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Jerusalem

Jerusalem Je*ru"sa*lem (j[-e]*r[udd]"s[.a]*l[e^]m), n. [Gr. Ieroysalh`m, fr. Heb. Y[e^]r[=u]sh[=a]laim.] The chief city of Palestine, intimately associated with the glory of the Jewish nation, and the life and death of Jesus Christ. [1913 Webster]

{Jerusalem artichoke} [Perh. a corrupt. of It. girasole i.e., sunflower, or turnsole. See Gyre, Solar.] (Bot.) (a) An American plant, a perennial species of sunflower ({Helianthus tuberosus}), whose tubers are sometimes used as food. (b) One of the tubers themselves.

{Jerusalem cherry} (Bot.), the popular name of either of two species of Solanum ({Solanum Pseudo-capsicum} and {Solanum capsicastrum}), cultivated as ornamental house plants. They bear bright red berries of about the size of cherries.

{Jerusalem oak} (Bot.), an aromatic goosefoot ({Chenopodium Botrys}), common about houses and along roadsides.

{Jerusalem sage} (Bot.), a perennial herb of the Mint family ({Phlomis tuberosa}).

{Jerusalem thorn} (Bot.), a spiny, leguminous tree ({Parkinsonia aculeata}), widely dispersed in warm countries, and used for hedges.

{The New Jerusalem}, Heaven; the Celestial City. [1913 Webster]

to french

Jerusalem [d???ru?zæl?m] Jérusalem
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to italian

Jerusalem Gerusalemme
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Bible Dictionary

Jerusalem
(the habitation of peace), Jerusalem stands in latitude 31degrees 46 35" north and longitude 35 degrees 18 30" east ofGreenwich. It is 32 miles distant from the sea and 18 from theJordan, 20 from Hebron and 36 from Samaria. "In severalrespects," says Dean Stanley, "its situation is singular amongthe cities of Palestine. Its elevation is remarkable;occasioned not from its being on the summit of one of thenumerous hills of Judea, like most of the towns and villages,but because it is on the edge of one of the highest table-landsof the country. Hebron indeed is higher still by some hundredfeet, and from the south, accordingly (even from bethlehem),the approach to Jerusalem is by a slight descent. But from anyother side the ascent is perpetual; and to the travellerapproaching the city from the east or west it must always havepresented the appearance beyond any other capital of the thenknown world--we may say beyond any important city that has everexisted on the earth--of a mountain city; breathing, ascompared with the sultry plains of Jordan, a mountain air;enthroned, as compared with jericho or Damascus, Gaza or Tyre,on a mountain fastness."--S. & P. 170,

Jerusalem, if not actually in the centre of Palestine, wasyet virtually so. "It was on the ridge, the broadest and moststrongly-marked ridge of the backbone of the complicatedhills which extend through the whole country from the plainof Esdraelon to the desert." Roads

There appear to havebeen but two main approaches to the city:--

From the Jordan valley by Jericho and the Mount of Olives.This was the route commonly taken from the north and east ofthe country.

From the great maritime plain of Philistia and Sharon. Thisroad led by the two Beth-horons up to the high ground atGibeon, whence it turned south, and came to Jerusalem byRamah and Gibeah, and over the ridge north of the city.Topography

To convey an idea of the position of Jerusalem,we may say, roughly, that the city occupies the southerntermination of the table-land which is cut off from thecountry round it on its west, south and east sides by ravinesmore than usually deep and precipitous. These ravines leavethe level of the table-land, the one on the west and theother on the northeast of the city, and fall rapidly untilthey form a junction below its southeast corner. The easternone--the valley of the Kedron, commonly called the valley ofJehoshaphat--runs nearly straight from north by south. Butthe western one--the valley of Hinnom-- runs south for atime, and then takes a sudden bend to the east until it meetsthe valley of Jehoshaphat, after which the two rush off asone to the Dead Sea. How sudden is their descent may begathered from the fact that the level at the point ofjunction -about a mile and a quarter from the starting-pointof each-- is more than 600 feet below that of the upperplateau from which they began their descent. So steep is thefall of the ravines, so trench-like their character, and soclose do they keep to the promontory at whose feet they run,as to leave on the beholder almost the impression of theditch at the foot of a fortress rather than of valleys formedby nature. The promontory thus encircled is itself divided bya longitudinal ravine running up it from south to north,called the valley of the Tyropoeon, rising gradually from thesouth, like the external ones, till at last it arrives at thelevel of the upper plateau, dividing the central mass intotwo unequal portions. Of these two, that on the west is thehigher and more massive, on which the city of Jerusalem nowstands, and in fact always stood. The hill on the east isconsiderably lower and smaller, so that to a spectator fromthe south the city appears to slope sharply toward the east.Here was the temple, and here stands now the great Mohammedansanctuary with its mosques and domes. The name of [691]Mount,[692]Mount, Mountain [693]Zion has been applied to thewestern hill from the time of Constantine to the present day.The eastern hill, called [694]Mount, [695]Mount, Mountain[696]Moriah in (2 chronicles 3:1) was as already remarked,the site of the temple. It was situated in the southwestangle of the area, now known as the Haram area, and was, aswe learn from Josephus, an exact square of a stadium, or 600Greek feet, on each side. (conder ("bible handbook," 1879)states that by the latest surveys the Haram area is aquadrangle with unequal sides. The west wall measures 1601feet, the south 922, the east 1530, the north 1042. It isthus nearly a mile in circumference, and contains 35acres

