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The leading edge of a denser turbidity current as it intrudes into less dense clean water. The edge develops a pattern of lobes and clefts due to an instability.
See
www.physics.utoronto.ca/~nonlin/turbidity/turbidity.html
Photo by Jerome Neufeld
The Church of Saint Anne is a French Roman Catholic church and part of the Domaine national français located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, near the start of the Via Dolorosa, next to the Lions' Gate.
History of the site
During the Roman period a pagan shrine for the cult of the god of healing (a syncretic mix between the Egyptian god Serapis and the Greek god Asclepius), stood on the grounds next to the two Pools of Bethesda.
A Byzantine basilica was built over the remains of the shrine in the 5th century. Partially destroyed by the Persians in 614, it was subsequently restored. Baldwin I, the first titled Crusader king of Jerusalem, banished his wife Arda to the old Benedictine convent which still existed here in 1104. A small Crusader church, the so-called Moustier, was then erected over the wall separating the northern and southern Pools of Bethesda, among the ruins of the Byzantine church.
The current Church of St Anne was built sometime between 1131 and 1138, during the reign of Queen Melisende. It was erected near the remains of the Byzantine basilica, over the site of a grotto believed by the Crusaders to be the childhood home of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. It is dedicated to Anne and Joachim, the parents of Saint Mary, who according to tradition lived here.
Unlike many other Crusader churches, St. Anne's was not destroyed after the 1187 conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin (Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn). In 1192, Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn converted the building into a madrasa (Islamic educational institution), known as al-Madrasa as-Salahiyya (of Saladin), as is still written in the Arabic inscription above the entrance. In the 15th century it was considered as the most prestigious college in the city, counting among its more prominent students the Islamic jurist and city historian, Mujir al-Din (1456–1522).
During Muslim Ottoman rule in Palestine, Christian pilgrims were only permitted inside the grotto after paying a fee. Eventually the madrasa was abandoned and the former church building fell into disrepair. In 1856, in gratitude for French support during the Crimean War, the Ottoman sultan Abdülmecid I presented it to Napoleon III.
In 1862, the French government dispatched the architect Christophe-Edouard Mauss to Jerusalem for this purpose. In 1873, while working on the renovations, Mauss discovered the vestiges of the Bethesda Pool next to the church.
Since 1878, it has been administered by the Missionaries of Africa, a Catholic order, commonly called the "White Fathers" for the colour of their robes. Between 1882 and 1946 the site has housed a seminary for the training of Greek-Catholic priests.
Built between 1131 and 1138 to replace a previous Byzantine church, and shortly thereafter enlarged by several meters, the church is an excellent example of Romanesque architecture. The three-aisled basilica incorporates cross-vaulted ceilings and pillars, clear clean lines and a somewhat unadorned interior. The nave is separated from the lower lateral aisles by arcades of arches. The high altar, designed by the French sculptor Philippe Kaeppelin incorporates many different scenes. On the front of the altar are depicted the Nativity (left), the Descent from the Cross (center) and the Annunciation (right); on the left-hand end is the teaching of Mary by her mother, on the right-hand end her presentation in the Temple. In the south aisle is a flight of steps leading down to the crypt, in a grotto believed by the Crusaders to be Mary's birthplace. An altar dedicated to Mary is located there. The Byzantine basilica was partly stretched over two water basins, collectively known as the Pools of Bethesda, and built upon a series of piers, one of which still stands today in its entirety.
In 1862, the French architect Christophe-Edouard Mauss was dispatched by his government to Jerusalem with the special assignment of restoring the time-damaged church.
Acoustics
The church's acoustics are particularly suited to Gregorian chant, which makes it a pilgrimage site for soloists and choirs.
Property
The church is listed as one of four French government properties in the Holy Land as part of the "Domaine national français". In line with international law, which treats East Jerusalem as occupied territory, France does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem, where the Church of Saint Anne is located. In 1996, during Jacques Chirac's visit to Jerusalem, the French president refused to enter the church until Israeli soldiers who accompanied him left. Similarly in January 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron was involved in an altercation with Israeli security officers at the church.
Jerusalem is an ancient city in West Asia, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital; Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim, however, is widely recognized internationally.
Throughout its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times. The part of Jerusalem called the City of David shows first signs of settlement in the 4th millennium BCE, in the shape of encampments of nomadic shepherds. During the Canaanite period (14th century BCE), Jerusalem was named as Urusalim on ancient Egyptian tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem" after a Canaanite deity. During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in Jerusalem began in the 10th century BCE (Iron Age II), and by the 9th century BCE, the city had developed into the religious and administrative centre of the Kingdom of Judah. In 1538, the city walls were rebuilt for a last time around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. Today those walls define the Old City, which since the 19th century has been divided into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Since 1860, Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old City's boundaries. In 2022, Jerusalem had a population of some 971,800 residents, of which almost 60% were Jews and almost 40% Palestinians. In 2020, the population was 951,100, of which Jews comprised 570,100 (59.9%), Muslims 353,800 (37.2%), Christians 16,300 (1.7%), and 10,800 unclassified (1.1%).
