one last thing

So, I am a little confused because I blogged every lecture and for some reason I only have 18 posts. I thought we were supposed to have twenty but I have one for every class. So I don't really know what happened. But, hope you liked my blogs, sorry they are so long:)

Lecture 19

Professor started class by showing us an ultra sound and saying that he is going to have a baby boy! yay!!! We started off by talking about the six-day war in 1967. The war was between Egypt and Israeli. Isreaeli forces lauch pre-emptive stikes and reduce Egyptian air force within hourse. They force entry on the Old City and Moshe Dayan gives control of haram to Muslims. Israeli Knesset formally annexes Old City and East Jerusalem.He showed us a picutre of a Zion Gate and how it had bullet holes on the outside of it.We quickly talked about Kind David Hotel area from Old City. He gave us a situation in which people who were not in a country and used a bomb to kill military people. Is it considered terrorism? But then he goes and give a different example in which they are just people trying to get their space back, and those deaths were just colateral damage. We are left trying to figure out if it is terrorism or not and this is the things that are going on in Jerusalem.They started intifadas; consists of cival disobediance, refusal to pay taxes, violent action, things along these lines. We are going to do everything to not interact with isrealies. The first intifada was in 1988-1992, leading to the Oslo Accords in 1993.The Oslo Accords, which occured in 1993, was the declaration of priciples on interim self-government arrangments. or declaration of principles. It called for creation of PNA as wellas israeli withdrawal from gaza strip and west bank. It was officially signed at a public ceremony in Wasington, DC on Sept 13, 1993. . In 1996 ther ewere temple mount controversy. From 2000 to present day, the second intifada occued. It provoked by Ariel Sharons visit to the al-aqsa Mosque.The PLO, the Palestine LIberation Organization, was founded in 1964. It is considered by the US to be a terrorist organization until Madrid Conference in 1991. The state of Palestine unilaterally declared in Nov, 15 1988.

We finished class by going over Jerusalem in the past ten years. This will be my last blog for this class but it was a good experience!!!
THANKS CARGILL! you are a great professor

Lecture 18

We started lecture by finishing up lecture 16.
Saladin allowed the Jews to resettle in Jerusalem. The Jews were told that they must return to "Land of their Fathers" and "risk their lives for Zion".During the crusades, Jerusalem was pretty much just Christain. During Mamluk, it was Muslims, Jews and Christians. During hte Ottomon period there was tolerance between Muslims, Jews and Christians.The next topic we talked about was 20th century Jerusalem. We started with a timeline. from 1516 to 1967.We see that there is a rise of Zionism as well as in European Nationalism. Where is the land of the Jews??? We see anti-semitic pogroms in islamic caused by catholics. we also see anti-semitic pogroms in Russia causing Jews to flee to Palestine. The rise of Hitler and anti-semitism caused Jews to be killed causing them to flee further away from hitler and toward Jerusalem.After world war 1, everything began to change. The Ottomans aligned with German against France and Britain. Jerusalme became the headquarters for VIII Turkish Corps. The British used Palestine to break "stalemate".The British and France make a secret agreement called the sykes-picot agreement. It divided former Ottoman Empire into area of control and influence. The British got Palestine, Jordan and Southern Iraq.We then talked about the Balfour Declaration. It was  written in Nov. 2 1917, British PM Lloyed George and he directs Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to write to Lord Rothschild. They wanted to very quitely support Jewish things in Palestine.The British took control from 1918-1948. The Promised to protect he holy places of all faiths.  We can see this in the "white paper" as well as the Peel plan.The "White Paper" clarified how britan viewed the Balfour Declaration. British at frist did not support a Jewish Natinal Home, but a continuation o a community in Palestine. In Jull 1933, Britan partitioned are to the west of hte Jordan for a Jewish settlement.The Peel Commission suggested in response to violence between Arabs and Jews prior to WWII. It was an early "two state" solution taht was a parition of Palestine and approved by U.N. in August 1947.In 1948, The Arab-Israeli War breaks out. The British Depart amidst fighting on May 14/15. The Jordanian Army arrives on May 16 and they fought. A truce was arranged by UN in July. Isreal and Jordan signed a armistice in march 16, 1949. A green line was created between isreal and Jordanian-held west bank.Professor started to go over things very quickly because we were running out of time. He showed us a picture to show us how things were split up after the war.

