JERUSALEM

Jerusalem has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the People, Dates, Places and Events category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the entire history of european integration and the future of Europe.

Jerusalem is one of the most important place in the history of european integration and will probably have influence on the future of United europe, cause of its ancient foundation probably by the king-priest Melchizedek who named Salem (God), thousands year B.C. on the Jordan river, already known to its earliest rulers, the Egyptians, who mentioned the city in the Egyptian Execration Texts (XIX century B.C.) when happened the invasion of the Hapiru people: indeed, a biblical narrative mentions the meeting of the Melchizedek (said to be king of that city) with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham.

As historical facts occurred at the foundation of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel in X century B.C.: the God YHWH chose David, a descendant of Abraham, as king messiah and confirmed the tribe of Aronne as priests of his cult, then David built the Rock of Zion (on a hill near the city) and transferred there the Covenant Arch and the Tent of YHWH, while made Jerusalem capital of Judah kingdom. Years later his son and heir Salomon founded the Temple of YHWH (996 B.C.) and the Shekinah settled into the "Sancta Sanctorum" of the temple. He bacame a famous, rich and powerful king in Middle East and married a daughter of the pharaoph.

When Assyrians conquested that kingdom and destroyed the Temple of Salomon in 586 B.C., the Israel's tribes were deported to Babylon: in the Bible, YHWH said that a residue of Sion and a resto from Jerusalem will survive and benedicted the descendance of Salomon as king rulers for ever, so the Israelites believed and from the Bustaini "king in exile" descended the founder and first master of the masonry of scottish rite, the founder of the Templars and the founder of the Zionism. But Cyrus II "the great" king of Persia defeated Assyrians and allowed Israelites to get back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple, reformed by Ezra and ruled since then by the Sydedrine of the tribes survived: there it started the Jewish cult (symbolized by the David star).

With the coming of Alexander the Great, Jerusalem fell under Greeks influence and started the Hellenistic period when an amphitheater was erected into the city and Jerusalem became a great metropolis, center of religion, goal of obligatory pilgrimage and the seat of the ruler and of the autonomous court of the Sanhedrin (Jewish Council of Elders).

The new age of Jerusalem began in 33 A.D. when Jesus "messiah" (Christ in greek language) was condamned by the Sydedrine and executed on the cross by the Romans: by reading the Bible, when He resurrected and sent his Apostoles to spread his message of redemption (Evangel or Gospel) to the world, Jacob "the minor" was elected first episcupus of the Jerusalem christian community. Years after in Jerusalem had been held the first council of Apostoles and decided that Christianity was open to "gentles" people even if they had not converted to Jewish before, after that Jacob had been codmaned by the Sydedrine and killed in 63 A.D. (but a Patriarc of Jerusalem exists still today and has always been one of the most important metropolitan church of Christianity). Meanwhile, Johan the Apostol wrote the last Evangel and the Apocalypse book, revealing the future destine of Jerusalem as "divine town" for christian believers...

In 70 A.D., as consquence of the Israelites revolt of the "zeloti", the future roman emperor Tito conquested the Judah kingdom and annexed it to the Roman Empire (as Palestine province) and definitely destroyed the Salomon Temple, provoking the Great Diaspora of Israelites into the empire area and great cities. In 132 A.D., instead, as consquence of the last Israelites revolt, the new emperor Adrian erased Jerusalem and rebuilt it in roman plant called Aelia capitolina, starting a new age for the city.

Indeed, in IV AD the roman christian emperor Constantine I built the basilicas of Nativity and of Saint Sepulcre over the sites of Jesus baptism and buried in Jerusalem. The Christian glorification carried on into the VI century A.D. when the byzantine emperor Justinian I rebuilted the Church of the Holy Sepulchre together with many other churches, as well as monasteries and hospices were established. But in 614 A.D. this golden age was brought to an end by the Sasanians invasion, in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem were massacred and the churches destroyed while in VII century A.D. the city had been conquered by Arabs who built the great mosque Al-Aqsa over the ancient Salomon Temple area.