ED.) Attached to the northwest angle of the templewas the Antonia, a tower or fortress. North of the side ofthe temple is the building now known to Christians as theMosque of Omar, but by Moslems called the Dome of the Rock.The southern continuation of the eastern hill was named[697]Ophel, which gradually came to a point at the junctionof the valleys Tyropoeon and Jehoshaphat; and the northerBEZETHA, "the new city," first noticed by Josephus, which wasseparated from Moriah by an artificial ditch, and overlookedthe valley of Kedron on the east; this hill was enclosedwithin the walls of Herod Agrippa. Lastly, ACRA lay westwardof Moriah and northward of Zion, and formed the "lower city"in the time of Josephus. Walls

These are described byJosephus. The first or old wall was built by David andSolomon, and enclosed Zion and part of Mount Moriah. (thesecond wall enclosed a portion of the city called acra ormillo, on the north of the city, from the tower of mariamneto the tower of antonia. it was built as the city enlarged insize; begun by uzziah 140 years after the first wall wasfinished, continued by jotham 50 years later, and by manasseh100 years later still. it was restored by nehemiah. even thelatest explorations have failed to decide exactly what wasits course. (see conder s handbook of the bible, art.jerusalem.) The third wall was built by King Herod Agrippa,and was intended to enclose the suburbs which had grown outon the northern sides of the city, which before this had beenleft exposed. After describing these walls, Josephus addsthat the whole circumference of the city was 33 stadia, ornearly four English miles, which is as near as may be theextent indicated by the localities. He then adds that thenumber of towers in the old wall was 60, the middle wall 40,and the new wall 99. Water Supply--(jerusalem had no naturalwater supply, unless we so consider the "fountain of thevirgin," which wells up with an intermittent action fromunder ophel. the private citizens had cisterns, which weresupplied by the rain from the roofs; and the city had a watersupply "perhaps the most complete and extensive everundertaken by a city," and which would enable it to endure along siege. there were three aqueducts, a number of pools andfountains, and the temple area was honeycombed with greatreservoirs, whose total capacity is estimated at 10,000,000gallons. thirty of these reservoirs are described, varyingfrom 25 to 50 feet in depth; and one, call the great sea,would hold 2,000,000 gallons. these reservoirs and the poolswere supplied with water by the rainfall and by theaqueducts. one of these, constructed by pilate, has beentraced for 40 miles, though in a straight line the distanceis but 13 miles. it brought water from the spring elam, onthe south, beyond bethlehem, into the reservoirs under thetemple enclosure

ed.) Pools and fountains

A part of thesystem of water supply. Outside the walls on the west sidewere the Upper and Lower Pools of [698]Gihon, the latterclose under Zion, the former more to the northwest on theJaffa road. At the junction of the valleys of Hinnom andJehoshaphat was [699]Enrogel, the "Well of Job," in the midstof the king s gardens. Within the walls, immediately north ofZion, was the "Pool of Hezekiah." A large pool existingbeneath the temple (referred to in ecclus. 1:3) was probablysupplied by some subterranean aqueduct. The "King s Pool" wasprobably identical with the "Fountain of the Virgin," at thesouthern angle of Moriah. It possesses the peculiarity thatit rises and falls at irregular periods; it is supposed to befed form the cistern below the temple. From this asubterranean channel cut through solid rock leads the waterto the pool of [700]Siloah, The Pool Of or [701]Siloam, whichhas also acquired the character of being an intermittentfountain. The pool of which tradition has assigned the nameof [702]Bethesda is situated on the north side of Moriah; itis now named Birket Israil . Burial-grounds

The maincemetery of the city seems from an early date to have beenwhere it is still--on the steep slopes of the valley of theKedron. The tombs of the kings were in the city of David,that is, Mount Zion. The royal sepulchres were probablychambers containing separate recesses for the successivekings. Gardens

The king s gardens of David and Solomon seemto have been in the bottom formed by the confluence of theKedron and Himmon. (nehemiah 3:15) The Mount of Olives, asits name, and the names of various places upon it seem toimply, was a fruitful spot. At its foot was situated thegarden of Gethsemane. At the time of the final siege thespace north of the wall of Agrippa was covered with gardens,groves and plantations of fruit trees, enclosed by hedges andwalls; and to level these was one of Titus first operations.We know that the Gennath (i.e. "of gardens") opened on thisside of the city. Gates

