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Map of Jerusalem in Jesus time
Jerusalem in Jesus time map. Map of Jerusalem in Jesus time (Israel) to print. Map of Jerusalem in Jesus time (Israel) to download. The city of Jerusalem has a long history; it is first mentioned in the Bible as Salem in Genesis 14:18, when it was under the rule of Melchizedek, "king of Salem", who met with Abraham and blessed him. In the 10th century B.C., King David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe who inhabited that city and region, and at that time it was known as Jebus. David established the capital of the Kingdom of Israel there and, from that time on, it was known as the City of David. King Solomon, his son, built the First Temple, also known as Solomon Temple, and enlarged the city as you can see in the map of Jerusalem in Jesus time. Jerusalem started as a small hill fortress, but continued to prosper and expand over the centuries until its destruction by the Babylonian army of King Nebuchadnezzar, who leveled Jerusalem, including the walls of the city and the Temple, and took its inhabitants captive, leading them into exile in Babylon in 586 B.C. Click here to learn more about the Babylonian Captivity of Judah.
During the reign of Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.), who ruled over Israel (now called Judea) as a Roman client king, Jerusalem underwent a complete make-over through the king numerous building projects, including the expansion of the Second Temple, that is referred to as Herod Temple, the construction of palaces and citadels, a theater, a hippodrome and bridges and the development of water supplies for the city as its mentioned in the map of Jerusalem in Jesus time. In the 33 years of his reign, Herod transformed the city to gain some acceptance and support by the population, as he was not Jewish by birth, but was an Edomite, a descendent of Esau, and his family had converted to the Jewish faith. He also aimed at gaining the support of the Roman authorities by remodeling the city with a Roman design and lifestyle in mind, as the construction of a theater and of a hippodrome built like a Roman circus demonstrates, in addition to the Antonia fortress, which was a military barracks named after his patron Mark Anthony.
The Temple of God was located on the TEMPLE MOUNT, high above the CITY OF DAVID, where the city developed from as its shown in the map of Jerusalem in Jesus time. Herod Temple was a gigantic renovation of the original Second Temple; it included turning the entire Temple Mount into a huge flat platform and erecting a massive retaining wall made of limestone blocks to extend the base of the Temple. It is not called the "Third Temple" because the rituals and the animal sacrifices continued without interruption during the whole renovation project. The Sanhedrin (Jewish religious ruling court) met in the eastern end of the Royal Stoa, a.k.a. Royal Porch. Herod Temple was surrounded by a series of courts: the women court, the men court and the gentile court (also called the outer court).