AN N EA 10W Lecture 20 (Wk 10) LAST LECTURE >:)

THIS IS THE LAST LECTURE for this course. I am happy because it means that I can finally go home. But I am also quite sad since this means I cannot learn anymore about Jerusalem. And the thing is, I really really really enjoyed these last two lectures. Too bad this class is over. I would have loved to learn about modern day Jerusalem, there is something about World War I and beyond that is just so intriguing. It finally puts all the current events in the Middle East into perspective, and now I can discuss these issues with my other friends. Because now I know the whole background of the situation. Which I am very happy about.

So today, okay... yesterday, in class we talked about Jerusalem in the present day. Basically modern Jerusalem conflicts mainly deal with the 6-day War and the War of Independence. It is the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinians over lands of Jerusalem. Now I know the reason why there is so much animosity in the Middle East. I mean I have always knew that conflicts were going on in Middle East but I never realize that it is actually because of Jerusalem. I know this is a bad generalization, but every time something regarding the Middle East pops up on the news, I just kind of ignore it. Because I have associated the Middle East with constant fighting. So to me it is nothing new, no new development.But now I kind of feel bad for making such harsh generalizations.

Intifada was an important topic in this very last class. It is defined as an uprising, a mass protest (from the Palestinians against the Israeli) that tries to disrupt daily life as much as possible. These intifadas were violent with lives being lost. The second intifada was triggered by Ariel Sharon’s visit on Temple Mount which is a No No to Jewish people. He later admitted that it was a mistake. Also the PLO was also an important part with Yasser Arafat as the group founder. He declared the sate of Palestine although there were no physical or geographical state at that time. I think he declared that just to win support. But he was an important figure because he is considered to be the one who held 2 sides (peace and revolt) of Palestinians in peace.

Also the Oslo Accords were a main event that really heat up the conflict. Palestinian trusted leader, Yasser Arafat, did not help Palestinians with a state of Palestine. Instead he signed the treaty acknowledging the existence of the Israel state while failed to create a State if Palestine. The treaty just acknowledge that Arafat is the leader of Palestine (still no official state). Many people believed that Arafat sold Palestinians out.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 19 (Wk 10)

During this lecture we moved to late 19th and early 20th Century of Jerusalem. We started discussing the beginning of WW1 and the end of the Ottoman empire after the war. Also we began to see the rise of the Anti-Semintism which was the Catholic effort to make life miserable to the new Jews settled. I thought the movment was like a “peace war” where there were no physical fighting but still destroy people’s lives. Would that be called violence? I think so because it did cause damage to people even though not physcially. So as the result of this movement because now Jews began to flee to Jerusalem to escape this anti-Semitism. Moreover, this also led to the rise of Zionism which is the idea of Jews going back to Jerusalem, back to their homeland. Zionism encouraged Jews to establish their own “state for Jews”. And the person involved here is Theodor Herzl. However, he originally didn’t suggest Jerusalem. Instead he suggested Uganda as the “home for Jews.” But I guess overtime things change and Jerusalem still holy for the Jews since Uganda doesn’t have any religious significance to the Jews.

One of the more interesting topics is the Pool Commission in 1937. It mark the “terrorist” attack from the Jewish Militarian group to drive the British out. They actually succeed. So i think this event is the beginning of thinking Middle East = terrorists. Also the War of Independence in 1948 was also important because it created the “Green Line” which separate Israeli and Palestinians in Jerusalem. The Palestinians were fighting a losing battle because they didn’t have that many financial support from Europe like the Israeli did. The Green Line gave control of the West bank to Jordanians and the rest of Palestine to Israeli. So the Palestinians actually got nothing. No state for them!!!! I believe this is what started the modern conflict between Palestinians and Israeli.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 18 (Wk 9)

This lecture is about post crusade to 20th Century Jerusalem. This is still an Islamic period within Jerusalem. The Mamluk Dynasty was the result of a successful revolution of slave. It is quite (at least in my mind) interesting how slaves can break their chain and not only achieve freedom but also obtain a whole dynasty. So I guess we should never look down on anyone even slaves (well.. I hope we don’t have slaves anymore). In this period, the city is transforming from a political power to a city with great religious importance and meaning to all three faiths. However after the Mamluk period, the city gradually became less important for Islam. Mamluk buildings were generally built on top of Crusade building. There were lots of charitable building around that time: more schools, public water fountain, and hospital. I guess the slaves really knows how to take care of people due to their life experience. Also this is especially true when the Mamluk allows Jewish to come back, practice their religion, and form a Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem. As a result, the city became important again for Judaism.