According to the Hebrew Bible, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple. Modern scholars argue that Jews branched out of the Canaanite peoples and culture through the development of a distinct monolatrous—and later monotheistic—religion centred on El/Yahweh. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city (Hebrew: עיר הקודש, romanized: 'Ir ha-Qodesh) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which Christians adopted as their own "Old Testament", was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection there. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. The city was the first qibla, the standard direction for Muslim prayers (salah), and in Islamic tradition, Muhammad made his Night Journey there in 621, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God, according to the Quran. As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 km2 (3⁄8 sq mi), the Old City is home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount with its Western Wall, Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured and later annexed by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently effectively annexed it into Jerusalem, together with additional surrounding territory.[note 6] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister (Beit Aghion) and President (Beit HaNassi), and the Supreme Court. The international community rejects the annexation as illegal and regards East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.
Etymology
The name "Jerusalem" is variously etymologized to mean "foundation (Semitic yry' 'to found, to lay a cornerstone') of the pagan god Shalem"; the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city.
Shalim or Shalem was the name of the god of dusk in the Canaanite religion, whose name is based on the same root S-L-M from which the Hebrew word for "peace" is derived (Shalom in Hebrew, cognate with Arabic Salam). The name thus offered itself to etymologizations such as "The City of Peace", "Abode of Peace", "Dwelling of Peace" ("founded in safety"), or "Vision of Peace" in some Christian authors.
The ending -ayim indicates the dual, thus leading to the suggestion that the name Yerushalayim refers to the fact that the city initially sat on two hills.
Ancient Egyptian sources
The Execration Texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called rwšꜣlmm or ꜣwšꜣmm, variously transcribed as Rušalimum, or Urušalimum, may indicate Jerusalem. Alternatively, the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba (1330s BCE), which reference an Úrušalim, may be the earliest mention of the city.
Hebrew Bible and Jewish sources
The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua. According to a Midrash, the name is a combination of two names united by God, Yireh ("the abiding place", the name given by Abraham to the place where he planned to sacrifice his son) and Shalem ("Place of Peace", the name given by high priest Shem).
Oldest written mention of Jerusalem
One of the earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states: "I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem", or as other scholars suggest: "Yahweh is the God of the whole earth. The mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem". An older example on papyrus is known from the previous century.
In extra-biblical inscriptions, the earliest known example of the -ayim ending was discovered on a column about 3 km west of ancient Jerusalem, dated to the first century BCE.
Jebus, Zion, City of David
An ancient settlement of Jerusalem, founded as early as the Bronze Age on the hill above the Gihon Spring, was, according to the Bible, named Jebus. Called the "Fortress of Zion" (metsudat Zion), it was renamed as the "City of David", and was known by this name in antiquity. Another name, "Zion", initially referred to a distinct part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole, and afterwards to represent the whole biblical Land of Israel.
Greek, Roman and Byzantine names
In Greek and Latin, the city's name was transliterated Hierosolyma (Greek: Ἱεροσόλυμα; in Greek hieròs, ἱερός, means holy), although the city was renamed Aelia Capitolina for part of the Roman period of its history.
Salem
The Aramaic Apocryphon of Genesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QapGen 22:13) equates Jerusalem with the earlier "Salem" (שלם), said to be the kingdom of Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Other early Hebrew sources, early Christian renderings of the verse and targumim, however, put Salem in Northern Israel near Shechem (Sichem), now Nablus, a city of some importance in early sacred Hebrew writing. Possibly the redactor of the Apocryphon of Genesis wanted to dissociate Melchizedek from the area of Shechem, which at the time was in possession of the Samaritans. However that may be, later Rabbinic sources also equate Salem with Jerusalem, mainly to link Melchizedek to later Temple traditions.
Arabic names
In Arabic, Jerusalem is most commonly known as القُدس, transliterated as al-Quds and meaning "the holy" or "the holy sanctuary", cognate with Hebrew: הקדש, romanized: ha-qodesh. The name is possibly a shortened form of مدينة القُدس Madīnat al-Quds "city of the holy sanctuary" after the Hebrew nickname with the same meaning, Ir ha-Qodesh (עיר הקדש). The ق (Q) is pronounced either with a voiceless uvular plosive (/q/), as in Classical Arabic, or with a glottal stop (ʔ) as in Levantine Arabic. Official Israeli government policy mandates that أُورُشَلِيمَ, transliterated as Ūrušalīm, which is the name frequently used in Christian translations of the Bible into Arabic, be used as the Arabic language name for the city in conjunction with القُدس, giving أُورُشَلِيمَ-القُدس, Ūrušalīm-al-Quds. Palestinian Arab families who hail from this city are often called "Qudsi" (قُدسي) or "Maqdasi" (مقدسي), while Palestinian Muslim Jerusalemites may use these terms as a demonym.
