Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/641

 JERUSALEM 621 molished the citadel, and levelled the hill. In 63 Jerusalem was captured by Pompey, who intervened between the brothers Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, the walls were demolished, and thousands of the inhabitants were slain. He also entered the temple, but did not touch any of the treasures. It was plundered by Orassus, on his way to Parthia, in 54. The walls were rebuilt by Antipater, who was appointed pro- curator of Judea by the Romans. In 40 the Parthians, allies of Antigonus, son of Aristo- bulus, sacked the city. Herod, having been appointed king by the Roman senate, besieged Jerusalem, and took it in 37, and the massacre on this occasion was as bloody as that by Pom- pey. Herod erected or enlarged and beautified the fortress of Antonia ; he also improved and enlarged the city, and restored the temple on a more magnificent scale than Solomon's. Jeru- salem appears now to have reached the zenith of its greatness, though not of its power, which it never recovered after the death of Solomon. It is conjectured that the city at this time con- tained at least 200,000 inhabitants in its lofty and closely compacted dwellings. This period is marked by the most memorable events in its history, the ministry and crucifixion of Christ. About A. D. 66 the Jews, goaded to despair by the tyranny of the Romans, revolt- ed, took possession of Jerusalem, and defeated a Roman army commanded by Cestius Gallus, governor of Syria. This was the beginning of the disastrous war which ended in the com- plete destruction of Jerusalem. In 70 Titus, after a long and vigorous siege, took the city, and his soldiery, maddened by the obstinate resistance of the defenders and their own repeated fruitless attempts and great losses, spared neither age nor sex. Thousands of Jews, seeing all hope lost, threw themselves headlong from the towers, turned their swords against their own breasts, rushed into the flames, or fell fighting- the enemy. Titus him- self was unable to control the rage of his troops, and with regret saw the temple de- stroyed by the flames and the principal towers demolished, which he had intended to preserve as memorials of his own victories. According to Josephus, 1,100,000 Jews perished in this siege, and 97,000 were carried into captivity ; and Tacitus says that the number besieged in the city, including both sexes and every age, amounted to 600,000 ; but a critical examina- tion easily proves both statements to be great- ly exaggerated. The walls were levelled, the dwellings demolished, the temple was burned, and Mt. Moriah literally ploughed over. Sixty years afterward Hadrian resolved to rebuild the city and colonize it with Romans. But a revolt, headed by Bar-Cokheba, for a long time delayed the realization of his plans. For two or three years the insurgents held out in Jeru- salem, but at last they were vanquished, and such edifices as remained or had been rebuilt were again demolished by the emperor's gen- eral, Severus. On the ruins Hadrian built another city with luxurious palaces, a theatre, temples, and other public buildings. He called it ^Elia, after his family name jElius. On the site of the Jewish temple he raised another to Jupiter Capitolinus, from which the city took its surname of Capitolina. It is said that he erected a fane of Venus over the sepulchre of Christ, and Jews were forbidden to enter or come within a certain distance of the city on pain of death. Under the Christian emperors they were permitted to enter once a year, on payment of a large sum of money, to lament over their misfortunes. Under Constantine the city had already become the place of pil- grimage of the Christian world. It regained its ancient name, and the emperor furnished new attractions by the erection of a church over the place that had been pointed out as the sepulchre of Christ. The emperor Julian not only allowed the Jews to return to their city, but also made a futile attempt to rebuild the temple. About 530 Justinian followed the example of Constantine by building churches and hospitals in the city. In 614 Chosroes II. of Persia invaded the Roman empire. A division of his army marched into Palestine, and 26,000 Jews mustered under his banner, hoping to find in him a second Cyrus. After conquering the northern parts of Palestine, the united army of Persians and Jews laid siege to and captured Jerusalem. The Jews wreaked their vengeance on the Christians for all the per- secutions they had suffered at their hands ; 20,- 000 of them are said to have fallen, the church of the Holy Sepulchre was burned, and the part of the reputed cross of Christ which was de- posited there was carried to Persia. It was re- covered by the emperor Heraclius, and replaced in the church of the Holy Sepulchre with great pomp, and the law of Hadrian forbidding the Jews to enter the city was renewed. In 636 Je- rusalem was besieged by Khaled and Abu Obei- dah, the generals of the caliph Omar. The siege lasted four months, and scarcely a day passed without a sortie or an attack. The besiegers, notwithstanding the inclemency of the winter and the hardships against which they had to combat, displayed great courage and persistence. The patriarch Sophronius at length resolved to capitulate, but insisted upon treating with the caliph in person, hoping to gain from him better terms than he could from his generals. Omar came up to Jerusalem, and on taking pos- session of the city treated the inhabitants with great kindness and generosity. In the latter part of the llth century Syria was invaded by the Seljuk Turks and converted into a prov- ince of their empire. The cruelties which the Christian pilgrims suffered at the hands of these people roused the indignation of all western Europe, and great numbers of the chivalry of France and England were led by Godfrey de Bouillon to recover the sepulchre from the in- fidels. Jerusalem was stormed and taken, July 15, 1099, and the crusaders, in their zeal to avenge the wrongs of the Christians, slew 70,-