole authorized religion of the empire. For three centuries after this, Jerusalem became the Christian center of the east, and even after the Muslim conquest of the city in the seventh century, Christians co-existed with Muslims and had, for the most part, the freedom to do so.^[10]

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Seventy years after Antiochus Sidetes, King of Seleucids, besieged Jerusalem in 134 BC, Roman Commander Pompey succeeded in capturing the city in 63 BC,^[1] and for seven centuries (63 BC-638 AD) Jerusalem was ruled by the Romans.^[2]

Although Pompey destroyed the walls and many buildings in Jerusalem when he entered it,^[3]the Romans otherwise led a civilized invasion of the city^[4] and for two centuries the Romans granted Jerusalem, which was inhabited by Nabateans, Arabs, Jews, Egyptians and Phoenicians,^[5] self-government and let its inhabitants rule themselves. However, after the Jewish which resulted in the expulsion of the Jewish population from the city and the official ban on Judaism and Jewish practices, Jerusalem became a Roman colony and was ruled by Roman officials.^[6]

Under Roman rule, Jerusalem prospered commercially, politically and militarily.^[7] Rome built temples, palaces, streets, bridges and dams in Jerusalem. It also minted coins, planted trees and fostered industry and business. Most of the monuments erected under Roman rule were destroyed either during the two Jewish revolts which emerged due to the Roman policies against the Jewish religious traditions or upon the Persian invasion.^[8]

Two other dramatic shifts in the city occurred within the last three centuries of the Roman rule: the increase in popularity of Christianity upon the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine and the consequent declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. The official declaration happened in AD 330 when the Roman Empire turned into the Empire of Byzantium. Emperor Constantine rebuilt the old city of Byzantium into the new city of Constantinople and declared it the capital of Empire instead of Rome.^[9]

Herod the Great

In 40 BC, Herod, the son of Caesar,^[10] became king of Judea (Palestine) then a Roman colony.^[11] Prior to that, Herod used to be the governor of Galilee. ^[12] Judea remained under his rule from 37 BC-4 BC.^[13]

Herod commissioned the building of castles, streets, wells, towers and great buildings.^[14] The most famous momentum erected in his rule though was his royal palace, Antonia, which was built in 35 BC.^[15] The palace was set on the northern west corner of the upper city close to today’s Jaffa Gate located on the southwest hill.^[16] Historians credit Herod with the repair and strengthening of Jerusalem’s walls.^[17] Throughout his rule, the inhabitants of Jerusalem enjoyed relative religious freedom and Herod actually ordered the reconstruction of the previously destroyed^[18] Jewish temple.^[19]

Jewish rebellions against the Romans

The Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem revolted against Rome twice: in 66-70 AD, and in 132-135 AD under the leadership of Bar Kochba.^[20]

In 66 AD, , seeking political and social independence from the Empire of Rome, the Jews of Jerusalem revolted against the Romans ^[21] In 70 AD, the Roman commander Titus led the fight against them.^[22] He surrounded the city, destroyed its walls, buildings and markets, killed many Jews, destroyed their temple^[23] and restored the city to the Roman rule again.^[24]

The second revolt, occurred in 135 when the Jews under the leadership of Bar Kochba^[25] revolted against the Roman Emperor Hadrian who had destroyed the city and turned it into a center for idols worship.^[26] After the second revolt, Jews were either killed, sold into slavery, or exiled to the far corners of the Roman Empire,^[27] and were prohibited from entering the city by law.^[28]

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In 333 BC, after 200 years of Persian rule in the holy city, Jerusalem was conquered by the Greeks under the leadership of the Macedonian emperor Alexander the Great, who was able to take over Egypt and Levant.^[1] After his death, the Greek Empire split into two factions: the Ptolemies of Egypt, and Greeks of Syria known as Seleucids. For more than two centuries the two groups rotated on ruling the holy city of Jerusalem.^[2] Ptolemies ruled for the first century and then Jerusalem was controlled by the Seleucids.^[3]

After Alexander the Great’s death, the city was captured by Ptolemy, and became a part of his kingdom in Egypt.^[4] Later, in 134 BC, Jerusalem was captured by Antiochus Sidetes, and made a part of the Saluki Kingdom in Syria.^[5] Sidetes laid siege to Jerusalem and only relented upon the payment of tribute from its inhabitants.^[6]

The Hellenization of Jerusalem

After the Greeks took over Jerusalem under the leadership of Alexander the Great, the city underwent a rapid process of Hellenization.^[7]

Local gods were replaced with Greek ones, Greek temples were built, and pagan games and spectacles were adopted.^[8] The Greek language became the official language of the state even though Aramaic was the spoken language among t Jerusalemites.^[9] Commerce took on a distinctly greek flavor: the mosaic industry became important, and Greek business and coins did as well.. Moreover, Greek culture and civilization became influential in the area in the form of literature, philosophy and traditions and prevailed over the local culture.^[10] For a century and a half, the Greeks ruled Jerusalem. During this era, Jerusalem became no stranger to Greek poetry, language, religion, sport and culture.^[11]

Two Warring Factions

After the death of Alexander the Great, civil war broke out in the Greek Empire. The war finally resulted in the emergence of two fighting factions; the Seleucids in the north, and the Ptolemies in the south.^[12]

For the first century after Alexander’s death, the Ptolemies were in control of Jerusalem.^[13] The first Ptolemy ruler of the city, called Ptolemy Soter, adopted a policy of transporting Jewish inhabitants of the city to Egypt where they adopted Greek as their native language.^[14]

A century later, in 200 BC, the Seleucids, under Antiochus the third, took control of Palestine, which they held onto until ^[15] the Roman capture of the area in 63 BC.^[16]

The Maccabees Rebellion

Jerusalem welcomed the rule of Seleucids at the beginning of their arrival to the city but in 175 BC, Antiochus IV, known as Epiphanes^[17], created discontent in the city when he forced its inhabitants to pay a heavy tribute and encouraged disputes between priests and holy men in the city—particularly among the Jews.. Epiphanes’ policies regarding Hellenization were even more strict than his predecessors,and replaced the jewish priest Jason, then the leading priest of Jerusalem, with Menelaos who turned Jerusalem into a Hellenistic city ^[18]state and renamed it “Antiochia in Judea”.^[19]

In 168 BC, while Epiphanes was preparing to invade Egypt, the Jewish population of Jerusalem conspired against him in an attempt to establish their own independent rule of Jerusalem.^[20] Upon his return to the city, Epiphanes destroyed its walls,^[21] took its treasures,prosecuted the Jews, and issued an edict prohibiting them from practicing Judaism and considering observance of Torah an act punishable by death.^[22] He actually killed number of the Jewish inhabitants for upholding their Jewish beliefs such as observing Sabbath. This resulted in the Jewish rebellion known as the “Maccabean Revolt,”^[23] after the name of their leader Judah Son of Mattathias (nicknamed Maccabee or Hammer in Hebrew).^[24]

In 167 BC, the Maccabees revolted against the Greek rulers in the city that had turned their temple into a pagan temple of Jupiter and forced Jews to sacrifice to foreign gods and idols.^[25] The Jews succeeded in liberating part of the city and occupied the Temple Mount^[26] but the Greeks kept the Citadel^[27] until 141 BC when Simon Maccabaeus^[28] succeeded in reducing Greeks’ garrison.^[29] Soon after this brief victory, Jerusalem was back to its Greek rulers who continued to Hellenize Jerusalem..^[30] Jerusalem remained under the Greek rule, up until 63 BC when it was captured by Rome which ended the Jewish rule in the city.^[31]

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