Given the city's central position in both Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and Palestinian nationalism, the selectivity required to summarize some 5,000 years of inhabited history is often influenced by ideological bias or background. Israeli or Jewish nationalists claim a right to the city based on Jewish indigeneity to the land, particularly their origins in and descent from the Israelites, for whom Jerusalem is their capital, and their yearning for return. In contrast, Palestinian nationalists claim the right to the city based on modern Palestinians' longstanding presence and descent from many different peoples who have settled or lived in the region over the centuries. Both sides claim the history of the city has been politicized by the other in order to strengthen their relative claims to the city, and that this is borne out by the different focuses the different writers place on the various events and eras in the city's history.
Prehistory
The first archaeological evidence of human presence in the area comes in the form of flints dated to between 6000 and 7000 years ago, with ceramic remains appearing during the Chalcolithic period, and the first signs of permanent settlement appearing in the Early Bronze Age in 3000–2800 BCE.
Bronze and Iron Ages
The earliest evidence of city fortifications appear in the Mid to Late Bronze Age and could date to around the 18th century BCE. By around 1550–1200 BCE, Jerusalem was the capital of an Egyptian vassal city-state, a modest settlement governing a few outlying villages and pastoral areas, with a small Egyptian garrison and ruled by appointees such as king Abdi-Heba. At the time of Seti I (r. 1290–1279 BCE) and Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BCE), major construction took place as prosperity increased. The city's inhabitants at this time were Canaanites, who are believed by scholars to have evolved into the Israelites via the development of a distinct Yahweh-centric monotheistic belief system.
Archaeological remains from the ancient Israelite period include the Siloam Tunnel, an aqueduct built by Judahite king Hezekiah and once containing an ancient Hebrew inscription, known as the Siloam Inscription; the so-called Broad Wall, a defensive fortification built in the 8th century BCE, also by Hezekiah; the Silwan necropolis (9th–7th c. BCE) with the Monolith of Silwan and the Tomb of the Royal Steward, which were decorated with monumental Hebrew inscriptions; and the so-called Israelite Tower, remnants of ancient fortifications, built from large, sturdy rocks with carved cornerstones. A huge water reservoir dating from this period was discovered in 2012 near Robinson's Arch, indicating the existence of a densely built-up quarter across the area west of the Temple Mount during the Kingdom of Judah.
When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. When Hezekiah ruled, Jerusalem had no fewer than 25,000 inhabitants and covered 25 acres (10 hectares).
In 587–586 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Jerusalem after a prolonged siege, and then systematically destroyed the city, including Solomon's Temple. The Kingdom of Judah was abolished and many were exiled to Babylon. These events mark the end of the First Temple period.
Biblical account
This period, when Canaan formed part of the Egyptian empire, corresponds in biblical accounts to Joshua's invasion, but almost all scholars agree that the Book of Joshua holds little historical value for early Israel.
In the Bible, Jerusalem is defined as lying within territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin though still inhabited by Jebusites. David is said to have conquered these in the siege of Jebus, and transferred his capital from Hebron to Jerusalem which then became the capital of a United Kingdom of Israel, and one of its several religious centres. The choice was perhaps dictated by the fact that Jerusalem did not form part of Israel's tribal system, and was thus suited to serve as the centre of its confederation. Opinion is divided over whether the so-called Large Stone Structure and the nearby Stepped Stone Structure may be identified with King David's palace, or dates to a later period.
According to the Bible, King David reigned for 40 years and was succeeded by his son Solomon, who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish religion as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant. On Solomon's death, ten of the northern tribes of Israel broke with the United Monarchy to form their own nation, with its kings, prophets, priests, traditions relating to religion, capitals and temples in northern Israel. The southern tribes, together with the Aaronid priesthood, remained in Jerusalem, with the city becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
Classical antiquity
In 538 BCE, the Achaemenid King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews of Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple. Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple.
Sometime soon after 485 BCE Jerusalem was besieged, conquered and largely destroyed by a coalition of neighbouring states. In about 445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city (including its walls) to be rebuilt. Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and centre of Jewish worship.
Many Jewish tombs from the Second Temple period have been unearthed in Jerusalem. One example, discovered north of the Old City, contains human remains in a 1st-century CE ossuary decorated with the Aramaic inscription "Simon the Temple Builder". The Tomb of Abba, also located north of the Old City, bears an Aramaic inscription with Paleo-Hebrew letters reading: "I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted, who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed." The Tomb of Benei Hezir located in Kidron Valley is decorated by monumental Doric columns and Hebrew inscription, identifying it as the burial site of Second Temple priests. The Tombs of the Sanhedrin, an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs, is located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sanhedria. These tombs, probably reserved for members of the Sanhedrin and inscribed by ancient Hebrew and Aramaic writings, are dated to between 100 BCE and 100 CE.
When Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, Jerusalem and Judea came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V Epiphanes lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized city-state came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias and his five sons against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem as its capital.
In 63 BCE, Pompey the Great intervened in a struggle for the Hasmonean throne and captured Jerusalem, extending the influence of the Roman Republic over Judea. Following a short invasion by Parthians, backing the rival Hasmonean rulers, Judea became a scene of struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian forces, eventually leading to the emergence of an Edomite named Herod. As Rome became stronger, it installed Herod as a client king of the Jews. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size. Shortly after Herod's death, in 6 CE Judea came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province, although the Herodian dynasty through Agrippa II remained client kings of neighbouring territories until 96 CE.
Roman rule over Jerusalem and Judea was challenged in the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), which ended with a Roman victory. Early on, the city was devastated by a brutal civil war between several Jewish factions fighting for control of the city. In 70 CE, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple. The contemporary Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the city "was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation." Of the 600,000 (Tacitus) or 1,000,000 (Josephus) Jews of Jerusalem, all of them either died of starvation, were killed or were sold into slavery. Roman rule was again challenged during the Bar Kokhba revolt, beginning in 132 CE and suppressed by the Romans in 135 CE. More recent research indicates that the Romans had founded Aelia Capitolina before the outbreak of the revolt, and found no evidence for Bar Kokhba ever managing to hold the city.
Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, when the city covered two km2 (3⁄4 sq mi) and had a population of 200,000.
Late Antiquity
Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighbouring provinces under the new name of Syria Palaestina, replacing the name of Judea. The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and rebuilt it in the style of a typical Roman town. Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year, during the holiday of Tisha B'Av. Taken together, these measures (which also affected Jewish Christians) essentially "secularized" the city. Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that the rebuilt city was now inhabited by veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire.
The ban against Jews was maintained until the 7th century, though Christians would soon be granted an exemption: during the 4th century, the Roman emperor Constantine I ordered the construction of Christian holy sites in the city, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Burial remains from the Byzantine period are exclusively Christian, suggesting that the population of Jerusalem in Byzantine times probably consisted only of Christians.
Jerusalem.
In the 5th century, the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, ruled from the recently renamed Constantinople, maintained control of the city. Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to Persian rule, then back to Roman-Byzantine dominion. Following Sassanid Khosrau II's early 7th century push through Syria, his generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh) aided by the Jews of Palaestina Prima, who had risen up against the Byzantines.
In the Siege of Jerusalem of 614, after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured. Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanids and Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, many at the Mamilla Pool, and destroyed their monuments and churches, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This episode has been the subject of much debate between historians. The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered it in 629.
Middle Ages
After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Byzantine Jerusalem was taken by Umar ibn al-Khattab in 638 CE. Among the first Muslims, it was referred to as Madinat bayt al-Maqdis ("City of the Temple"), a name restricted to the Temple Mount. The rest of the city "was called Iliya, reflecting the Roman name given the city following the destruction of 70 CE: Aelia Capitolina". Later the Temple Mount became known as al-Haram al-Sharif, "The Noble Sanctuary", while the city around it became known as Bayt al-Maqdis, and later still, al-Quds al-Sharif "The Holy, Noble". The Islamization of Jerusalem began in the first year A.H. (623 CE), when Muslims were instructed to face the city while performing their daily prostrations and, according to Muslim religious tradition, Muhammad's night journey and ascension to heaven took place. After 13 years, the direction of prayer was changed to Mecca. In 638 CE the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem. With the Muslim conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city. The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem's Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule. Christian-Arab tradition records that, when led to pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites for Christians, the caliph Umar refused to pray in the church so that Muslims would not request conversion of the church to a mosque. He prayed outside the church, where the Mosque of Umar (Omar) stands to this day, opposite the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679 to 688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodate 3,000 worshipers.
When the Arab armies under Umar went to Bayt Al-Maqdes in 637 CE, they searched for the site of al-masjid al-aqsa, "the farthest place of prayer/mosque", that was mentioned in the Quran and Hadith according to Islamic beliefs. Contemporary Arabic and Hebrew sources say the site was full of rubbish, and that Arabs and Jews cleaned it. The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of a shrine on the Temple Mount, now known as the Dome of the Rock, in the late 7th century. Two of the city's most-distinguished Arab citizens of the 10th-century were Al-Muqaddasi, the geographer, and Al-Tamimi, the physician. Al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the edifice on the Temple Mount in order to compete in grandeur with Jerusalem's monumental churches.
