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Ancient Jerusalem map
Map of ancient Jerusalem. Ancient Jerusalem map (Israel) to print. Ancient Jerusalem map (Israel) to download. The earliest traces of human settlement in the ancient city area, found on a hill to the southeast, are from the late Chalcolithic Period (Copper Age) and Early Bronze Age (c. 3000 BCE) as you can see in the ancient Jerusalem map. Excavations have revealed that a settlement existed on a site south of the Temple Mount, and a massive town wall was found just above the Gihon Spring, which determined the location of the ancient settlement. The name, known in its earliest form as Urusalim, is probably of western Semitic origin and apparently means “Foundation of Shalem (God).”
The city and its earliest rulers, the Egyptians, are mentioned in the Egyptian Execration Texts (c. 1900–1800 BCE) and again in the 14th-century Tell el-Amarna correspondence, which contains a message from the city’s ruler, Abdi-Kheba (Abdu-Ḥeba), requiring his sovereign help against the invading Hapiru (Habiru, ʿApiru). A biblical narrative mentions the meeting of the Canaanite Melchizedek, said to be king of Salem (Jerusalem), with the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. A later episode in the biblical text mentions another king, Adonizedek, who headed an Amorite coalition and was vanquished by Joshua as its shown in the ancient Jerusalem map.
According to biblical accounts, Jerusalem, on the frontier of Benjamin and Judah and inhabited by a mixed population described as Jebusites, was captured by David, founder of the joint kingdom of Israel and Judah, and the city became the Jewish kingdom capital as its mentioned in the ancient Jerusalem map. This has been dated to about 1000 BCE. David’s successor, King Solomon, extended the city and built his Temple on the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite. Thus Jerusalem became the place of the royal palace and the sacred site of a monotheistic religion.