After the Mamluk, we have Ottoman Jerusalem. Selim I defeated the Mamluk. This is the period of Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent: the greatest ruler of Ottoman Dynasty. He rebuilt the Wall of Jerusalem which added more security for the city occupants. He was the one who made Jerusalem became  the 3rd important for Muslim. Also just like the Mumluk, he allowed not only Jews but also Christians to practice their religions in Jerusalem. This led to the birth of the Christian Quarter. During this period, we see a growth of Jews living in Jerusalem while a slight decline of Muslim (since the city had lost its importance). I think he is in fact a pretty good ruler with tolerance and respect to different religions. Without this religious policy, I doubt his reign and even the Ottoman Dynasty can last long. He also gave Western Wall back to Jews for them to pray because the Muslim had taken Temple Mount for Islam.  Because of this, we see the attraction of various traditions that were originally associate with Temple Mount onto Western Wall.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 17 (Wk 9)

In today's lecture, we have a special guest speaker by the name of Ryan Roberts. I actually really enjoyed listening to his lecture. It was a bit fast paced but the content he went over was amazing, giving very good examples to explain events and concepts. During this lecture we discussed the Crusader period of Jerusalem (1099-1187). 

First of all, the word Crusader in this context means a “Holy War” of the Christians. It was a war mainly between Christianity and Islam although both religious group were also fighting with Judaism and those who opposed them. The cause of the Crusader can be split into: political, religious, and social -economic. The Crusader was an attempt to stop the political expansion of Islam into Europe. The investiture controversy between the Church and the King also caused the rise of the Crusader. This controversy is the King’s reaction to the Church’s attempt to grab both national and religious power into the hand of the Pope. On the other hand, the religious cause of the Crusader is to protect the Christians pilgrimage back to Jerusalem. Obviously during this time of tension, any Jews or Muslim who saw a Christians walking back to their Holy City would got angry and attack. Also the Social- Economic cause was the phenomena of the 2nd and 3rd son.

Seeing all these causes, one can see that the religions were used as merely political tools.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 16 (Wk 8)

In this lecture we taled about how the beginning of the early Islamic Jerusalem (638-1099) marked the decline of Rome and the rise of Persian (again). In 614, Jews are allowed back to the city for the 1st time since the Barhoka Revolt (not sure if I spell that correctly). In 628, Heraclius from the Byzantine retook Jerusalem and ordered a massacre of Jews. 10 years later, in 638, Caliph Umar retook Jerusalem and this is the official start of Jerusalem under Islamic rulers. Umar claimed Temple Mount for Islam and Jerusalem underwent a series of name changes (Aelia to “Bait Maqdis” to “al-Quds”). Temple Mount was renamed to Haran al-sharif (noble sanctuary). This is also the period of Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. Before the Muslim began to pray toward Macca, they actually prayed toward Jerusalem at first. It was not until Muhammad received his revelation that Musalim began to pray toward Macca. While in Macca, people prayed toward the Kaaba (in Macca too).

The first Islamic dynasty is the Umayyad (638-750) with Abd al-Malik as the King. He built the Dome of the Rock in his attempt to redirect Pilgrimage from Macca to Jerusalem (for $). His son, Caliph Walid built the Al Aqsa Mosque (the farthest Mosque). The Umayyad period used religious tolerance to keep people from revolt and help the economy. The Dome of Rock was built by Christian and Byzantine architectures. This is because the Muslim wanted to show Christians that they are better. This is why the Dome looked like Christian church. The inscriptions on the Dome was about Muslim view toward Christianity and Jesus. They accepted the fact that Jesus is a great prophet but they reject the idea of Jesus as God or the son of God because this idea would be opposed to monotheism. Dome of the Rock, just like the Church of Holy Sepulcher, attracted different, old traditions: Muhammad’s last stop, place of final Judgment, etc. The Al-Aqsa Mosque became the “farthest Mosque” in the “Night Journey” (Qu’ran 17).