Over the next four hundred years, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region vied for control of the city. Jerusalem was captured in 1073 by the Seljuk Turkish commander Atsız. After Atsız was killed, the Seljuk prince Tutush I granted the city to Artuk Bey, another Seljuk commander. After Artuk's death in 1091 his sons Sökmen and Ilghazi governed in the city up to 1098 when the Fatimids recaptured the city.
A messianic Karaite movement to gather in Jerusalem took place at the turn of the millennium, leading to a "Golden Age" of Karaite scholarship there, which was only terminated by the Crusades.
Crusader/Ayyubid period
In 1099, the Fatimid ruler expelled the native Christian population before Jerusalem was besieged by the soldiers of the First Crusade. After taking the solidly defended city by assault, the Crusaders massacred most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, and made it the capital of their Kingdom of Jerusalem. The city, which had been virtually emptied, was recolonized by a variegated inflow of Greeks, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Georgians, Armenians, Syrians, Egyptians, Nestorians, Maronites, Jacobite Miaphysites, Copts and others, to block the return of the surviving Muslims and Jews. The north-eastern quarter was repopulated with Eastern Christians from the Transjordan. As a result, by 1099 Jerusalem's population had climbed back to some 30,000.
In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city. Under the terms of surrender, once ransomed, 60,000 Franks were expelled. The Eastern Christian populace was permitted to stay. Under the Ayyubid dynasty of Saladin, a period of huge investment began in the construction of houses, markets, public baths, and pilgrim hostels as well as the establishment of religious endowments. However, for most of the 13th century, Jerusalem declined to the status of a village due to city's fall of strategic value and Ayyubid internecine struggles.
From 1229 to 1244, Jerusalem peacefully reverted to Christian control as a result of a 1229 treaty agreed between the crusading Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and al-Kamil, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, that ended the Sixth Crusade. The Ayyubids retained control of the Muslim holy places, and Arab sources suggest that Frederick was not permitted to restore Jerusalem's fortifications.
In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tatars, who decimated the city's Christian population and drove out the Jews. The Khwarezmian Tatars were driven out by the Ayyubids in 1247.
Mamluk period
From 1260 to 1516/17, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks. In the wider region and until around 1300, many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side, and the crusaders and the Mongols, on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague. When Nachmanides visited in 1267 he found only two Jewish families, in a population of 2,000, 300 of whom were Christians, in the city. The well-known and far-traveled lexicographer Fairuzabadi (1329–1414) spent ten years in Jerusalem.
The 13th to 15th centuries was a period of frequent building activity in the city, as evidenced by the 90 remaining structures from this time. The city was also a significant site of Mamluk architectural patronage. The types of structures built included madrasas, libraries, hospitals, caravanserais, fountains (or sabils), and public baths. Much of the building activity was concentrated around the edges of the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif. Old gates to the Haram lost importance and new gates were built, while significant parts of the northern and western porticoes along the edge of the Temple Mount plaza were built or rebuilt in this period. Tankiz, the Mamluk amir in charge of Syria during the reign of al-Nasir Muhammad, built a new market called Suq al-Qattatin (Cotton Market) in 1336–7, along with the gate known as Bab al-Qattanin (Cotton Gate), which gave access to the Temple Mount from this market. The late Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay also took interest in the city. He commissioned the building of the Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya, completed in 1482, and the nearby Sabil of Qaytbay, built shortly after in 1482; both were located on the Temple Mount. Qaytbay's monuments were the last major Mamluk constructions in the city.
Modern era
In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who generally remained in control until 1917.[180] Jerusalem enjoyed a prosperous period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent—including the rebuilding of magnificent walls around the Old City. Throughout much of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained a provincial, if religiously important centre, and did not straddle the main trade route between Damascus and Cairo. The English reference book Modern history or the present state of all nations, written in 1744, stated that "Jerusalem is still reckoned the capital city of Palestine, though much fallen from its ancient grandeaur".
The Ottomans brought many innovations: modern postal systems run by the various consulates and regular stagecoach and carriage services were among the first signs of modernization in the city. In the mid 19th century, the Ottomans constructed the first paved road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and by 1892 the railroad had reached the city.
With the annexation of Jerusalem by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1831, foreign missions and consulates began to establish a foothold in the city. In 1836, Ibrahim Pasha allowed Jerusalem's Jewish residents to restore four major synagogues, among them the Hurva. In the countrywide Peasants' Revolt, Qasim al-Ahmad led his forces from Nablus and attacked Jerusalem, aided by the Abu Ghosh clan, and entered the city on 31 May 1834. The Christians and Jews of Jerusalem were subjected to attacks. Ibrahim's Egyptian army routed Qasim's forces in Jerusalem the following month.
