مركز الشرق للأبحاث و الثقافة

Jerusalem Lecture in the Greco-Greek Era

Jerusalem Lecture in the Greco-Greek Era

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Jerusalem under Greek rule:

Jerusalem during the reign ofAlexander of Macedon (333 BC – 223 BC) Alexander of Macedon occupied Gaza after a two-month siege. Then head to Jerusalem. When the Jews heard that he was approaching the city, they all went out to receive him in appearance. Alexander met their elders and priests, They were allowed to practice their religion in complete freedom, and to govern themselves according to their own systems and customs, He exempted them from paying the jizya once every seven years.
After Alexander, Jerusalem was subject to the Ptolemies for nearly a hundred years, then the Seleucids controlled it and tried to impose their religious traditions, which prompted the Jews to carry out the Maccabean revolution in 167 BC, which resulted in the return of the Jews strongly, as they established the Hasmonean kingdom 143-63 BC.

Roman era

Jerusalem under Roman rule:

Jerusalem under Roman occupation (63 BC – 324 AD): The Romans under Pompeii seized Jerusalem in (63 BC), so Herocanus II kept the ruler and priest of the Jews in the city, and made it subject to the Romans within the framework of the state of Syria, and one of its rulers in that period was Antipas (Antibater) of Edomite origin, and during the reign of his son and successor (37-4 BC) Jerusalem witnessed a remarkable prosperity represented in the expansion of its area, and an increase in its population, and the remains of buildings were revealed in the northwest of Jerusalem is believed to have been part of Herod’s palace.

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Herod’s Works in Jerusalem:

Some accounts claim that Herod rebuilt the Temple between the years (19-18 BC). and restored the city walls, He supplied it with water and built a theater and a hippodrome.
Herod was immersed in Hellenic civilization and hated Judaism, which he ostensibly embraced. He did not actually abide by its teachings, Where ten women were married, And he had several sons from them, He built temples for the Greek and Roman gods, He encouraged Hellenic culture, He worked to spread it among his parish. After his death in (4 BC), the kingdom was divided between his three sons with the consent of the Romans. But their rule did not last long, Whereas Palestine has become a Roman province in its entirety, It is directly under the rule of Roman governors.

  • The Roman period witnessed the revolt of the Jews during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, who sent his son Titusel to put down that revolution, He occupied it after a five-month siege, and the demolition of the city, And the temple was burned, Many Jews were killed and captured there in 70 AD.
Jerusalem also witnessed a second Jewish revolt led by Barkokhba (132-135 AD): Hadrian severely suppressed the revolution, Where he sent a Roman army led by Severius, who was able to eliminate the revolution permanently in (135 AD), And leveled the city to the ground, and expelled the Jews from it, They were forbidden to enter or approach it from a distance of three miles, He then built a city in place of the destroyed Jerusalem called Elijah Capitolina and built a temple to the god Jupiter. And descended a large number of Greeks, Romans and Syrians (pagans) who worship the god of Venus, He made her religion the official religion of the Roman Empire.