AN N EA 10W Lecture 15 (Wk 8)

In this lecture we learned about the Christianity since most Jews were banned from the city after the Bar-Kokhba revolt. Even though Rome is considered to the most important city of Western Christianity, Jerusalem still maintains its holiness. Part of the reason is because Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected in Jerusalem. Also Christianity was born out of Judaism and since the city is very important to Judaism, Jerusalem still need to maintain its holiness in order for Christianity to be legit. That is why the earliest Christian church is said to be born in Jerusalem. Moreover Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem after he received the revelation.

Under Rome, the city is renamed to Aelia and became a Roman city. Back in Rome, during Constantine period (312-337), Christianity became the dominate religion but with many different beliefs. So Constantine set up the Council of Nicaea to unify this religion. This council created the Orthodoxy Christianity. Constantine unified Christianity to aid his political domination. So under Constantine, Christianity became a conquest religions.

Back to Jerusalem, Helena, Constantine’s Mom, came to the city in her attempt to “prove” Christianity. During her pilgrimage, she claimed to have a vision of the tomb of Jesus. Thus she tore down the temple of Venus to build the Church of Holy Sepulcher. This is why Helena is credited with the 1st Christian Pilgrimage. The Church of Holy Sepulcher then became a new magnet that attracted old traditions such as Tomb of Adam, the binding of Isaac, etc. But beside this Church, the Rome build another Church called the New Church that has lots of similarity w/ the Solomon’s Temple. This is an evidence of Justinia trying to apply old tradition (Solomon’s Temple) to Christianity.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 14 (Wk 7)

After Herod the Great’s death, his three sons took over the three parts of Israel. They are Archelaus (Judea and Samaria areas), Herod Antipas (Perea and Galille areas), and Herod Philip (Iturea and Trachonitis: far away from Jerusalem). In general they are all ineffective rulers and Roman eventually replaced them by Roman procurators. So Israel now is under direct Roman rule. But Roman is so insensitive to the Jewish religious practices and beliefs. As expected, revolt broke out. There were probably lots of revolt at that time, but there are only 2 big ones that we study: The Great Revolt (1st revolt) and the Bar-Kokhba revolt.

During the Great Revolt (66-70 CE), people made their own revolt coins as a image of authority and to raise the revolt spirit. However this revolt was not successful (of course since we have a 2nd revolt) and eventually led to the destruction of the temple in 73CE (the 9th of Ab again) by Titus. In the same year, the remaining revolt people suicide in Masada; thus ending the revolt. By the way, we know all of this from Josephus. But his account may contain biases since he works for the Roman in some sense. The destruction of temple brings a new cognitive dissonance to the Jewish people at that time. Also this destruction, like the first one in 586BCE, changes Judaism forever. Now because they don’t have a temple to make blood sacrifice, Judaism turned from being a sacrificial religion to a religion of the text: studying the Torah! Moreover, since they don’t have the temple to pray at, they are now allowed to pray everywhere!

The second revolt (132-135CE) is also a failure. After the revolt, Hadrian rebuilt the temple and convert it to a temple for the Rome. He then banished the Jews from Jerusalem except the 9th of Ab. During the revolt, Bar-Kokhba minted coins too, but there are lots of misspelling because Hebrew was almost dead at that time.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 13 (Wk 7)

The Hasmonean period was marked by the Maccabean Revolt led by Judas Maccabaeus.  The Jews, then,  regained their control of Jerusalem from Seleucids by 165 BCE. This is the last time the Jewish will rule Jerusalem, lasting only about a century.

However, once Hasmonean rulers tried to make themselves both King s and High Priest (and these Kings didn’t qualify and do a good job as Priests), conflicts broke out.Queen Salome Alexandra was the first and last Hasmonean “King”. After her death, her two sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus, took over and infighting happened. Finally, the Roman with Pompey came in, helped Hyrcanus, and eventually took over Jerusalem in 63CE.

