Jerusalem - THE CENTRAL CITY OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
Topography: Jerusalem does not derive its importance from natural endowments except for a perennial spring. Situated at the edge of the Judean desert, it has an arid climate. Its land is agriculturally poor and its limestone base has no minerals of value. Strabo, a Greek geographer of the first century A.D., described it as a place that would not be envied, one for which no one would fight.
The area over which the city has spread lies between the divided watershed of the highlands, the ridge road, and the Mount of Olives. The Kidron Valley separates it from the Mount of Olives on the east and the north, and the Hinnom Valley from the ridge on the west and south. Its terrain is rugged. Running through the middle of the area is a north-south valley called the Tyropoeon (Heb., ‘cheese makers’). Between the Tyropoeon and the Kidron the short Beth-zatha Valley further divides this section. The resulting hill between the Tyropoeon and Kidron valleys is squeezed to a narrow land bridge at its centre. The steeply sloping area south of this was called originally Mount Zion or the Ophel hill; the flatter area to its north, where the Dome of the Rock is now located, Mount Moriah or the Temple Mount. ‘Zion’ eventually was used to refer to both areas as well as the city as a whole. A still higher section lies north of the Temple Mount, known as Beth-zatha in the first century and now as the Moslem Quarter. The hill formed between the Hinnom and Tyropoeon valleys is divided by two east-west depressions. The southern one runs along the line of the present Old City wall forming an area to its south now wrongly called Mount Zion. The one to the north borders the present David Street. The Jewish and Armenian quarters now cover the area between the depressions. The entire area south of this depression is also called the western hill. The area to the north of it is the present Christian Quarter. The entire western section slopes downward from west to east. The location of Jerusalem was not suited for a well laid-out city plan.
Nor was Jerusalem blessed with an abundant water supply. Only one spring was located in the area, the Gihon. Being on the level of the Kidron Valley it was not naturally a protected site. A second spring, En-rogel, located in the middle of the Kidron but south of the city was even more exposed.
In later tradition Jerusalem’s poor setting would be understood as the result of the loss of paradise, which was thought to have been located here. The Gihon spring was described as the remnant of one of the rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:13). Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, was seen as the foundation or navel of the earth.
Jerusalem was not an important natural commercial centre. It did not straddle a major trade crossroad as did Shechem or Bethel. The natural east-west axis of trade was eight miles north of this area on the Beth-horon Road and the Way of Bethel-Ai.
Jerusalem was initially important for its control of traffic along the north-south ridge road as it enters a broad, comparatively level section of the highlands to its north. This area was the territory of the tribe of Benjamin to which Jerusalem belonged. It also served to protect against any aggression from the west through the Sorek-Rephaim valley system and to prevent surprise attack from the Judean desert.
Early History: In the Paleolithic period (prior to ca. 25,000 B.C.) the broad area where the Rephaim Valley meets the north-south ridge, not the rugged terrain east of the ridge, was the location of the first known settlement in the Excavations on Ophel hill confirm that during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 B.C.) there was a walled city. The wall followed the edge of the hill on the west side but enclosed most of the slope on the east. A tower of the eastern gate was uncovered near the Gihon spring. The entrance to the spring, which remained outside the city walls on the valley floor, was covered and shafts were dug to it from just inside the city walls. In order to make use of the slope above the city walls, terraces were built called millo (Heb., ‘filling’), which were often in need of repair (2 Sam. 5:9). By the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 B.C.) the Jebusites occupied this excellent stronghold, which they boasted the lame and blind could defend (2 Sam. 5:6). The 11-acre city with a crowded population of no more than 1000 was called Jebus during this period. Jebus’s strength is indicated by its being the last major city on the ridge to resist settlement by the people under Joshua. Although located within Benjaminite borders, it was never occupied by this tribe for any significant period (Josh. 18:16; Judges. 1:21). Its king, Adonizedek, led the Amorite kings of the south against Joshua (Josh. 10:1).
Under David and Solomon: Jerusalem was elevated to its place of central importance by David ca. 1000 B.C. He turned Jerusalem into a religious and political symbol of the unity of the people of God. David needed a neutral place, located at the boundary between the northern and southern groups of the Israelites, to establish his monarchy. He took the city by utilizing the steep shaft of the Gihon spring, through which his commander, Joab, entered the city. Joab then opened the gates to David’s forces (2 Sam. 5:8). The city was now also called the City of David. Judah occupied it (Josh. 15:63). There was no need to alter the size or defences of the city. David’s palace was built on the north end of the city.
Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount, is 130 feet above the City of David and provides for a central holy place. This was the ‘threshing floor of Arauna’ (2 Sam. 24) and probably had been a Jebusite holy area as well. The tabernacle was set here and the Ark brought to rest in its Holy of Holies. Given its dual function as administrative centre and holy place for the entire nation, Jerusalem prospered. The resulting symbol of unity was paradoxical. A poorly endowed village had become a crucial religious and political centre. Its central holy place was even lower than the hills about it. God’s exaltation of this common place became an important motif in Israelite theology (Ps. 68:15-16; Ezek. 16:1-10).
Although forbidden by the Torah to bury in a city, David may have followed foreign custom by having a tomb prepared in the middle of the city (1 Kings 2:10). The kings of Judah continued to follow this custom. A series of horizontal shaft tombs have been uncovered in the centre of Ophel. It is not certain that these belong to the kings of Judah. Some claim that ‘in’ Jerusalem refers to the area around the city and doubt that David’s tomb was within its walls. In the first century, however, David’s tomb was thought to be in this part of the city. area. This site overlooked the Rephaim Valley to the west and the Hinnom to the east as it rested on the ridge. It flourished ca. 120,000 B.C. In historic times this area was too vulnerable and lacked a sufficient water supply for any substantial settlement. People migrated to the Gihon spring area.
Mount Zion (Heb., ‘dry place’) above the spring is well protected by the Kidron and the Tyropoeon valleys. The western hill is sufficiently distant and steeply sloped to keep archers at a safe range, although it blocks the view of the ridge road. The north side, in all times the most exposed part of the city, was defended by a high ‘bulge,’ Ophel, and the easily protected land bridge to the Temple Mount.
The earliest indication of settlement so far discovered on the Ophel hill was in the Early Bronze Age (3000-2000 B.C.). No walls or buildings have been found. Ophel hill may simply have supported an encampment around the Gihon spring.
The early records of Jerusalem’s name, which appears only in lists, underscore its unexceptional nature. Its earliest appearance, called ‘Salim,’ may be in commercial documents from Ebla in Syria ca. 2400 B.C. Egyptian execration texts from the nineteenth century B.C. call the city ‘Rushalimum,’ and those from el-Amarna in Syria in the fourteenth century ‘Urusalim.’ The name probably meant ‘the foundation of the god, Salem.’ ‘Salem’ became its shortened form (Ps. 76:2; and Gen. 14:18, if this originally referred to Jerusalem, not Salem in Samaria). Jerusalem was understood in rabbinic and Christian writings to mean ‘Seeing of Peace.’ The interpretation ‘City of Peace’ became popular after the biblical period. Excavations on Ophel hill confirm that during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 B.C.) there was a walled city. The wall followed the edge of the hill on the west side but enclosed most of the slope on the east. A tower of the eastern gate was uncovered near the Gihon spring. The entrance to the spring, which remained outside the city walls on the valley floor, was covered and shafts were dug to it from just inside the city walls. In order to make use of the slope above the city walls, terraces were built called millo (Heb., ‘filling’), which were often in need of repair (2 Sam. 5:9). By the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 B.C.) the Jebusites occupied this excellent stronghold, which they boasted the lame and blind could defend (2 Sam. 5:6). The 11-acre city with a crowded population of no more than 1000 was called Jebus during this period. Jebus’s strength is indicated by its being the last major city on the ridge to resist settlement by the people under Joshua. Although located within Benjaminite borders, it was never occupied by this tribe for any significant period (Josh. 18:16; Judges. 1:21). Its king, Adonizedek, led the Amorite kings of the south against Joshua (Josh. 10:1).
Under David and Solomon: Jerusalem was elevated to its place of central importance by David ca. 1000 B.C. He turned Jerusalem into a religious and political symbol of the unity of the people of God. David needed a neutral place, located at the boundary between the northern and southern groups of the Israelites, to establish his monarchy. He took the city by utilizing the steep shaft of the Gihon spring, through which his commander, Joab, entered the city. Joab then opened the gates to David’s forces (2 Sam. 5:8). The city was now also called the City of David. Judah occupied it (Josh. 15:63). There was no need to alter the size or defences of the city. David’s palace was built on the north end of the city.