Ottoman rule was reinstated in 1840, but many Egyptian Muslims remained in Jerusalem and Jews from Algiers and North Africa began to settle in the city in growing numbers. In the 1840s and 1850s, the international powers began a tug-of-war in Palestine as they sought to extend their protection over the region's religious minorities, a struggle carried out mainly through consular representatives in Jerusalem. According to the Prussian consul, the population in 1845 was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 Europeans. The volume of Christian pilgrims increased under the Ottomans, doubling the city's population around Easter time.
In the 1860s, new neighbourhoods began to develop outside the Old City walls to house pilgrims and relieve the intense overcrowding and poor sanitation inside the city. The Russian Compound and Mishkenot Sha'ananim were founded in 1860, followed by many others that included Mahane Israel (1868), Nahalat Shiv'a (1869), German Colony (1872), Beit David (1873), Mea Shearim (1874), Shimon HaZadiq (1876), Beit Ya'aqov (1877), Abu Tor (1880s), American-Swedish Colony (1882), Yemin Moshe (1891), and Mamilla, Wadi al-Joz around the turn of the century. In 1867 an American Missionary reports an estimated population of Jerusalem of 'above' 15,000, with 4,000 to 5,000 Jews and 6,000 Muslims. Every year there were 5,000 to 6,000 Russian Christian Pilgrims. In 1872 Jerusalem became the centre of a special administrative district, independent of the Syria Vilayet and under the direct authority of Istanbul called the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.
The great number of Christian orphans resulting from the 1860 civil war in Mount Lebanon and the Damascus massacre led in the same year to the opening of the German Protestant Syrian Orphanage, better known as the Schneller Orphanage after its founder. Until the 1880s there were no formal Jewish orphanages in Jerusalem, as families generally took care of each other. In 1881 the Diskin Orphanage was founded in Jerusalem with the arrival of Jewish children orphaned by a Russian pogrom. Other orphanages founded in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20th century were Zion Blumenthal Orphanage (1900) and General Israel Orphan's Home for Girls (1902).
PRECIOSA ORNELA presents the new PRECIOSA Pip™ pressed bead from the PRECIOSA Traditional Czech Beads brand.
The bead’s dimensions of 5 x 7 mm comply with the current trend for mini beads. The axially symmetric flattened shape of the small core enables the realisation of half metal coating on both sides of the bead with the resulting effect of an overall decoration. The strung beads fit together tightly and create an interlocking zip effect. Six beads connected in a circle can easily be used to create an application in the shape of a flat flower which is a suitable accessory for seed bead embroidery. Thanks to its small protrusion, this bead is an excellent accessory to the two-hole PRECIOSA Twin™ beads and seed beads, like PRECIOSA Solo™.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Article number: 111 01 346
Size: 5 x 7 mm
ca KS / KG: 6600
Another collage of all my dolls that I currently own, plus their head sculpts right on the picture along with their names!
I'm getting closer to buying the Impldoll Azalea finally, but I haven't quite taken the plunge yet. I'm sure I will soon though!
For Beyond Layers ... Pieces of You - A Scavenger Hunt
Thursday : currently reading, a light fixture
Currently reading ...
Ann Voskamp's selections from 'one thousand gifts'
This is such a lovely little book (a tip from Kim),
beautifully written and with the most wonderful photos.
Current/Elliott The Skinny Jeans at ROBECART.COM - FASTEST FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE. Buy Current/Elliott Online
Against The Current // Cyclops Stage // Vans Warped Tour // The Joint - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino // Las Vegas, Nevada
August 9th, 2016
Photo © Terry Dobbins 2016
**DO NOT USE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION**
Current shots from our aquascaping showroom. Come and visit us, we're open! We're working hard on our new display aquariums these days.
These are my favorites! They're temporary tattoos, which I probably won't use, but Kitty pirate still amuses me to no end!
Ashgill Force
At Ashgillside and Beldy there are waterfalls namely Ashgill Force and Thortergill Force. Thortergill Force (formerly known to locals as Lady's Walk) was previously able to be accessed by the public, but access has now been closed by the current landowners.
Garrigill
Garrigill Cumbria is a small village in the North Pennine region of the UK situated on the banks and close to the source of the River South Tyne.
Historically part of Cumberland, today it is within the Garrigill ward of the civil parish of Alston Moor within the district of Eden.
The village's name should not be confused with the hamlet of Galligill in the Nent valley, also within Alston Moor.
The village's former name is Garrigill-Gate and it was earlier known as Gerard's Gill. (Gill is a Norse word for a steep-sided valley).
At its peak Garrigill was home to 1,000 people, mainly employed in the lead mining industry; now its population numbers less than 200. While those who live in the village were at one time mainly employed in local livestock farming, these days the population is fairly evenly divided between those in local employment, the self-employed and retirees. Garrigill Post Office is a traditional village store which has not changed substantially since the 1950s and is an attraction to many visitors, although at one time the village had four shops including a Co-op store. Both the Pennine Way, the oldest of the UK's National Trails, and the Sea to Sea Cycle Route (C2C) England's most popular long-distance cycle route, pass through the village.