The following is a complete list ofthe gates named in the Bible and by Josephus, with thereference to their occurrence:--

Gate of Ephraim. (2 chronicles 25:23; nehemiah 8:16; 12:39)This is probably the same as the--

Gate of Benjamin. (jeremiah 20:2; 37:13; zechariah 14:10) Ifso, it was 400 cubits distant from the--

Corner gate. (2 chronicles 25:23; 26:9; jeremiah 31:38;zechariah 14:10)

Gate of Joshua, governor of the city. (2 kings 23:8)

Gate between the two walls. (2 kings 25:4; jeremiah 39:4)

Horse gate. (nehemiah 3:28; 2 chronicles 23:15; jeremiah31:40)

Ravine gate (i.e. opening on ravine of hinnom). (2 chronicles26:9; nehemiah 2:13,15; 3:13)

Fish gate. (2 chronicles 33:14; nehemiah 3:13; zephaniah1:10)

Dung gate. (nehemiah 2:13; 3:13)

Sheep gate. (nehemiah 3:1,32; 12:39)

East gate. (nehemiah 3:29)

Miphkad. (nehemiah 3:31)

Fountain gate (siloam?). (nehemiah 12:37)

Water gate. (nehemiah 12:37)

Old Gate. (nehemiah 12:39)

Prison gate. (nehemiah 12:39)

Gate Harsith (perhaps the sun; authorized version east gate).(jeremiah 19:2)

First gate. (zechariah 14:10)

Gate Gennath (gardens). Jos B.J. v. 4, - 4.

Essenes gate. Jos. B.J. 4, - 2. To these should be added thefollowing gates to the temple:--Gate Sur, (2 kings 11:6)called also gate of foundation. (2 chronicles 23:5) Gate ofthe guard, or behind the guard, (2 kings 11:6,19); called thehigh gate. (2 kings 15:35; 2 chronicles 23:20; 27:3) GateShallecheth. (1 chronicles 26:16) At present the chief gatesare--

The Zion s gate and the dung gate, in the south wall;

St. Stephen s gate and the golden gate (now walled up), inthe east wall;

The Damascus gate and

Herod s gate, in the north wall; and

The Jaffa gate, in the west wall. Population

Taking thearea of the city enclosed by the two old walls at 750,000yards, and that enclosed by the wall of Agrippa at 1,500,000yards, we have 2,250,000 yards for the whole. Taking thepopulation of the old city at the probable number of the oneperson to 50 yards, we have 15,000 and at the extreme limitof 30 yards we should have 25,000 inhabitants for the oldcity, and at 100 yards to each individual in the new cityabout 15,000 more; so that the population of Jerusalem, inits days of greatest prosperity, may have amounted to from30,000 to 45,000 souls, but could hardly ever have reached50,000; and assuming that in times of festival one-half wasadded to this amount, which is an extreme estimate, there mayhave been 60,000 or 70,000 in the city when Titus came upagainst it. (josephus says that at the siege of jerusalem thepopulation was 3,000,000; but tacitus statement that it was600,000 is nearer the truth. this last is certainly withinthe limits of possibility. streets, houses, etc

of thenature of these in the ancient city we have only the mostscattered notices. the "east street," (2 chronicles 29:4) the"street of the city," i.e. the city of David, (2 chronicles32:6) the "street facing the water gate," (nehemiah 8:1,3)or, according to the parallel account in 1 Esdr. 9:38, the"broad place of the temple towards the east;" the "street ofthe house of God," (ezra 10:9) the "street of the gate ofEphraim," (nehemiah 8:16) and the "open place of the firstgate toward the east," must have been not "streets," in oursense of the word, so much as the open spaces found in eastertowns round the inside of the gates. Streets, properly socalled, there were, (jeremiah 5:1; 11:13) etc.; but the nameof only one, "the bakers street," (jeremiah 37:21) ispreserved to us. The Via Dolorosa, or street of sorrows, is apart of the street thorough which Christ is supposed to havebeen led on his way to his crucifixion. To the houses we haveeven less clue; but there is no reason to suppose that ineither houses or streets the ancient Jerusalem differed verymaterially from the modern. No doubt the ancient city did notexhibit that air of mouldering dilapidation which is now soprominent there. The whole of the slopes south of the Haramarea (the ancient ophel), and the modern Zion, and the westside of the valley of Jehoshaphat, presents the appearance ofgigantic mounds of rubbish. In this point at least theancient city stood in favorable contrast with the modern, butin many others the resemblance must have been strong. Annalsof the city

