Islamic Jerusalem

Last class, we talked about Jerusalem in the context of the Christian religion.  Today, we continued to talk about Jerusalem in the context of the Islamic religion.  Quite helpful, actually, considering this is precisely the topic that I am discussing in my research paper :). Well, anyways, Professor started class, discussing the end of the Byzantine Empire.  Byzantine rulers, were extremely mean to Jewish people in Jerusalem, forbidding them to live there.  Towards the end of Byzantine Jerusalem, when Caliph Umar takes control of the city, Jews were slowly allowed to move back, and the population slowly increased.  The next ruler, Abd al-Malik, built the Dome of the Rock in 691 CE, in attempt to divert the pilgrimage from Mecca to Jerusalem.  In 1099, the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and converted the Dome of the Rock into a church.  in 1187, Salah ad-Din re-conquers Jerusalem and restores the Dome of the Rock.  The Dome of the Rock was built with Byzantine Martyria influence.  This is also seen in the Holy Sepulcher.  Abd al-Malik attemped to incorporated Christian architectural traditions in order to outshine Christian monuments, emphasizing the importance and prestige of Islam.  In addition, Abd al-Malik made mosaic inscriptions of Qur-anic verses around the interior of the shrine, repudiating Christianity's view of Jesus as the son of God.  The location of the Dome of the Rock is especially significant because it is the site of the Holy of Holies. In addition, it is traditionally believed to be the site of Muhummad's pilgrimage.  Under it is believed to be the underworld, and the place of Final Judgement of the Lord at death.  Overall, both shrines are equally important in sanctifying their individually specific Messiahs.  Both demonstrate Byzantine architecture, have related Biblical contexts, and are memorializing a specific Messiah.

Byzantine Jerusalem

Today we focused on the impact of Jerusalem in the context of Christianity.  This is important because the Messiah of Christianity, Jesus, has a large association with Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, buried, and resurrected.  Professor Cargill began speaking about a ruler named Constantine the Great, who ruled from 312-337 CE.  In 313, he ratified the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity as an official religion.  In 324 CE, Constantine's mother, Helena, came to Jerusalem, and rededicated the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher gradually gained the reifications that the Temple once had.  That is, it became considered the ""new axis mundi."  In 391, Theodosius named Christianity the state religion, further emphasizing the importance of Christianity in Jerusalem.  As the popularity of Christianity in grew, Justinian expanded Jerusalem, eradicating the "Nea Church."  With the foundation of the "Nea Chruch," the evolution of the Christian pilgrimage developed.  Constantine brought the benefit of a physical being in a scared space.  In addition, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has a eticule in the middle that takes up most of the rotunda.  With the popularization and centralization of Christianity as a world religion, primal myths that were once associated with Judaism are transferred over to Christianity.

Jerusalem Revolt

Today we learned specifically about the revolts that took place in Jerusalem after Rome took over.  After Herod's death in 4 BCE, his kingdom was divided among three of Herod's sons.  The first son, Arachelaus, took control as the ethnarch of Judea.  He was highly ineffective, and ruled from 4 BCE all the way until he was exiled in 6 CE.  Herod's second son, Herod Antipas, took control as the tetrarach of Perea and Galilee, and ruled all the way from 4 BCE until he, too was exiled in 39 BCE.  The last son, Herod Philip, got kind of the bad end of the stick, as he was the tetrarch of Hurea and Trachonitis, ruling from 4 BCE all the way until his death in 34 CE.  He ruled the longest out of his three brothers.  Herodian rulers were gradually replaced by Roman procurators, executing direct Roman rule.  The most famous of these procurators is Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor who was best known for deciding on the trial of Jesus.  He was the only Roman governor that was mentioned in the Gospels.  He was known for being a highly ineffective, selfish ruler.  He was so terrible that the Romans recalled him off his throne back to Rome in 36 CE.  The Roman rulers were known for being very inexperienced and corrupt.  Consequently, there was growing Jewish nationalism and declining law and order, thus giving rise to the first Jewish Revolt.  During this time, the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by ruler Titus.  After the Temple was destroyed, there was again a renewed sense of cognitive dissonance that arose, causing Jews to feel a sense of uncertainty and loss of faith.  Ruler Titus built an arch in Rome to commemorate his victory over the Jews, also minting coins with the words "Judea Capta" engraved.  This eventually led to the second revolt, which took place from 132-135 CE.  During this time, Jews were forbidden to visit Jerusalem.  In addition, the emperor Hadrian punished the Jews, imposing a tax for only Jews to pay.  This forced the Jews to either deny their faith, avoiding the tax, or renouncing their faith, but paying taxes to the Romans.  Each way was a lose-lose situation for thew Jews.  In addition, the banishment of Jews from Jerusalem gave rise to the popularity of synagogues, localizing worship in things other than the Temple.

Herodian Jerusalem

Last class, we left off at the end of during the Hasmonean dynasty.  Its successors were the Romans, who ruled starting 63 BCE.  Jerusalem under Roman rule was also called the reign of Herod, or Jesus' Jerusalem.  During this time, Herod the Great ruled over Jerusalem.  Herod is depicted in the Bible as being harsh, tyranistic, and paranoid.  He ruled from 37-4 BCE.  Herod aimed to exert sensitivity to the Jews yet maintain a good relationship with Jerusalem's successor, Rome.  As a result, Herod became increasingly paranoid and impulsive, which is effective for Rome, yet made Herod hated by Jews.  Herod was well-liked by Rome because he took all of the negative publicity from the Jewish people.  However, this caused him to be hated among the commoners in Jerusalem.  Professor Cargill posed an interesting question, challenging us to think about whether Herod was actually a good or a bad ruler.  Although he may have been socially hated by Jews, he was still commemorated as a good leader because he economically and religiously supported Jerusalem.  He rebuilt the Temple, improved Jerusalem's economic welfare, and respected all religious Jewish views.  As a devout Christian, I am slightly conflicted as to what to believe, especially now knowing the historical and archaeological truths.

