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.