Mount Moriah, or the Temple Mount, is 130 feet above the City of David and provides for a central holy place. This was the ‘threshing floor of Arauna’ (2 Sam. 24) and probably had been a Jebusite holy area as well. The tabernacle was set here and the Ark brought to rest in its Holy of Holies. Given its dual function as administrative centre and holy place for the entire nation, Jerusalem prospered. The resulting symbol of unity was paradoxical. A poorly endowed village had become a crucial religious and political centre. Its central holy place was even lower than the hills about it. God’s exaltation of this common place became an important motif in Israelite theology (Ps. 68:15-16; Ezek. 16:1-10).
Although forbidden by the Torah to bury in a city, David may have followed foreign custom by having a tomb prepared in the middle of the city (1 Kings 2:10). The kings of Judah continued to follow this custom. A series of horizontal shaft tombs have been uncovered in the centre of Ophel. It is not certain that these belong to the kings of Judah. Some claim that ‘in’ Jerusalem refers to the area around the city and doubt that David’s tomb was within its walls. In the first century, however, David’s tomb was thought to be in this part of the city. Solomon (ca. 962-922) increased the symbolic importance of Jerusalem. It was no longer central for just the hill country, but for the entire kingdom. His building program in Jerusalem paralleled his consolidation of David’s kingdom. He extended the walls from the Ophel to enclose the Temple Mount (1 Kings 3:1). Jerusalem became a 32 acre city. Administrative buildings and palaces filled this area and the Temple replaced the tabernacle. No traces of his building activity have been uncovered. Reconstructions of Solomon’s Temple and palaces based on the biblical accounts show Phoenician influence (cf. 1 Kings 6:18; 7:13-14). The city was becoming cosmopolitan. Solomon needed international support for his policies. Pagan shrines were built on the hill facing Ophel on the east (1 Kings 11:7). The symbolic unity of the people expressed in a central city with one shrine began to erode.
The Divided Monarchy to the Fall of Judah (587 B.C.): The additional walled space did not provide for normal housing growth. The population spread to the western hill, which was heavily populated by the eighth century. Tombs from the ninth century found in the Tyropoeon Valley side of the Temple Mount may indicate sparse settlement in the area prior to the eighth century. The western hill was known as Mishneh, ‘second.’ A wall was built to enclose the Mishneh in the eighth century. A 128-foot section of this wall has been found in the middle of the Jewish Quarter. It is 22.5 feet thick and is preserved in places to a height of 10 feet. The extent of the walled area is not clear. Some would limit the walled area to three-quarters of the present Jewish Quarter with the southern limit being the Old City walls. Others would extend it farther south.
The need for strengthening Jerusalem’s defence system became acute when Assyria threatened Judah after taking the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. Hezekiah strengthened the city walls. A tower and gate were built just north of the wall segment at the edge of the northern east-west depression, evidently to provide a double entrance at the vulnerable north side of the city. The tower still stands to a height of 25.5 feet. Some claim the wall was then extended to the top of the western hill, passing through the present citadel area and along the line of the Old City wall, then continuing around the western hill until it reached the City of David. No remains have been found.
Hezekiah sealed the Gihon spring and cut a 1,750-foot tunnel beneath the City of David to bring the water into the Tyropoeon Valley on the west side of Ophel, where it could be better protected (2 Chronicles. 32:2-4). The Pool of Siloam was constructed to collect the water (John 8:7). This was eventually divided into upper and lower basins. One of the earliest inscriptions found in Jerusalem is the ‘Siloam Inscription,’ which was chiselled near the tunnel’s mouth. It describes the meeting of the workers who dug from both ends of the tunnel. The pool was either protected by the newly constructed city wall or enclosed in a cistern.
Some of the stone for Hezekiah’s building projects was probably taken from a quarry located north of the Temple Mount near the present-day Damascus Gate, now called Solomon’s Quarry or Zedekiah’s Cave. This quarry was used through the Roman period (63 B.C.-A.D. 324).
When the messengers of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, approached the secured city, their offers for peaceful submission were rebuffed. Soon after, Assyria was forced to depart the land, never testing the defence preparations (2 Kings 18-19). Sennacherib’s view of the city is reflected in his description of Hezekiah as a prisoner in Jerusalem like a bird in a cage.