Herod took over Jerusalem from his father Idumean Antipater. He ruled over Jerusalem after his father’s death (from 37 to 4 BCE) . Even though people from Jerusalem hated him (since he worked for the Roman, those who destroyed the temple), Herod was still able prevent and put down lots of revolt due to his sensitiveness to the religious spirits of Jerusalem.  Also he was able to create enough jobs for everyone due to his massive building projects (mostly to honor himself).

Then we went on to talk about how the Hasmonean period is the period that Jesus is said to appear. Unfortunately,  there is no "real" archeological evidence regarding the existence of Jesus. There are lots of fake or misleading evidences such as the Boat and bone from someone named Jehohanan who got crucified.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 12 (Wk 6)

In this lecture we talked about how Jerusalem is the most important city to Jews (Judaism), the second important to Christian, since Jesus died there, and lastly it is the third important to Muslim. However, the city remains crucial to these three different religions.

We go on to talk about the primary source for the Hellenistic period comes from Josephus , the most important historian in this period. Although he was Jewish, he was forced to write favorably for the Romans making his account very subjective and biased. Sadly, he is the only one writing down the history of that time.

Alexander the Great, on the other hand,  is the Big Man in the start of this period because he almost conquered every conquerable land in his lifetime. He made his conquest of Palestine in 332 BCE  by defeating Darius at the Battle of Issus. However when he died his Kingdom was so large that it split up into four but we are only interested in two of these kingdowms: Ptolesmies and Selucid. It is during these two periods that Jerusalem underwent a complete Hellenization. Everything now turned in to Greek: language, culture, art, etc. We have lots of evidences of this Hellenization. But due to this brutally Hellenization that the “Maccabean Revolt” began and we now move to the Hasmonean Dynasty.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 11 (Wk 6)

In today's lecture we talked about Jerusalem under Persian's reign. Basically the Persian Period was from 539-333 BCE with biblical sources from: Book of Chronicles, Minor Prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), Books of Ezra (Aramaic 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26) & Nehemiah, and Second Isaiah (ch 40-66). There are no non-biblical texts dealing directly with Jerusalem for this entire period. Everything else goes silent in regards to the  Persian Period. We then started talking a great deal regarding the Prophet Ezekiel’s vision. In Ezekiel 1, it talks about how Ezekiel had a vision of God as a mobile entity. Therefore a mobile throne of God where God is still around and mobile again. Instead of poles to carry the throne around, there are wheels, meaning that God is not tied to a particular place. This shows the changes people had about their views of God, after the exile.  And in Ezekiel 2 it talks about Ezekiel’s temple vision.

We later went on to talk about life when the Persian's took over from the Babylonians. King Cyrus of Persia is portrayed as a "liberator" allowing the Jews to go home to Jerusalem, the re-exile of Jews back from Babylon to Jerusalem. This action heavily influenced Jerusalem since now there was 3 camps of Jews. There were the folks who want to go back to Jerusalem, the folks who want to stay, and the folks that were left in Jerusalem during the Babylonian exile. Regardless, Cyrus is viewed by the Judean Exiles as a great deliverer, as a persian messiah, even though he is of no Jewish descent. In Isaiah, it states that it was the will of God to anoint Cyrus King. But the problem with this statement is that Cyrus is not of  Davidic line. Even if  he is a foreign king of God’s chosen deliverer, he is  still a non-Davidic King. From here it can be seen the two models of anointed lines, the high priest and the messiah, disappears.

We then go on to juxtapose Judaism vs Zoroastrianism (old Persian religion). Basically part of the bible was being composed by scribes that were inundated with Persian influence, redefining Judaism. For instance the first humans descended from the first couple Mashya (man) & Mashyana (woman). Like Moses Zoroaster gave commandments on a mountain. And in Zoroastrianism there is an evil counterpart. It is Ahriman/Angra Mainyu vs Satan (Zech 3:27). God then becomes a universal God of love and of goodness like Ahura Mazda. Back then God use to be accounted for the good and the bad like in Greek myths, but now God is the good one, and Satan is the bad one. And there also is a concept of existence of other divine Gods such as angels and Satan. 