View of row of houses including the Post Office. The boarded-up pub 'The George and Dragon' on the left.
For many years there has been one pub in the village, the 'George & Dragon', but this was closed from September 2009 to December 2010 and again from November 2013 to 03 April 2015. It subsequently closed again and re-opened on 25 August 2017. Before the mid-20th century there was a second pub, The Old Fox, next to the church.
The centre of the village is the green which the post office and George & Dragon overlook with the church and village hall nearby, but at either end of the village proper are the areas of Gatefoot and Gatehead, whilst on the village's outskirts are the settlements of Beldy, Crossgill, Loaning (pronounced Lonnin') Head and Ashgillside. There are two water pumps in the village, one on the green and one (which still works) by the bridge.
The closest town is Alston, four miles away to the north.
The parish church of St John was for centuries a chapel of ease to St Augustine's at Alston but was promoted to full parish status in the 1980s. It is served by a team vicar based at Alston who also serves the churches at Nenthead, Knarsdale, Kirkhaugh and Lambley. There used to be several non-conformist chapels at or just outside Garrigill as well. Unlike most of the rest of Cumbria the parishes of Alston, Nenthead and Garrigill are within the Diocese of Newcastle not the Diocese of Carlisle.
At nearby Tynehead, now only a single house but once a thriving mining community, there was until the 1930s a primary school which was the highest school there has ever been in England. Garrigill's own school, located at Gatefoot on the Leadgate road, closed in the 1960s.
Garrigill was the home of Westgarth Forster (1772–1835), geologist and mining engineer. He published A Treatise on a Section of the Strata from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the Mountain of Cross Fell in Cumberland. Descendants of the Forster family still reside in Garrigill to this day, and there is a memorial to him in the churchyard.
Garrigill is home to landscape artist Lionel Playford, whose works have been featured in various galleries across the country, to artist and illustrator Akasha Raven, known for her surreal and imaginative paintings and drawings, and to Coxhoe-born artist Gillie Cawthorne, many of whose dramatic watercolour paintings are inspired by the moody North Pennine landscape. Artist Jules Cadie works from his home and studio close to Ashgill Force at High Ashgill, often using raw natural material from his immediate environment.
MONUMENTAL GHOSTLY HEIGHTS
BRADFORD KESSLER SOLO EXHIBITION
DAFENG GALLERY / 798 / BEIJING
7.31.10 - 9.19.10
Bradford Kessler, born in Kansas USA, 1982, currently lives and works in Beijing. Born and raised on the white bread of America, filled with dreams of Disneyland and rapid-flash images of cartoons and television, he finds himself immersed in China's nascent art community. Kessler's approach to creating art work is based on transmitting conceptual ideas. He creates art objects, projects and videos referencing conspiracy, movies, drugs, suicide and philosophy, which attempt to explain a kind of mythology of his generation. Art is meant to be shared, it is an experience. An art work itself is a language, it is a means of communication. Through the concepts of his works, Kessler introduces a new language, diction, syntax to Beijing's art community, which is exactly what constitutes the raw creative environment that defines the evolving character of Beijing.
Kessler describes his inspiration for "Monumental Ghostly Heights" as a process of gathering information and visual ideas all related to incidents of dreaming and escape, both real and metaphysical. The artworks, better described as objects or products, displayed are mere byproducts or selected physical realizations of a thousand fleeting thoughts, images, questions and inspirational moments. Consisting of blueprints splattered with bat blood, his "K(O) Phasor Safari Series" of pretend B-Flick movie posters recreate tranquilized visions of technological horror and mass parapsychological events. "Projectiles for Riding a Single Etermal Wave" is a set of abstract fiberglass sculptures coated in surfwax which are modeled from the molecular structure of cyanide and project from his futuristic replica of the portable M29 'Davy Crockett' nuclear weapon system tested by the American military during the Korean War. Kessler imagines these over sized cyanide molecules as props like the giant tarantulas wreaking havoc over chaotic crowds of a 1950's Sci-Fi Horror movie. His research refers to the prophetic visions and suicide missions of the UFO cult Heaven's Gate and the Utopian People's Temple. An underlying thread of his works is the desire to escape humanness and discover what Walt Disney would call a "magic kingdom." This search of a dream and the suspension of disbelief that supports it are evidence of a generation attempting to define and maintain their eternal youth. Kessler represents a generation of young artists rapidly surfing the internet, unafraid of pioneering new conceptual territories, and willing to dramatically expose themselves in the name of expression and creativity.