Jerusalem under the succeeding kings of Judah did not continue its trust in God as it had under Hezekiah. The image of the prostitute and widow became prophetic ways of describing the city as more pagan practices entered its life (Isaiah. 1:21; Lam. 1; Ezek. 16). Jesus would continue to use this female imagery when addressing the city (Luke 23:28). Evidence of the decadence of the city is seen in the number of fertility goddesses found in excavations. The city was warned that it would be returned to its lowly origin if it did not reform. Zion would be plowed as a field (Micah. 3:12).
A century later this prophecy was fulfilled. Excavations on the Ophel and Mishneh indicate how devastating was Babylon’s plundering of the city in 598 B.C. and its levelling of it in 587 B.C. (2 Kings 25:10). Spearheads still litter the Mishneh wall area. Building walls are charred and their basements filled with ash and rubble. The supports of the millo were removed and the terraces left to erode. So complete was the destruction on the eastern slopes of the Ophel that that area would never be part of the city again. Jerusalem’s population was taken into exile.
The Restoration to the Hasmoneans: In 538 B.C. Cyrus of Persia gave permission for a group of exiles to return and rebuild the city (Ezra 1). Only a fraction of the former population returned and the city was confined to Ophel. during this period has been found on the western hills. The No evidence of occupation lack of artefacts or pottery from this period outside of Ophel further indicates how small the population was. The city walls built by Nehemiah (mid-sixth century B.C.) only circled the crest of the Ophel, the slopes above Gihon spring being left outside of the city. Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple. The city no longer was a symbol of the unity of the north and south but was reduced to a centre for preserving Judean purity (Neh. 13:28-30). Jerusalem would retain this understanding of its role into the Roman period (John 4:20-22).
During the Persian period (538-333 B.C.) a different picture of Jerusalem was developed by those opposed to the city’s becoming so exclusive in its political and religious life. They lost hope in the establishment of the symbol of unity of a united Israel by political means, and in apocalyptic visions they dreamed of a transformed city established by God at the end of time. This Jerusalem no longer is located in a poor setting. Its geography is totally altered to exalt the city. The surrounding hills are levelled and the city is raised to the highest of mountains (Zech. 14:16-19; Isaiah. 40:4). It returns to its state before the loss of paradise (Ezek47). From this centre of the world God rules as a victorious king. The nations come as pilgrims to central Jerusalem to worship (Isaiah. 56:1-8; Zech. 14:16-19). This apocalyptic vision of Jerusalem continues into NT times (Rev. 21-22).
In the Hellenistic period (333-63 B.C.) the attempt to establish a religiously pure Jerusalem resulted in conflict among Judeans themselves. Part of the inhabitants wanted to follow the Hellenistic culture brought to the east by Alexander the Great. A stadium and gymnasium were built in the city (1 Macc. 1:14). Some of its inhabitants were granted Antiochean (Greek) citizenship (2 Macc. 4:9). This has been understood by some to mean that the name of the city was changed to Antioch, an opinion that is now generally doubted. In order for their party to control the city, the Hellenists built a fortress by the Temple Mount called the Akra. No traces of this building have been found. It is possible it was located north of the Temple Mount in the area of the present Via Dolorosa.
As Jerusalem again gained in importance as a religious and political centre, the western hill again was used by the growing population. The city wall of the Mishneh was rebuilt after the anti-Hellenistic Hasmoneans finally took control of the city in the second century B.C. This was probably part of the building program completed by the Hasmonean (Maccabean) Simon in 140 B.C. (1 Macc. 14:37). The city wall definitely encircled the entire western hill. Portions of the wall have been found on all sides of this area. A defence tower was built in the centre of the northern part of the wall beside that of Hezekiah’s day.
Under Rome: After the Romans conquered the city in 63 B.C. under Pompey, Jerusalem reached its pinnacle of grandeur and strength as a result of the building program of Herod the Great, whom Rome appointed king of Judea in 40 B.C. He strengthened the Hasmonean walls. At the top of the western hill he built a huge palace complex for himself. Its two sections were named after his Roman benefactors, Caesar and Agrippa: the Caesarium and Agrippium. This later became the praetorium (quarters) for the prefect or procurator of Judea. Three monumental towers built into the Hasmonean wall as it curved to the south protected the palace from attacks from the north at this vulnerable corner of the city. The towers were named Mariamne (after Herod’s wife), Phaesalis (after his brother), and Hippicus (after his friend). The base of Phaesalis tower, now called ‘The Tower of David,’ is still standing in the citadel area of the Old City.
