Lecture entitled “The Names of Jerusalem” by Dr. Issam Adwan
(Lecture video at the end of the article)
The names of Jerusalem before Islam:
The oldest name for Jerusalem was mentioned in the texts of the Egyptian language, which dates back to 1800 BC, that is, since the time of the twelfth Egyptian royal dynasty, so it was: “Urusalimum”, which indicates that the origins of this name are Canaanite and means the city of the god Salem or the god of peace, and the name of the god of peace is repeated a lot in the writings of Ras Shamra “Ugarit” located on the northern coast of Syria, near the city of Latakia. It is likely one of God’s names: “peace.”
The name of Jerusalem is also mentioned in the texts of the letters Egyptian Amarna Citadel, which dates back to about 1400 BC and the total of these letters (400) letters, sent by the kings of the cities of the Levant to the pharaoh, and they are written in cuneiform script and in the Akkadian language on clay tablets and six letters of which (EA 285-290) sent from the ruler of “Uru-sa – lim”
The word “your” “URU” in Akkadian means a city or fortress, Thus, the meaning is a city or a fortress of Salem, Or the City of Peace: That is, the city of God.
The name of Jerusalem is also mentioned in more than one place in Mesopotamian documents, as the name “your-sa-li-im-mu” was mentioned as the name of a city in Palestine on a clay number from the time of the Assyrian king Sennacherib dated 691 BC.
Undoubtedly, the name of the place corresponds to the current location of Jerusalem. It is also well established that the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar attacked Palestine in the seventh year of his reign (circa 598/597 BC) and occupied Jerusalem. But its name is mentioned in the form of alja-a-hu-du (City of Judah).
During the Achaemenid/Persian period (circa 536 / 333 BC), the name “Yrslm” was written in ancient Hebrew or as “Yhd or yhwe” in Aramaic script on a number of seal editions from this period, and many scholars believe that this place name belongs to the present-day city of Jerusalem.
The name Jerusalem is also mentioned in the Torah more than 600 times in different forms and meanings. The most frequent of them”
Aeroslime
” “Yrwslm ” which is pronounced “Yerusalayim”, This name was probably Canaanite and synthesized in the form of “Yeru-slm” meaning the city of the god Salem.
The name “ybw” is mentioned in the Torah, which is derived from the name “Jebusite”, the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the modern Bronze Ages.
He continued in a lecture entitled “The Names of Jerusalem”
During the Hellenistic, Roman andByzantine eras (from about 333 BC to 636 AD), the name of Jerusalem was mentioned in writing in the Latin,Greece , Aramaic and Hebrew texts in various forms. For example, it is mentioned in Greek as “Hierosoluma” as well as “Ierousalam”, In Latin, it is mentioned as “Hierosolyma”, “Ierousalem”, “Ieroslyma”, “Hierusalem” and “Hieroslouma”, meaning that the name was written by Greek Old Testament writers as “Ierusalem” and “Hierusalem”.
The name “Elia Capitolina” “Colonia Aelia Capitolina” was given by the Roman Emperor Hadrian “Aelius Hadrianus” on the city and is taken from the name of this emperor and the name of the Roman god “Jupiter Capitolinus” The city has become the capital of the state of Syria andPalestine “Provincia Syria Palaestina” and this name remained in use even after the introduction of Islam, Her name was mentioned in the age of “Elijah”, Its name continued until the end of the Umayyad period, At the beginning of the Abbasid era, Muslims called it “Bayt al-Maqdis”. In the same period, the people of Jerusalem and the Levant also used the name “Jerusalem”.
During the Crusader occupation, Samin “Kingdom of Jerusalem”, In the Ottoman era, the Ottomans used the term “Quds Sharif” as a tribute to Jerusalem’s status.
Video of a lecture entitled “The Names of Jerusalem” by Dr. Issam Adwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGHpgERBNBk&list=PLVHdznIg0A0TX3ulO9MH3bxkO8OgxOO0v&index=7