Things Are Lookin' Up

This lecture focused on Jerusalem as a Hellenistic nation.  And, eventually, after Hellenism dies down, the emergence of the Hasmonean Rule.  Hellenism was started by Alexander the Great, a greek ruler that ruled from 336-323 BCE.  During his reign, Alexander the Great conquers a great majority of what is modern day Middle East, including Palestine in 332 BCE.  He also used coins as propaganda for his rule.  After the Battle of Issas at 333 BCE, when Alexander the Great defeats Persia, Jerusalem capitulates to Alexander, and was under Greek, or Hellenistic, rule.  After Alexander the Great dies, his kingdom was divided into two groups: Prolemies (Egyptians) and Seleucias (Syrians).  The Prolemies ruled from 300-201.  In addition Seleucias imposed Greek tradition on Jewish lifestyle.  They Hellenized Jews to speak greek, making it the universal language.  They claimed that achieved linguistic unity would yield imperial unity.  Hellenism attracted social and economic expansion.  And, with the assimilation of new ideas into old ideas,   the religion of Jerusalem became affected.  More specifically, aspects concerning Hellenistic linguistic and literature were brought into Jewish culture, causing even the Hebrew Bible to be Hellenized.  And, conservative Jews failed to sit well with this idea, and ultimately the Jewish people revolted against Serucias, overthrowing their power.  This revolt was called the "Maccabean Revolt," and it was led by Judas Maccabeaus in 165 BCE.  This regaining of self-control called for the creation of Hanukkah to commemorate the victory, and birthed the Hasmonean dynasty.  The Hasmonean dynasty restored the Golden Age, greatly expanding Jewish territory.  It governed by Jewish self-rule for around 100 years.  The rulers kept saying that they were temporarily ruling until a self-righteous ruler came along.  Eventually, though, Hasmonean rule became hellenized, secular, and corrupt.  They were insensitive to Jewish religious tradition and were based primarily on nationalistic motives.  It is said that although their reign was successful, it mirrored the same issues as David and Solomon's reigns.  Eventually, the Hasmonean rule came to an end, and the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE.

Persian Reign

I dread the first class after midterms--usually information is super dry and uninteresting.  However, this class was surprisingly interesting.  It talked about the period under which the Persians ruled.  He began, introducing the rule of the 2nd Temple, mentioning that it is between 539 BCE-70 CE.  He then continued to speak about the importance of Prophet Ezekiel, and how he was exiled to Babylon in 596 BCE.  He compared Prophet Ezekiel to a "crazy" entrepreneur that you would see on Third Street, preaching absurdities.  Ezekiel had a utopian dream of a new Jerusalem.  That is, in the midst of the 2nd Temple being reconstructed, and eventually destroyed, Ezekiel felt that God was relentlessly there.  Olden perceptions suggested that God was physically tied to the Temple.  However, after the Temple was destroyed, the people were in a frenzy.  Instead, Ezekiel compared God to the ark of the covenant, saying God's presence is mobile; he is not physically tied to any landmark, but rather Jerusalem as a city.  Professor Cargill continues to talk about the Persian reign, saying that the ruler, King Cyrus now fosters the image of a "liberator," valorizing the return to Persia.  In his reign, Cryus was viewed by Judean exiles as the great deliverer, bringing a "Persian Messiah."  I feel that it was interesting when Professor Cargill said "the Biblical author must rationalize history, even if it involves a foreigner as God's chosen deliverer."  With this persian rule, the poverty of Jerusalem increased.  Persian Jerusalem was marked by a depopulated, heavily taxed, conflicted Jerusalem.  At this point, it seems as if there is no hope for Jerusalem.

The End of Jerusalem

Today Professor Cargill started out talking about the development of literacy and language in culture.  This is especially significant because as scholars, it is the landmark in which we know what concrete things occurred.  In other words, written text concretely demonstrates an occurrence; it provides us with evidence that things actually happened.  In the context of this class, there were letters and blessings that were written down, paralleling rules and prayers in the Hebrew Bible.  Now, this sparks some discussion, because scholars are forced to distinguish chronologically what happened first.  Did the letters come first to reflect the teachings of the Bible? Or did the Bible model what happened in the letters?  I believe that the adoption of writing just sanctified a tradition that was already there.  In other words, I feel that rules and prayers and such were passed through oral tradition before literacy was more common.  In addition, the emergence of literacy called for the rise of the Bible.  Consequently, the popularity of the Book rising causes a decline in the power of kings.

The latter part of the class was spent talking about the Babylonian exile.  During exile, there was complete destruction in Jerusalem and extreme economic devastation.  Professor Cargill emphasizes that there were three Babylonian exiles, the second one being most important.  It happened in 586 BCE, and was marked by the destruction of the Temple, the Exile of the elites, and the people's flight to Egypt.  However, the religious people in Jerusalem were left baffled after the exile, because they refused to believe that their Lord had broken His promise to David.  As said in the Bible, the Lord said that he would dwell in Jerusalem forever, and there shall be a king there forever. However, with the Babylonian exile, this is apparently impossible.  As a result, the people attempted to reconcile his "promise" by twisting the words for redefinition.  For example, in the Bible, during the pre-exile, the Temple was known as God's physical residence.  However, after the exile, scribes changed the words to the Temple was the dwelling place for God's name.  They switched the words in order to ensure that their Lord did not fail to fulfill His promise to them.  This concept, according to Professor Cargill, is cognitive dissonance, the uncomfortability when your beliefs conflict with reality, and you attempt to reconcile for the differences by redefining measures.