If, as is possible, Salem is the same withJerusalem, the first mention of Jerusalem is in (genesis14:18) about B.C. 2080. It is next mentioned in (joshua 10:1)B.C. 1451. The first siege appears to have taken place almostimmediately after the death of Joshua--cir. 1400 B.C. Judahand Simeon "fought against it and took it, and smote it withthe edge of the sword, and set the city on fire." (judges1:8) In the fifteen centuries which elapsed between thissiege and the siege and destruction of the city by Titus,A.D. 70, the city was besieged no fewer than seventeen times;twice it was razed to the ground, on two other occasions itswalls were levelled. In this respect it stands without aparallel in any city, ancient or modern. David captured thecity B.C. 1046, and made it his capital, fortified andenlarged it. Solomon adorned the city with beautifulbuildings, including the temple, but made no additions to itswalls. The city was taken by the Philistines and Arabians inthe reign of Jehoram, B.C. 886, and by the Israelites in thereign of Amaziah, B.C. 826. It was thrice taken byNebuchadnezzar, in the years B.C. 607, 597 and 586, in thelast of which it was utterly destroyed. Its restorationcommenced under Cyrus, B.C. 538, and was completed underArtaxerxes I., who issued commissions for this purpose toEzra, B.C. 457, and Nehemiah, B.C. 445. In B.C. 332 it wascaptured by Alexander the Great. Under the Ptolemies and theSeleucidae the town was prosperous, until Antiochus Epiphanessacked it, B.C. 170. In consequence of his tyranny, the Jewsrose under the Maccabees, and Jerusalem became againindependent, and retained its position until its capture bythe Romans under Pompey, B.C. 63. The temple was subsequentlyplundered by Crassus, B.C. 545, and the city by theParthians, B.C. 40. Herod took up his residence there as soonas he was appointed sovereign, and restored the temple withgreat magnificence. On the death of Herod it became theresidence of the Roman procurators, who occupied the fortressof Antonia. The greatest siege that it sustained, however,was at the hands of the Romans under Titus, when it held outnearly five months, and when the town was completelydestroyed, A.D. 70. Hadrian restored it as a Roman colony,A.D. 135, and among other buildings erected a temple ofJupiter Capitolinus on the site of the temple. He gave to itthe name of AElia Capitolina, thus combining his own familyname with that of the Capitoline Jupiter. The emperorConstantine established the Christian character by theerection of a church on the supposed site of the holysepulchre, A.D. 336. Justinian added several churches andhospitals about A.D. 532. It was taken by the Persians underChosroes II in A.D. 614. The dominion of the Christians inthe holy city was now rapidly drawing to a close. In A.D. 637the patriarch Sophronius surrendered to the khalif Omar inperson. With the fall of the Abassides the holy city passedinto the hands of the Fatimite dynasty, under whom thesufferings of the Christians in Jerusalem reached theirheight. About the year 1084 it was bestowed upon Ortok, chiefof a Turkman horde. It was taken by the Crusaders in 1099,and for eighty-eight years Jerusalem remained in the hand ofthe Christians. in 1187 it was retaken by Saladin after asiege of several weeks. In 1277 Jerusalem was nominallyannexed to the kingdom of Sicily. In 1517 it passed under thesway of the Ottoman sultan Selim I., whose successor Sulimanbuilt the present walls of the city in 1542. Mohammed Aly,the pasha of Egypt, took possession of it in 1832; and in1840, after the bombardment of Acre, it was again restored tothe sultan. (modern jerusalem, called by the arabs el-khuds,is built upon the ruins of ancient jerusalem. the accumulatedrubbish of centuries is very great, being 100 feet deep onthe hill of zion. the modern wall, built in 1542, forms anirregular quadrangle about 2 1/2 miles in circuit, with sevengates and 34 towers. it varies in height from 20 to 60 feet.the streets within are narrow, ungraded, crooked, and oftenfilthy. the houses are of hewn stone, with flat roofs andfrequent domes. there are few windows toward the street. themost beautiful part of modern jerusalem is the former templearea (mount moriah), "with its lawns and cypress tress, andits noble dome rising high above the wall." This enclosure,now called Haram esh-Sherif, is 35 acres in extent, and isnearly a mile in circuit. On the site of the ancient templestands the Mosque of Omar, "perhaps the very noblest specimenof building-art in Asia." "It is the most prominent as wellas the most beautiful building in the whole city." The mosqueis an octagonal building, each side measuring 66 feet. It issurmounted by a dome, whose top is 170 feet from the ground.The church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is claimed, butwithout sufficient reason, to be upon the site of Calvary, is"a collection of chapels and altars of different ages and aunique museum of religious curiosities from Adam to Christ."The present number of inhabitants in Jerusalem is variouslyestimated. Probably Pierotti s estimate is very near thetruth,--20,330; of whom 5068 are Christians, 7556 Mohammedans(arabs and turks), and 7706 Jews