Contrary to earlier periods, this era was rich in written documents that tell us of events in the surrounding region. Some scholars sought to identify the stories of the patriarchs, in which Jerusalem is called Shalem; it is therefore also known as the “age of the Patriarchs.”

During the Middle Bronze Age Egypt became more involved in events in Canaan, and tribes from present-day Syria also penetrated the land. Cities once again began to be built here, such as Dan, Megiddo and Shechem, after a gap of hundreds of years. In various areas there were dominant “city states” whose kings ruled both the city and the surrounding area.

Egypt increased its involvement in Canaan during this period, and in the fifteenth century BCE Pharaoh Tutmoses III went to war in Canaan. Almost no new fortifications were built in Canaan at this time, and the country actively participated in intensive commerce all around the eastern Mediterranean basin. The settlement of the Israelite tribes in various parts of the country was once dated to the end of this period, hence it was dubbed “period of the settlement,” which relates to its latter part. In the mid-fourteenth century BCE Jerusalem is mentioned for the second time in its history, once again in Egypt, in texts that are not biblical. Jerusalem was involved in internal struggles among the rulers of other urban centers, who formed a coalition against it.

Archaeological finds from this period in and around the City of David are very meager. Nevertheless, finds were discovered that are dated to the end of this period, for example tombs found on the Mount of Olives and discoveries in the Nahalat Ahim neighborhood near the Mahane Yehuda Market and elsewhere. According to Prof. Gabriel Barkay, an Egyptian temple even stood north of the present-day Damascus Gate.

In 539 BCE the Persian period began after the Babylonian Empire was defeated by King Cyrus of Persia. One year later, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their land. They were led by Zerubabel son of Shealtiel – who was a descendent of the kings of Judah – Sheshbazzar the Prince and Jeshua son of Jehozadak the High Priest. Thus began the period of the Return to Zion, and in 516 BCE the Temple was dedicated.

In the mid-fifth century BCE, decades after the Return to Zion had begun, Ezra the scribe came to the land, and after him, Nehemiah, who was a high-level official in the Persian kingdom. With them came many more Jews. During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah a wall was built around Jerusalem, which at that time encompassed only the City of David hill and Mount Moriah.

The Hellenistic period began with the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Immediately after Alexander’s death wars began among his successors. Between 300 and 200 BCE the country was ruled by the Ptolomaic dynasty of Egypt, and in the second century BCE control passed to the Seleucid dynasty of Syria.

Religious persecution of the Jews led to the Hasmonean (Maccabean) revolt in 167 BCE, following which the Hasmonean kingdom was gradually established. The success of the Hasmonean rebellion is commemorated to this day by the festival of Hanukkah. When the land was conquered by the Romans in 63 BCE, the Hasmonean kingdom came under the aegis of Rome.

In 63 BCE, when the Hasmoneans were fighting with each other to rule, the land was conquered by the Roman general Pompey, who was invited by the warring parties to judge between them. Thus began the Early Roman period in this country; from then on the Hasmoneans were under Roman authority.

In 37 BCE Herod the Great began to rule under the aegis of Rome, and he beautified Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. When he died, his son Archelaeus was made king of Judea, but then the Romans removed him from power. From 6 BCE to 41 CE, Roman governors ruled Judea.

In 41 BCE, Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great was granted rule over Judea and reigned until 44 CE. When he died, Rome once again took over through its governors. Roman oppression and Jewish anticipation of redemption led to the outbreak of the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans, which ended with the destruction of the Temple in the Hebrew month of Av, 70 CE.

With the outbreak of the Great Revolt against the Romans in 66 CE, a huge Roman army reached the country (at its height, it numbered some 60,000 warriors), bent on cruelly crushing the revolt. In the following years the entire country was conquered by the Romans and in the Hebrew month of Nissan, 70 CE, the siege of Jerusalem began.
In the month of Av, the Romans under the command of Titus set fire to the Temple and a month later they destroyed Jerusalem’s upper city, which faced the Temple Mount. Thus the Second Temple period, which had lasted for almost 600 years, came to an end.

After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the Romans ruled the city, and the Tenth Legion was apparently stationed near the present-day Jaffa Gate. Only during the time of Hadrian (the early second century CE) did the Romans begin to build Jerusalem as a pagan city, called Aelia Capitolina, with a network of streets and pagan temples.
The ruined City of David was quarried by the Romans for building stones for the Roman city. In 132 CE, the Bar Kokhba Revolt broke out, perhaps in response to the transformation of Jerusalem into a pagan city, and was brutally suppressed by the Romans. Officially, Jews were banned from residing in the city, but there is evidence that Jews lived there as well as visited.

The Roman Empire gradually converted to Christianity over the course of the fourth century, with its capital at Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Churches and streets built during this time changed the character of Jerusalem, which became a Christian city.

A small Jewish community lived in the city for at least part of this time, and Jews were permitted, on payment of a fee, to ascend to the Temple Mount on the ninth of Av and mourn its destruction. Despite the sanctity of the city to the Byzantines, at no time did it become either an imperial capital or a provincial capital.