AN N EA 10W Lecture 10 (Wk 5)

MIDTERM

AN N EA 10W Lecture 9 (Wk 5)

During this lecture we talked about the impact of the second Babylonian Exile during the 586 BCE, destroying the sacred temple in Jerusalem.  Babylonian not only destroyed Jerusalem, it took away all the people who had influence and exiled them, leaving only the lower class, the unskilled labor. Some people have theorized that because Josiah aided the Babylonians, he caused his own death and ironically, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, defeats Assyria and Egypt and besieges Judah setting Zedekiah on the throne. This Babylonian Exile is discussed further in 2 Kings 24-25. In the Chronicles, the reason that Josiah dies is because he helped out the evil people.

Moving on, we talked about the destruction of Jerusalem and how it effected the people through literary evidence. The temple is destroyed in 586 BCE and recorded in the bible in 2 Kings 25: 8-12. This destruction of Jerusalem meant that the promise to David that there will always be a King in Jerusalem forever on the throne, is gone. Because of this catastrophic event, there are two conclusions to the book of kings. One is the “Josianic” Conclusion, pre-exilic, and the “Exilic” Postscript, post-exilic. This is the first example of people truing to understand the broken promise and rationalizing what exactly is going on.

This catastrophe caused very different beliefs. What do you do when everything you have been told suddenly does not fit with reality or lived experience? Everything once taught contradicts experience. God promised that he will protect you, but now Babylonians wiped everything away. How do people respond to tragedy? Everything here on out is a reflection of the tragedies. One of the ways to deal with tragedies to lament like in Lamentations 1. Another way is to make excuses to come up with an explanation. For example, God only blesses those who are righteous, therefore the people in Jerusalem at that time must have been evil. Others just abandoned the faith or ignored it altogether. But a great deal of people tried to reconcile the two contradictory ideas and redefine the promise to David. This is where name theology comes in. Whether or not you obey the law and worship god the temple is not where God lives. Instead, the temple is where God's name is worshiped, where God's name resides. People of Jerusalem are using a logical way to make sense of the destruction of temple. Because temple is destroyed therefore makes no sense for God to dwell there. Deuteronomy 12 is the exilic  edited text, the writer knew the temple had been destroyed and reconciles God's promise to David by saying that God wants to build a temple where his name shall reside. 2 Samuel 7, a pre-exilic written before the temple was destroyed, says that God asks David to build a temple, a house of cedar for him. This is then an example of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance is the uncomfortable feeling of holding 2 completely contradictory ideas at the same time. Trying to rationalize and explain why God would do this during the exile.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 8 (Wk 4)

In this lecture we touched upon the importance of writing in terms of religion. With the switch to Aramaic, it was much easier to write and learn. This allowed the state to implement consistent rules for writing, using one common language for communicating with one another. This allowed for widespread use in literature. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, then, become religions based upon literature. These faiths are based upon texts and rules where the written rule became more authoritative than the king. Writing became an important literary tradition to these three religions.

We then went on to talk about the who is the "messiah." A "messiah" is someone who has oil on the head. This smearing of oil anoints, designates this person as something of importance. And there are two lines of anointed ones: priest and king. The Isaiah prophesies talk about the messiah. But to whom is this referring to? The Christians believe that Jesus is this messiah that Isaiah mentions. However, this text is written 700 years before Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is not the messiah referred in this text. The prophecies of Isaiah 7:3-17, Isaiah 9:1-7, and Isaiah 10:33-11:10 are all referring to Hezekiah. Hezekiah is going to become king of Jerusalem, descendant of David, fulfilling God's promise to David . And there shall be peace when he comes, since there is no need to fear Assyria anymore. Isaiah 36-39 Deliverance from Assyria for Jerusalem is the big event that started the ball rolling showing that Jerusalem is enviable, and that God is personally protecting it. 2 Kings 17-18 is almost word-for-word. Talking about how the Assyrian king  will not take Jerusalem and that God will protect the city. Accord to Biblical text, God delivers Jerusalem from the might of Assyria, and the Assyrians retreat. “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the save of my servant David.” - 35. Jerusalem survived the Assyrian onslaught. God is protecting this city as an eternal promise to David. Jerusalem  was spared this Assyrian onslaught  because of God. Something significant happens. Jerusalem starts sucking in other traditions. The praise of Jerusalem based upon the growth of writing (writing literature and accounts) +  this event  led to the growth of Jerusalem legend. And as a result, Zion theology was born, saying that this is the city that God PHYSICALLY resides and presides.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 7 (Wk 4)