博凯(Bradford Kessler)，28岁， 是生于美国堪萨斯州而现住北京的职业艺术家。吃着美国的白面包长大，对迪斯尼乐园，电视和快速闪现的卡通形象充满梦想，他现在发现自己已经沉湎于中国新兴的艺术团体。 博凯进行艺术创造的方针是传达概念性的想法。他所创作的作品中频频出现关于阴谋、毒品、邪教自杀和哲学符号，试图解释美国80后的神话。艺术的体验应该分享。艺术品本身是一种语言，是一种交流的方式。博凯通其作品中的概念性描绘，为北京的艺术社区引入了一种新的语言，措辞，语法，这恰恰是构成北京原创的不断进化的环境特征的最好定义。
博凯逐字逐句的讲解着他的梦想。从他收集与梦与逃避相关的信息、视觉观点事件，真实的或是形而上学的来讲述他的展览的灵感来源。艺术品，被更好的描述作物体或者产品，仅仅是通过被选定的副产品来展现那成千上万的转瞬即逝的想法、图像、困惑还有那些有灵感的瞬间。他《K(O) Phasor狩猎之旅》的海报系列作品是在药物引起的经验后重现虚幻的假想。〈永恒冲浪大炮〉系列是便携式核武器系统，但是炮弹泽变成了钠氢份子。他的研究是指天堂之门的集体自杀和先知远见以及人民圣殿教的乌托邦理想。他的作品当中其中一个常见的含义是希望摆脱现实而进入沃尔特-迪斯尼先生的“神奇王国”。梦想的寻找是这一代人试图确定他们的自我生成的证据。博凯代表的是一代频频上网，不停地在新领域的开拓艺术灵感的来源。他们并迫切用表达和创造力来释放自己。
JSC2011-E-205596 (2 Nov. 2011) --- The current and former astronauts who formed the crews of STS-1, the first space shuttle mission, and STS-135, the final shuttle mission, pose for a group photo at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Nov. 2, 2011. They are, from left, John Young, STS-1 commander, Robert Crippen, STS-1 pilot, with the STS-135 crew of commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. Photo credit: NASA Photo/Houston Chronicle, Smiley N. Pool
This picture taken on Tuesday 16th August 2022, highlights an upcoming currently unresolved issue that could seriously impact tourist numbers visiting the Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water. The coach parking area forms part of the privately owned Station Road car park and the owners Bourton Vale Parking Limited have taken the decision to ban coaches from using it after 31st December 2022.
At the present juncture, Cotswold District Council are working with local businesses, towards finding a solution. Bourton has long been a popular destination for both UK and worldwide visitors, so hopefully a favourable solution can be found.
Copyright © P.J. Cook, all rights reserved. It is an offence to copy, use or post this image anywhere else without my permission.
i am wearing the black polish by rimmel "black satin" like the previous picture. i just added a layer of petites "comet "so it wasnt all boring looking on Sunday.
The Madison River, a tributary of the Missouri River, begins in Yellowstone National Park at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers at Madison Junction. This small section of the river is along Riverside Drive, a small one-way road which parallels the West Entrance Road. A quiet place of solitude and a great place for a picnic dinner.
Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming
Currently occupied by Tente's Auto Service, this former Texaco station is one of the best-preserved porcelain box stations in Connecticut. Put a banjo sign up at the corner and install some Texaco lettering on the building, and it would be like a museum.
OS: Vista Ultimate
Theme: SteelFlash (I think)
Using ObjectDock with Colorflow icons and Stacks plugin.
The Rainmeter skin was "created" by myself, just taking pieces of code from other skins
Canoing the Current River in the Ozarks (rural Missouri) was a favorite family adventure for as long as I can remember. Three blissful days on a quiet, spring-fed river, camping on any of the plentiful sandbanks (sometimes the more uncomfortable gravel-banks if one started looking for a site too late) accompanied by the almost deafening choir of cicadas in the trees.
We rolled overboard for a swim whenever the spirit moved one to do so, had a million water-fights or jumped into the deep water from the limestone cliffs.
This summer, we had the opportunity to do it all again, this time with our own children and I think it moved our parents to see the next generation being initiated into this great tradition.
My previous ride : CL500 - Red
Old style houses vs New style car
© All rights are reserved, please do not use my photos without my permission. Thanks!
I found this little diamond in the ruff at Sea Kayak Georgia sitting out back. They let me demo it, and loaned me a paddle, PFD, and sprayskirt. as you can see the gelcoat has allot of surface scratches but the boat is still in very good shape. I got such a great deal on it and had so much fun in it I decided to buy it. I am currently wet sanding the gelcoat and using polishing compounds and buffers to restore this boat to like new condition.
"Hitomi ugly is love." Author. Comedy female trio of Japan. Of "Morisancyu" "Miyuki Oshima".
Dating the first marriage! Popular broadcast writer, living together for the first time, home cooking for the first time, I can continue to be bullied and Buss fat from an early age, had never to talk for 10 minutes or more men and, for the first time without courtship jealousy. And that love I knew the first time really, the people, to be loved. About his marriage to the current bullying from childhood, laughter, excitement essay of tears.