The Roman-Byzantine period began with Roman pagan rule, and became Christian (Byzantine) after the empire converted. The transition between the two periods is marked on the timeline you see here as 324 CE, with the unification of the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine the Great. This date is mainly symbolic, because in fact the process of the empire’s conversion to Christianity took many years over the course of the fourth century.
70–638 CE
Roman and
Roman and
Byzantine periods
Late Roman period
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.
Byzantine period
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.