During the time of the Umayyad dynasty, the Islamic Empire extended over huge areas and even threatened Europe (with the conquest of Spain). The Umayyad capital was Damascus. In the Land of Israel, the Umayyads established the administrative city of Ramle, and Jerusalem saw a major building push under Umayyad rule. Two important religious structures were built on the Temple Mount, and palaces and a gigantic bathhouse went up next to the Mount. The southern wall of the Temple Mount was rebuilt and the Gates of Hulda were restored. The Gate of Mercy in the eastern wall may also have been built during this time.

The Abbasid dynasty brought about the end of the Umayyad dynasty, except for a small Umayyad realm in Spain. The Abbasids, whose main support came from the eastern part of the empire, moved their capital from Damascus to Baghdad. During the Abbasid period, the Land of Israel and Jerusalem did not receive the same investment as they had during the Umayyad period, although Ramle, which had been destroyed in an earthquake on the eve of the Abbasid ascent to power, was restored, and the famed Arches Pool was built at this time. Construction took place elsewhere at this time, including Tiberias.

The Fatimids were Shi’ite rulers (as opposed to the Umayyads and the Abbasids, who were Sunnis), from Egypt. In 970, the Fatimids conquered the Land of Israel from the Abbasids, but the Abbasid Empire continued in existence.

In the eleventh century an earthquake damaged the walls of Jerusalem, which until that time had included the City of David and Mount Zion. The Fatimid rulers of the city restored the walls along a smaller line, excluding the City of David and the southern part of Mount Zion; this is the line the wall follows to this day. Of particular note is the Fatimid ruler Al-Hakim, who persecuted non-Muslim minorities, especially Christians. He destroyed their churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was only restored during the time of his successors. In 1071, the land was conquered by the Seljuk Muslims, a rising power that defeated the Byzantines, who threatened the Islamic world. The Seljuks ruled the land until 1098, when the Fatimids returned for a number of months before the Crusader invasion of the Middle East.

In 1099 the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and massacred both its Jewish and its Muslim inhabitants. The Crusaders ruled the city until 1187, when their kingdom was taken by the Muslim leader Saladin al-Ayyubi. In 1192 the Crusaders founded a second kingdom, smaller in size, which was destroyed by the Mamluk Muslims in 1291.
Jerusalem was the capital of the first Crusader kingdom, but during the second Crusader kingdom they ruled only part of the city for only 15 years, and moved their capital to Acre. In Jerusalem they built markets, churches and hospitals within city limits that were about the same size as the Old City of today.
Throughout most of this period Jews were not allowed to live in the city, but toward the end a small number were given permission to live near the Tower of David, near the king’s palace.

The Ayyubids, Saladin and his descendants, ruled in Jerusalem and parts of the Land of Israel from the end of the twelfth century until the mid-thirteenth century. At the same time the second Crusader kingdom was ruling other parts of the country.

In 1260, Jerusalem was conquered by the Mamluks, Muslims from Egypt who had taken control there a decade before. Jerusalem became a marginal city in the Mamluk Empire and its walls apparently remained in ruins. However, many buildings were built in the city – around and on the Temple Mount – among them markets, bathhouses, religious schools, mosques, tombs, etc.

During this time the Franciscan Order became the representative of the Catholic world in the Land of Israel. The Muslims took over the Tomb of King David and the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion, and the synagogue of the Jews was destroyed by the Muslim community. It was subsequently rebuilt on orders of the sultan, who lived in Cairo.

In 1516 the land was conquered by the Ottoman Turkish Empire. During the sixteenth century the Ottomans imposed restrictions on the Jews in Jerusalem, which made possible the golden age in Safed. During the time of Suleiman the Lawgiver the Ottomans fortified Jerusalem and Safed, built caravansaries, fortresses and more.

However, at the end of the sixteenth century the first signs of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the entire country were already visible, a decline that persisted until the nineteenth century. During this time, thanks to the involvement of the great powers of the day and increasing modernization (steamships, the telegraph and trains), the Land of Israel went from the neglected backwater of the empire to a lodestone for pilgrims, scholars and tourists.

Scientific study of this country began in the nineteenth century, at the end of which the first neighborhoods were built outside the walls of Jerusalem and the Zionist waves of immigrations began. The status of Jerusalem grew stronger and its population increased. In 1839 Jews were a majority in the city and in 1870, the Jewish community was bigger than all the other communities together (11,000 out of a total population of 22,000). At the beginning of the twentieth century, a great deal of land was purchased in the City of David by the Baron Rothschild, and ownership of these lands was later transferred to the State of Israel.

The British period brought great changes to the country in general and to Jerusalem in particular. Electricity, running water and the construction of modern roads and buildings changed the face of the city. Urban master plans prepared by the British helped maintain the fabric of the city walls and the Old City and its surroundings. Municipal bylaws were passed to ensure that Jerusalem’s buildings would be built or covered with stone to preserve its character. The various government institutions were located in Jerusalem, the area of the city grew fourfold and the population tripled.