When in XI century A.D. Jerusalem was conquered by Selgiuchids, they displaced the Egyptians as masters of the Holy Land of Islam and cut the christian pilgrim routes so stimulating the Crusades: then in 1099 A.D. the christian troops leader Geoffrey of Bouillon Duke of Lorraine conquested Jerusalem and founded an abbey on Mount Sion, to host the Order of Saint Sepulcre, while his brother Eustache III Count of Boulogne established the Chevalier du Roche, who became the Templars time after, and the other brother Baldwin was elected first kingdom of Jerusalem, with its semi-independent northern principalities that stretched from the confines of modern Turkey to the Red Sea. There it started the epoch of the christian chevaliers defending pilgrims and inhabitants of Jerusalem, definitely lost in 1187 A.D. in favour of Seljuchids, even if the title of king of Jerusalem has been conserved and still in force nowadays!

When in 1247 A.D. the "holy city" fell once more to Egypt, the great sanctuaries became Muslim again and the only Christians remained had been the Greek Orthodox monks and other Eastern sects. In the XIV century A.D. the Franciscans monks began to represent Roman Catholic interests while the Jews, who had been barred from the city by the Crusaders, returned and inhabited their own quarter. Since then Jerusalem remained subjected to the Turkish empire, while Jewish lived mainly in Europe as part of the history of european integration.

Unitl in early XX century A.D. Jerusalem, along with all of historic Palestine, became the focus of the competing national aspirations of Zionists and Palestinian Arabs. So in 1918 AD, at the end of the First world war Jerusalem and Palestine state went under the Protectorate of S.d.N. that established the Statute of "free international city". But in 1948 A.D. Jewish founded the state of Israel with capital in Jerusalem, even if most of the states recognized Tel Aviv as capital and keep there their embassis. Today Jerusalem is one of the most touristic city in the world, "holy" seat of the monoteistic religions (Christianity, Jewsih and Islam), has retained a diverse and cosmopolitan character, particularly in the walled Old City with its Armenian, Christian, Jewish, Muslim quarters: then the old city is full of synagogues, churches, mosques, dwellings in various styles make up the city’s unique architectural mosaic in the middle of its ancient white and pink houses and buildings. The absence of vehicular traffic within most of the Old City helps preserve its special character, so that is was designated a UNESCO Wordl Heritage in 1981 A.d..

The Jerusalem map sees the old city standing on hills at an elevation of 2,575 feet (785 meters), while the modern side is the largest municipality in Israel or the West Bank and is the heart of an urban agglomeration that spills outside the city limits into adjacent areas of both jurisdictions. The Old City is a walled medieval enclosure of less than half a square mile, believed to have been continuously inhabited for almost 5,000 years! Where is Jerusalem located? From the hill the city looks down on the Dead Sea and across the Jordan River the West Bank town of Bethlehem (where Jesus was born!) in the south and from the ridge of the Mount of Olives in the east. Its skyline is recognizable by the First and Second Temples plain, a Muslim holy place containing the Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa Mosque) and other structures. The Old City may be entered through any of seven gates in the wall: the New, Damascus, and Herod’s gates to the north, the St. Stephen’s (or Lion’s) Gate to the east, the Dung and Zion gates to the south, and the Jaffa Gate to the west. An eighth gate, the Golden Gate, to the east, remains sealed, however, for it is through this portal that Jewish legend states that the messiah will enter the city... The Crusader architecture reflects Romanesque styling, which features semicircular arches and barrel vaults, while the Church of the Holy Sepulcre incorporates elements of both styles, and the best example of the mixed style is the Church of St. Anne (its substructure is Byzantine), remaining the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, which combines Romanesque with Middle Eastern elements, and the Tomb of the Virgin, which is Romanesque in its upper part but Byzantine in its lower. Every years thousands of Christians pilgrims go to Jerusalem, repeating ancient acts rites, so that it will be part of the history of european integration forever.

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