The northern section of the Hasmonean wall was also vulnerable where the ridge created by the northern east-west depression disappears along its eastern half. To strengthen this and include more of the western area in the city, Herod built a second wall that circled from the middle of the first, or Hasmonean wall, to a fortress north of the Temple Mount called the Antonia. Some trace this wall as far north as the present-day Damascus Gate, where it is claimed part of the wall has been found. Others describe the wall as turning to the Antonia just east of the Church of the Resurrection. To further strengthen this second wall, which was open to attack from the west, a quarry was opened in front of it that served as a defence moat. Excavations in the area of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer have uncovered parts of this quarry. The entrance to the quarry cut into the sloping western hill. A section of this was not worth quarrying and it was left standing as a mound of limestone. It was called Golgotha, Aramaic and Heb., ‘skull’ (John 19:17). This part of the quarry belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, who cut his family tomb into the exposed hill of the quarry adjacent to Golgotha (John 19:41). This is now part of the Church of the Resurrection and probably was the burial place of Jesus. Herod’s most spectacular building project in the city was on the Temple Mount. He extended the level top of the Temple Mount to the south by a huge platform at places reaching a height of 180 feet. Access to the Temple Mount from the western hill was by bridge over the Tyropoeon Valley in the area of the present Wailing Wall and by a magnificent staircase from the market that was southwest of the Temple Mount. Access from the Ophel was by two subterranean passages.
North of the Temple Mount a huge fortress, called the Antonia after Herod’s first Roman patron, controlled activity on the Temple Mount as well as provided further protection from the district of Beth-zatha, which sloped to the Temple Mount from the north. This was also called ‘the Barracks’ (Acts 21:37). As with the second wall built by Herod, this defence was strengthened by a moat called the Struthion Pool. The political administrative centres of the Antonia, Caesarium, and Agrippium dominated the Temple, visually reminding the city of the strength of its occupiers. The Pool of Siloam, En-rogel, the Struthion Pool, and cisterns in homes were not enough to meet the demands for water in this administrative and pilgrim centre whose population had grown to about twenty-five thousand and may have supported an additional seventy-five thousand during major festivals. The Hinnom Valley was dammed on the west side of the city to provide reservoirs. This had already been done to the Beth-zatha Valley at the northeast corner of the Temple Mount before Herod. This double reservoir was called the Sheep Pool (John 5:2). The reservoirs have been excavated near St. Anne’s Church. When these did not suffice, Herod built aqueducts from a spring area south of Bethlehem, now called the Pools of Solomon, to Jerusalem. By the first third of the first century A.D. this also had to be expanded by building an aqueduct from springs even further south in the Valley of Baraka. This was a project of Pontius Pilate.
The discovery of a shrine to the god of healing, Aesculapius or Serapis, by Beth-zatha’s Sheep Pool, evidences the continuing Hellenistic influence in Tension between Jerusalem and Rome reached its climax during the rebellion begun in A.D. 66. In A.D. 70 three legions were sent to bring the city again under Roman control. The line of blocks found north of the city may be evidence of their siege wall. Jerusalem was captured and destroyed in August of A.D. 70 on the same day, according to tradition, that it had fallen to the Babylonians. Excavations show that the destruction was equally devastating. Only the Temple platform and Phaesalis Tower were left standing. The city’s walls were torn down and the buildings fired. Citizens were slaughtered in their homes. As the OT prophets had warned of the destruction of Jerusalem because of the derogation of its symbol of political and religious unity under God’s law, so Jesus had warned of the city’s destruction during his ministry (Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24).
Through the last third of the first century most of the city remained in ruins. Jamnia (Yavneh) on the coastal plain became the religious centre of the country as the Pharisaic party was appointed by Rome to represent the Judeans. There is little evidence that the Temple’s altar was restored for worship. None of the fine homes or administrative centres were rebuilt. Tensions with Jerusalem’s occupying power were not reduced, however. This resulted in a second revolt against Rome in A.D. 130 led by Bar-Kochba. The immediate cause of the war was Rome’s decision to build a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. It is not clear whether this was completed before or after the revolt. After the revolt was crushed all Judeans were banned from the city. The temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount was completed. Jesus had predicted that such a pagan centre would be set up in the Temple area (Mark 13:14).