In this lecture we moved on to take about Hezekiah's Jerusalem. How exactly does one make a golden age? First of all, someone of status or importance must die, in order to be memorialized. Secondly, they have to do great things such as build great Palaces, and create a "united" kingdom. Lastly, they have to build a great temple to remind people of the great things they have done. David and Solomon's reign, then, is considered the "Golden Age." However, under Solomon's son, Rehoboam, the kingdom was divided in to Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. Ending the "Golden Age." In the north, King Jerobaom built alternate shrines in Dan and Bethel. Whereas, in the south, alternate Judean shrines were seen at Beer-Sheva and Arad. But Jerusalem still maintained the status as the capital of the Judean Kingdom. Between the north and the south, there was constant fights, where each kingdom would call upon a bigger empire to defend and protect them, paying them in gold or sending tributes in return for their services.

We later go on to talk about the rise of the Assyrian Empire in 745 BCE. The main Assyrian Kings: 1) Tiglath-Pileser III; 2) Shalmaneser V, who wiped out the north taking over Israel, ethnic cleansing; 3) Sargon II, continues the deportation; 4) Sennacherib, conquers Phisitia, Judah, but not Jerusalem, furthering the idea of God protecting Jerusalem. But later on the Assyrians are conquered by the Babylonians. The Assyrians were ruthless killers, using violence as a deterrent to scare others. They performed massive deportations of their victims, and impaled rebels outside the city walls, using public displays such as crucifixions to scare others.

But it is also during this time where Jerusalem starts to grow. The western hill starts to build up because of all the people escaping from the City of David into the North, expanding the city of Jerusalem. With increased population comes urbanization and industrialization. The Assyrians then adopt Aramaic, the Phoenician alphabet. This, then, becomes the language used for merchant/craft literacy, starting trade specialization. The olive, oil industries were all flourishing during this period. However, with urbanization comes massive changes in lifestyles. In  Jerusalem, the family structure has been changed from being more group orientated to individualized. On top of that, there is a mixing of religious movements, leading to the centralization of power where one king consolidates one set of rules for everyone. Bringing about issues of social justice regarding the rise of craft specializations and the distinctions between social classes. Jerusalem is not done yet. Hezekiah was preparing for invasion of the Assyrians, therefore, he fortified Jerusalem and increased the water supply and started to store grain in Royal Storage Jars with LMLK seal impressions, showing that four different administrative centers where in charge of collecting the grain just in case attacked by Assyrians.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 6 (Wk 3)

During this lecture, we discussed the promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. This is probably one of the most important verses in the Hebrew bible, especially to Christians, who then constructed the New Testament. This passage basically touches upon the concept of a messiah coming out of the sky, showing that Christianity as a sector of Judaism. Basically here, God promises David that he will build David a "house" (meaning the line of David, House of David, his descendants). There is an eternal promise made that the Davidic line is for eternity, always be a ruler on the throne of David. However, the promise is "broken" later by the Babylonians. Or is it? God cannot break his promise, therefore, this must be all part of God's plan, that in the New Testament, Jesus will be called the son of David. This tie is due to the promise made by God, promise of a new temple to come. Another theory, 1 Chronicles 21:28-22:10, is that David could not build God's house because he killed a lot of people, therefore, has too much blood on his hands to build anything holy. Hence why Solomon built the Temple, and not David.

