WITHIN THE WALLED CITY: PART 1

Jerusalem, IsraelNovember 2008

The walled city of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period (37 BCE-70 CE)

The walled city of Jerusalem in the Byzantine Period (324-638 CE)Can you guess what is gone from here?

The walled city of Jerusalem in the Crusader Period (1099-1187 CE)What new building do you see instead?

The Dome of the Rock now stands on the Temple MountWithin lies the rock or the peak of Mt Moriah which is considered the foundation stone from which the world was createdIt is considered to be the place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac (Gen 22:2)The rock is also the place where the Prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven in his visionThis place is the 3rd holiest site in IslamAs we visited during the Id al-Adha (“Feast of the Sacrifice,” commemorating Abraham’s sacrifice), we could not even go near it

Look at the crowd on that feast day This is a 2-lane street

Our bus was stuck there for a long time till some nice guys came along & literally move the cars aside for our bus to pass

The walled city of Jerusalem as seen from the road

Entering the old city through the Zion GateThe old city of Jerusalem has many gates—a total of 77Only 7 of them are open todayMost of these gates were built by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I in the 16th centuryA mezuzah (here, on the right side of the entrance) is attached to all the gates to remind Jews of God’s presence & commandmentsThe box contains Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which begins with, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” & Deuteronomy 11:13

The façade of the Zion Gate David’s Gate is marked with bullet holes from the 1948 WarIt leads to the Jewish Quarter, David's tomb, & the Coenaculum—the room of the Last Supper

The largest & most splendid is the Damascus Gate—located on the northern side of the walled city & leads to Damascus

The Dung Gate is nearest to the Temple MountSince the 2nd century, refuse has been taken out of the city through this gate

Herod’s Gate is named after Herod the Great because in the Crusader Period a church was built near the gate over Herod Antipas's house

This gate is called Jaffa Gate because it leads to the ancient harbour city of Jaffa

A legend tells that this is the burial place of the 2 engineers who built the walls that surround the cityApparently, they were executed by Sultan Suleiman for not including Mt Zion within the city wallsAnother legend tells that the Sultan killed them as he wanted to make sure that no other wall would ever challenge the beauty of the Jerusalem walls

Near the Jaffa gate are 2 tombs

St Stephen’s Gate is supposedly near the place where Stephen was martyredIt leads to the Mt of OlivesIt is also known as the Sheep's Gate because in ancient times the sheep for sacrifice were brought to the Temple from this gate

The Israeli assault to recapture the Old City in 1967 was made through this gateIt is also known as the Lion’s Gate because of the lions engraved on each side of the gateThe lions actually look more like leopards

The lions were placed there because Sultan Suleiman dreamt that he was chased by a lionHis advisors interpreted the lion as being Jerusalem—the lion of Judah– which had been left naked (without walls) after it was conquered by the sultan’s fatherThus, he believed that if he did not construct a wall around Jerusalem, he would be killed by lions

Sultan Suleiman rebuilt the walls of the old city of Jerusalem between 1537 & 1541

Near St Stephen’s Gate is the Church of St Anne that marks the birthplace of Anne, the mother of Mary

The acoustic here, designed for Gregorian chant, was outstanding

Within its compound is the Bethesda Pool where Jesus healed a crippled man (John 5) which later housed . . .

A Crusader chapel

A pagan temple

A resting place for those who need a break

A Byzantine church