World Religions › Ancient civilizations › Abraham, shared ancestor of Jews, Christians and Muslims
Jerusalem
Israelite capital from c. 1000 BC· Holy place· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Mostly agreed by scholarsMost historians agree; some details uncertain.
A hill city sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, home to the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
The Bible teaches that King David took the city around 1000 BC and his son Solomon built the Temple there. For Jews it is the holiest city, the focus of prayer for nearly 3,000 years. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection. Muslims honor it as the site of Muhammad's Night Journey and their first direction of prayer, their third-holiest city. Babylonians, Romans, Crusaders, Ottomans and the British all ruled it in turn.
Why it matters
Few places carry so much sacred meaning for so many people. Israel and the Palestinians both claim it as their capital, one of the core disputes in their conflict.
Sources and history
Archaeology since the 1860s; Egypt's Amarna letters mention Urusalim around 1350 BC; Assyrian and Babylonian records; and the Siloam tunnel inscription, around 700 BC.
Questions and debates
How large David's Jerusalem was is hotly debated: excavations in the City of David are read both as a royal capital and as a modest hill town.
Inside this (1)
Connections (7)
▸Solomon's Temple (First Temple) stood in JerusalemMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
The Temple sat on a hill just north of David's original city, today's Temple Mount. It made Jerusalem, in Israelite belief, the place where God dwelt and, after Josiah's reform, the only place for sacrifice, turning a royal capital into a holy city.
When and where
Jerusalem, by tradition c. 957–586 BC; built by Solomon according to 1 Kings 6–8.
How do we know?
The Bible locates it, and the later Second Temple stood on the same site. No First Temple ruins have been excavated, because digging on the site, holy to Jews and Muslims, is not permitted.
Questions and debates
Exactly where on the Mount it stood, perhaps under the Dome of the Rock, is unknown, and the question is religiously and politically sensitive.
▸Dome of the Rock stands on the Temple Mount in JerusalemHistorical record
The connection
The Dome was built on the platform Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims the Haram al-Sharif, 'the Noble Sanctuary', where Herod's Temple stood until Rome destroyed it in AD 70. Many historians see the shrine as claiming Jerusalem's sacred heritage for the new faith, and it has defined the city's skyline ever since.
When and where
Jerusalem's Old City, 691/692, under the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik, about 55 years after Muslim armies took the city from the Byzantines in 637/638.
Historical evidence
The building stands with its dated inscription; Josephus's descriptions, Herodian stonework and excavations around the platform's walls confirm it is the ancient Temple platform.
Questions and debates
Exactly where the ancient Temple stood on the platform is debated, and control of and access to the site remain among the most sensitive disputes between Israelis and Palestinians.
▸Western Wall is the holiest Jewish prayer site in JerusalemHistorical record
The connection
The Western Wall stands in Jerusalem's Old City at the edge of the Temple Mount, which Jews consider their holiest place. Because long-standing arrangements bar Jewish prayer on the Mount itself, and many rabbis forbid entering it, the Wall became the main place Jews pray toward the vanished sanctuary. Muslims revere it as part of the Haram al-Sharif.
When and where
Jerusalem; Jewish prayer there is recorded from the 1500s under Ottoman rule. Under Jordan (1948–67) Jews were barred; since 1967 Israel has controlled it, demolishing the adjacent Moroccan Quarter to build the plaza.
Historical evidence
Travelers' accounts, Ottoman and British Mandate records, and the 1930 international commission, set up after the 1929 riots, that ruled on Muslim ownership and Jewish prayer rights there.
Questions and debates
Why Jewish devotion settled on this stretch of wall rather than others is unclear; control of the site and prayer rights remain politically disputed.
▸The Crusades fought over JerusalemHistorical record
The connection
Jerusalem was the Crusades' central goal because Christians revere it as the site of Jesus' death and resurrection, marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Crusaders took it in 1099 and made it a Latin kingdom's capital. Saladin recaptured it in 1187. Muslims revere it too, as Islam's third holiest city, home of al-Aqsa Mosque.
When and where
Jerusalem, 1099–1187 and again 1229–1244; Godfrey of Bouillon, Saladin, and Emperor Frederick II, who regained it briefly by treaty.
Historical evidence
Eyewitness and contemporary chronicles, such as the Gesta Francorum and Ibn al-Qalanisi's Damascus chronicle; Crusader-era buildings and inscriptions in the city; and treaty records.
Questions and debates
How much Jerusalem itself motivated crusaders versus wider aims is debated, as is the scale of the 1099 massacre; estimates of the dead vary widely.
▸Jerusalem has been contested since the Founding of the State of IsraelHistorical record
The connection
The 1947 UN plan proposed Jerusalem as an international city. Instead the 1948–49 war split it: Israel held the west, Jordan the east, including the Old City and Western Wall. Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and declared the whole city its capital; most countries do not recognize that, and Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as their capital.
When and where
Jerusalem, 1947–49, 1967 Six-Day War, Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law; the US moved its embassy there in 2018.
Historical evidence
UN Resolution 181, the 1949 armistice lines, Israel's 1980 law and UN Security Council Resolution 478 rejecting it are all public documents.
Questions and debates
Final status is among the hardest issues in peace talks; the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, holy to Jews and Muslims, remains the most sensitive flashpoint.
▸Crucifixion of Jesus took place in JerusalemMostly agreed by scholars
The connection
Jesus was crucified at Golgotha ('place of the skull'), which the Gospels place just outside Jerusalem's walls of the time. Romans crucified people beside roads and gates as public warnings. The city was crowded with Passover pilgrims, and its tensions over Roman rule and the Temple shaped the events.
When and where
Jerusalem, around AD 30–33, during Passover. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, begun under Constantine in 326, marks the traditional site, now inside the Old City walls.
How do we know?
The Gospels agree on the city. Excavations show the traditional site was a quarry with tombs, outside the walls of Jesus' day, matching the Gospel accounts.
Questions and debates
Whether the Holy Sepulchre marks the true spot cannot be proven; a minority favor the 'Garden Tomb', proposed in the 1800s, which most archaeologists reject.
▸Zionism and Theodor Herzl focused hopes on JerusalemHistorical record
The connection
Zionism takes its name from Zion, a hill in Jerusalem and a biblical name for the city. Jews had prayed for a return to Jerusalem for some 1,800 years. Herzl's largely secular movement turned that hope into politics, though early settlers mostly built farms and new towns rather than settling in Jerusalem.
When and where
Europe from the 1880s; Herzl's The Jewish State (1896) and the First Zionist Congress in Basel, 1897. Herzl visited Jerusalem in 1898.
Historical evidence
Zionist writings, congress records and immigration data; the word itself, coined by Nathan Birnbaum in 1890, shows the link.
Questions and debates
How religious versus nationalist Zionism was is debated, and Jerusalem's status remains among the most disputed issues between Israelis and Palestinians.