We then go on to take about where Jerusalem derives its sacredness. These five reason are: 1) God chose Jerusalem; 2) Ark of the Covenant; 3) Creation and the Sabbath; 4) Jerusalem and Mt. Moriah; 5) Melchizedek's Salem and Jerusalem. Because of these five reasons Jerusalem has been able to establish itself as a place of sacredness, attract traditions from the bible early on, and build the traditions to increase its influence, sacredness.

Next, we switch topics to talking about Solomon's Jerusalem. Jerusalem becomes a sacred place because of the Temple of Solomon, due to "Solomon's Prayer". This prayer allowed the consecration of space through prayer.  The thing about Solomon, is that unlike David, there are no archeological evidence of his existence, only literary references. It is said that he wrote the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. And he was anointed down at the Gihon spring in 1 Kings 1:33-34. However, sadly there are no remains of his temple, only literary remains. But the lack of evidence just means we have evidence, therefore, one cannot really make any claims with certainty. However, there has been comparative archeological evidence of temples at Arad, Tel ta'yinat and Ain Dara. These temples were fashioned exactly after the description of Solomon's Temple, almost identical to these other temples from the 8th and 9th century BCE in the region. Showing that maybe the biblical text regarding Solomon's temple is accurate because it also describes other temples in the same region.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 5 (Wk 3)

Today's lecture was very short since our first drafts for paper 1 was due and I guess Professor Cargill had something to go to after lecture.

Basically we continued taking about David's Jerusalem. Continuing to discuss how there was no archeological evidence for the possible existence of David until the 9th century. With the discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription, there never was any mention of David. Before then, archeologists treated the bible as an ancient text, different from that of a historical text. But after unearthing this stone tablet, a reference to the house of David was found which just means that someone back then believed in the existence of David or referred to themselves as David's descendants. This does not necessarily mean David ever exist, but it makes it plausible, reaffirming the stories in the bible.

We go on to talk Warren's Shaft which was discovered in the 1850's. It was thought to have been used to access water from the Gihon Spring. But recently, archeologists think that it seems to be more of a natural cave and are unsure of its purpose. Was it actually used to help fetch water from the spring? Only time will tell. At least there are bible passages that refers to this physiological existence adding a bit more credibility to the passage. Next, we move on to the Siloam Channel and the Gihon Spring. Sidenote, apparently Gihon means gushing, so it means the gushing spring. I think that makes sense since it is the only spring in Jerusalem. In Judaic tradition kings must first ride on a royal donkey marching to the Gihon spring in order to be anointed, to become king. Which is interesting because in Matthew, there is a passage that makes a claim regarding Jesus setting himself up to be the King of Irsael with his anointment fashioned after Jewish Kings. Professor Cargill went on to talk about the Hezekiah Tunnel Inscription and how it showed the authenticity of the idea of Hezekiah expanding the water works.

Lastly we ended the lecture discussing the Ark of the Covenant. This Ark is basically a portable shrine central to almost all the biblical conquest stories. It is believed to have the presence of God, hence, a portable axis mundi until it was placed in a permanent location. God basically commanded the construction of this ark placing great significance upon it.

From what I can see, David seems like an interesting king. I cannot wait to learn more about this character.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 4 (Wk 2)

In this lecture we talked about Jerusalem before David and how it was a continuous settlement. It contains a main water source (the Gihon Spring), it is an agrarian society, and the residents can communicate and trade via the watershed highway. Professor Cargill later went to talk about how the bible provides literary evidence for the events documented in the bible, but there are also hard scientific evidence regarding the claims made in the bible. These claims are either scientifically backup up or not and the bible is treated like any other ancient text. Some of the archeological evidence includes buildings, and especially pottery remains. Most of these remains are from the Bronze age in Jerusalem and show that there has been a long standing settlement long before the Israelites. Jerusalem must have existed because it is mentioned in early non-biblical texts. For example, there are execration texts found at ≈ 1900BCE. These text basically are written in hieroglyphics on clay figurines with names of Egyptian Enemies. One such figurine had the name "Russalimum" (Jerusalem). Meaning that Jerusalem, even at that time was big and worthy enough to be cursed at. Some other examples were the towers that guard the pool of the Gihon Spring, probably built to protect the water since water is important. And lastly the Amarna letters, which are letters written from the King of Jerusalem asking the Egyptian Pharaoh to send help.