The city was rebuilt as a Roman military camp called Aelia Capitolina. Aeli a was the family name of Hadrian, the emperor who crushed the revolt, and Capitolina referred to Jupiter. This small city was concentrated on the western hill in the area of the present Jewish Quarter. The area just north of the city became its forum. Remains of the second wall were levelled and the quarry in the area was filled when the forum was laid out. Golgotha on the north edge of the forum was rejoined by fill to the western slope and served as the acropolis for the forum. A temple to Aphrodite was constructed here. A fine monumental arch was built at the site of the present Damascus Gate and in the area where the Struthion Pool had been located. This was the extent of the city until the rise of Constantine (early fourth century A.D.), who made Jerusalem a Christian centre. Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus now became part of a church that was the centre of a Jerusalem whose walls extended around the western hill, the City of David, the Temple Mount and the suburbs north of the city as far as the present city walls. Byzantine Jerusalem reached its greatest size as a walled city. Jerusalem. Shallow pools and votives from this healing centre have been found. Jesus demonstrated God’s superiority to pagan gods by healing a person here (John 5:2-9).
Roman cultural influence is reflected in the homes of the wealthy on the western hill, now called the Upper City. In its mansions one found fine imported pottery, frescoes made according to the most advanced techniques, and fine glassware. As did other cities of the Roman Empire, Jerusalem had places of entertainment such as a stadium to the north of the city and a theatre, probably located in the Kidron Valley.
Tension under Roman domination grew as did appreciation of that culture. The attempt by Herod Agrippa in A.D. 42 to bring the northern suburbs of the city within a third wall was halted before completion of the wall so that the city would not become even more difficult for Rome to control in the event of a rebellion. Some claim that the line of this third wall follows that of the present-day northern Old City wall. Wall fragments from this period have been found in the Damascus Gate area of the present Old City. Others place the wall 400 yards north of Damascus Gate, where sections of wall or monumental building stones have been found. If this was the third wall, it had no foundation.
Tension between Jerusalem and Rome reached its climax during the rebellion begun in A.D. 66. In A.D. 70 three legions were sent to bring the city again under Roman control. The line of blocks found north of the city may be evidence of their siege wall. Jerusalem was captured and destroyed in August of A.D. 70 on the same day, according to tradition, that it had fallen to the Babylonians. Excavations show that the destruction was equally devastating. Only the Temple platform and Phaesalis Tower were left standing. The city’s walls were torn down and the buildings fired. Citizens were slaughtered in their homes. As the OT prophets had warned of the destruction of Jerusalem because of the derogation of its symbol of political and religious unity under God’s law, so Jesus had warned of the city’s destruction during his ministry (Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24).
Through the last third of the first century most of the city remained in ruins. Jamnia (Yavneh) on the coastal plain became the religious centre of the country as the Pharisaic party was appointed by Rome to represent the Judeans. There is little evidence that the Temple’s altar was restored for worship. None of the fine homes or administrative centres were rebuilt. Tensions with Jerusalem’s occupying power were not reduced, however. This resulted in a second revolt against Rome in A.D. 130 led by Bar-Kochba. The immediate cause of the war was Rome’s decision to build a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. It is not clear whether this was completed before or after the revolt. After the revolt was crushed all Judeans were banned from the city. The temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount was completed. Jesus had predicted that such a pagan centre would be set up in the Temple area (Mark 13:14).
The city was rebuilt as a Roman military camp called Aelia Capitolina. Aeli a was the family name of Hadrian, the emperor who crushed the revolt, and Capitolina referred to Jupiter. This small city was concentrated on the western hill in the area of the present Jewish Quarter. The area just north of the city became its forum. Remains of the second wall were levelled and the quarry in the area was filled when the forum was laid out. Golgotha on the north edge of the forum was rejoined by fill to the western slope and served as the acropolis for the forum. A temple to Aphrodite was constructed here. A fine monumental arch was built at the site of the present Damascus Gate and in the area where the Struthion Pool had been located. This was the extent of the city until the rise of Constantine (early fourth century A.D.), who made Jerusalem a Christian centre. Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus now became part of a church that was the centre of a Jerusalem whose walls extended around the western hill, the City of David, the Temple Mount and the suburbs north of the city as far as the present city walls. Byzantine Jerusalem reached its greatest size as a walled city.