Lecture 17

We started today by finishing lecutre 14. We talked about avvasid Dynasty, ruled from 750-969. Abbasids try to wipe out memory of umayyid accomplishments ike palaces. Abbasid Caliph took credit for building the dome of the rock.The next dynasty was the Fatimids, ruling from 969-1099. The rulers were form egypt. The population of Jerusalem kept increasing during this time. In 1009 Caliph al-Hakim ordered destruciton of all Jewish and Christian houses of prayer, including the holy sepulcher. It was a very bad and intollerant situation.In 1033, an earthqake damages Jerusalems walls, the dome was restored in 1035 and the city walls were rebuilt in 1034-1064. In 1070-1098 the Seljuqs occupied Jerusalem, destroying and looting the city and massascring people. In 1098, Fatimids led a 40-day siege on Jerusalem's fortifications, destroying several sections of the city wall, and eventually retaking hte city from the Seljuqs.
We then finished Saladin Conquers Jerusalem in 1187. Jews were allowed to come in if they wanted too. There were Purificaitns of hte Haram and the Church of hte Holy Sepulcher was given to Greek Orthodox.We finished the Crusades by talking about Ayyubid Jerusalem. You can start to see a partern in the crusades. They had 8 crusades. During the 5th crusade the walls fo jerusalem were dismantled, people fleed and the population shrunk to 2000. And during the 6th crusade, the crusaders actually takes back Jerusalem for ten years. The last cursader falls in 1291 ending the crusader period.
We then moved to the next topic.We then moved to a new topic about Mamluk and Ottoman Jerusalem. The Mamluk Period was from 1244-1516 and Ottoman period was from  1517-1918. We disgusted the time line from 1187 to 1948. Professor specificly told us not to write it down.Mamluk means owned. It was a soldier of slave orgin that turned to islam. It was considered to be a movement instead of a dynasty. Under Mamluke Jerusalem becomes a religious center. It also was politcally and militarily insignificant, it was "a city without walls".Under them, The haram was develoved. The specifically built schools, hospices and hostels. They used the cursaders structures to do this. However, in 1351-1353, Jerusalem suffered from the Black Death Plague.The Mamluk also provided Jerusalem with alot of new Architectre. They introduced them to muqarnas decortive techniques which can be see inside does and above entrances.Professor showed us pictures of some of the Muqarnas designs. They were cool becuase they were like 3-D images and reminded me of the honey structures bee's make.Some of the developments of the Haram were also happening. Towers on thecorners of Haram were built, Mnarets were added, Summer pulpit were built, Northen colonnade were added, and the Dome of hte rock and al-Aqsa Mosque were restored.Alot of the enhancements in what is now the islamic quarter.
Anohter thing that was interesting was that the Jewish Quarter continued to grow. Not as a political standpoint, but as a spiritual center. Synagogues were found, Jews came to study with Him, and Kabbalah (jewish Mysticism) was also developed.We then moved onto the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman took Constantinople in 1453. Selim I defeats the Mamluks in 1517 at Marj-Dabik (north Syria). The ottoman Administration was a strong centralized government. In 1831, Jersalem lost to Mohammed Ali in Egypt,but was restred in 1840.Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was a ruler from 1520-1566. He did alot of public works like repairing and enlarging aqueducs and Sultans pool. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, includeing a part that is two miles long, forty feet high, 34 towers and 7 gates. He replaces the mosaics on the exterior of the Dome with Syrian tiles. His works in Jerusalem parallels that of Mecca nd Medina: he Makes Jeruslame the third great city of Islam!We finished class with the western wall and how it was a palce of prayer given by Suleiman