We later went on to talk about the textual problems with conquest. Because in different parts of the bible different things are said, in some parts the Jebusites are conquered but in other parts they are not. From here we can probably hypothesize that the bible is written by different authors, and hence the bible probably is a collection of many books (passed down through oral or written tradition). Along with the concept of conquests comes three scholarly traditions. 1) what the bible says is essentially true, the Israelites suddenly arrived in Jerusalem may it be by conquest or non-conquest. 2) the Israelites slowly immigrated to Jerusalem. 3) Israelites were Canaanites, therefore, they were always there. Depending on which theory you believe, your views about Jerusalem might be different.

Lastly, we talked about the existence of David and how it is quite controversial. A lot deny David and Solomon's existence stating that they are only mythical beings. But until the discovery of the Tel Dan Inscription, David's existence has become more plausible. This inscription basically shows us that some people refer to themselves as the house of David, proving that someone though he existed a long time ago.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 3 (Wk 2)

During the first lecture of week 2, we learned about the consecration of holy space. Basically in order to construct a sacred space, the sacred space must be founded first. Then it is consecrated and its reputation becomes very important. So important that it starts to attract and borrow stories and legends. Some examples of borrowed stories include that of the story of the Garden of Eden for which it is said that Adam is buried under the Dome of the Rock (which replaced Mt. Zion in Jerusalem). Genesis 14 points out that the priest king Melchizedek actually ruled over Salem (Jerusalem), therefore , bringing ties upon Melchizedek and Jerusalem. Most importantly, Jerusalem attracts the trading of Akedah (the binding of Isaac). In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to go to the land of Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. Since Mount Moriah = the Dome of the Rock, therefore it also equals Jerusalem.

We later go on to talk about how not only is there sacred space, there is also sacred time. For example, in Genesis 2, the sabbath is created. In Deuteronomy 5, it talks about the passover stating that the reason for keeping the Sabbath is because of the Exodus. We later moved on to talk about Jerusalem as the Garden of Eden, the Axis Mundi which connects heaven and hell, the cosmic mountain (mountain of God), and as a place of worship, and the place of the underworld ("hell"). It is at this mountain where God gives his 10 commandments. The professor then provided many more references in the bible to prove these points. I found it extremely interesting how Jerusalem was able to suck in stories so easily. I have personally never been to Jerusalem, but it feels like a place full of ancient history, which to me is pretty exciting.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 2 (Wk 1)

So this is the first real lecture for my Jerusalem class. In this lecture we discussed Jerusalem as a sacred space due to its physical, and later on, biblical attributes. We went over how Jerusalem could possibly be significant in three faiths: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. This is heavily due to Jerusalem's geographical context. For one, there are many routes that lead to and from Jerusalem. For example, the Via Maris and the King's Highway. But most importantly Jerusalem is located on a hill and surrounded by three different valleys: the Kidron Valley, Hinnom Valley, and the Central (Tyropean) Valley. Because of Jerusalem's topography, people have interpreted the mountains surrounding Jerusalem as God's way to surround his people. Therefore, the Jerusalem (which is on a hill), shall become the highest hill and tallest mountain to be closer to God. Jerusalem, then, is deemed the axis munde, or center of the world, connecting heaven to earth.

Another reason is that the marker of most ancient cities is water. Since water is seen as holy in many faiths and traditions. In most ancient civilizations there either is a sea port to trade, or a river valley to retrieve water from. Yet, Jerusalem only has manmade tunnels and shafts (Warren's Shaft and Hezekaih's Tunnel) and the tiny Gihon Spring for their source of water, but still is a very important city to three faiths. But because of these sources of water Jerusalem has been able to grow as a city and become a sacred place. Due to the fact that water has always had a sacred value.

At first I didn't think much of this class, it was only a class to fulfill more requirements. But after listening to Professor Cargill's interesting and funny lecture I really am looking forward to this class. Not only can I learn about the holy city, but hopefully I can discover more about my faith as well.

AN N EA 10W Lecture 1 (Wk 1)

Going Over Syllabus