Lecture 16

Todays topic was Crusader Jerusalem. We had a substitue named Ryan Roberts who gave us the lecture.The crusades accured between 1099-1187.We still see that after thousands of years, the crusades are still used to describe things that are happening in our world today. Some backgound on the Crusades. Before the crusades were the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatamid dynasties. Then cam teh Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, which is Jerusalem under Crusaders Rule.Some of the contributing factors to the crusades were political, religious and socio-econimics. With the political part, there were emergence of Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, causing divisionsin Christianity. For the Religious part, late reaction ot persecution of Christians populations of Jerusalem. The holy sepulcher was destroyed and kills patriarch of Jerusalem. With the Socio-economic part, there was a  phenomenon of the second and third son.On noveber 27, 1095, pope Urban II gave a speech and encourages them to free and liberate Jerusalem while they are on their way to exterminate the people from their lands. He is telling the poeple to drop everything they have and pick up a weapon and head off on a hard journey and fight. Once he puts it out there, he is blown away by the people becasue they all agree with him.So what exactly is a crusade? An expedition authorized by the pope on christs behalf, the leading participants in which took vpws and consequently enjoyed the privileges of protection at home and the indulgence, which when the campaign was not destined for the easty, was ewuated with that granted to crusaders to the holy land. (Riley-smith). We can see that the crusades were very religious because they came from the pope, throught God. But what is indulgence. Remisson of the penalties due for sins that was granted to crusaders. One could get an indulgence by conributing funds to a crusade, preaching a crusade, collecting money for one, settleing as a colonist in the holy land.The first crusades, there were many routes. One was the pesants crusades. They were very "gung-ho" about it.

The first crusades occured from 1095-1099, preached by Urban II at Clermont. Jerusalem conquered by Godfrey de Couillon, in 1099. in 1100, baldwin became "king of Jerusalem". With the Crusaders Jerusalem, There were 4 quarters. Patriarchs quarter, Templar quarter, Syrian quarrer and armenian quarter.The second Crusades was from 1147-1149. It was preached by St. Bernard at Vezelay.Some of the crusader period monuments. the dome of hte rock, al-aqsa mosque, church of the holy sepulccher, church of st. mary, church of the ascension, church of st. lazarus, arminian quarter, as well as 42 other churches that have been identified.
Bernard Desribes Templars. Order of Knights Temlar was found in 1118. Domain located on Temple Mount. On the coin, ther were two "poor knights" sharinga  horse depicting early idealism of crusaders.The Hospitallers were a community of mostly french Crusaders located in Muristan quarter near Holy Sepulcher.Some other orders were Teutonic Knights (German Hositalers), form 1128 in syrian quarter.
It was cool, the sub showed us this video of a video game that uses Jerusalem called assassin creed. Its funny becasue I watched my brother play this video game all summer and I actually like it. But the sub broke down the video and showed us the different asspects of Jerusalem in it, like the dome of the rock, church of the holy sepulchar and the city of David.

Lecture 15

Todays topic was Islamic Jerusalem.We went over the timeline from 638 to 1918. Today we mostly looked at 638 to 1099. We had Caliph Umar, the Umayyad Dynasty, Abbasids, and Fatimids.When the Byzantine empire fell, the Sasanians took palestine and Jerusalem in 614-628. But in 628, Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor, took Jerusalem back and allowed Jews to be massacred. Professor added a quick slide about Muhammad and gave a little background on him. He also talked about the first three caliphs, which is when we first see dividing between the Shi'ites and the Sunnies.In 638, Muslim Caliph (delegate or representative) Umar took Jerusalem. He was the second Caliph. He was the most powerful of the early Caliphs. He does not allow Jewish settlement but later allowed them back into the city, causing the Jewish population to grow.Professor then went over some islamic terms for Jerusalem that he thought were important. Aelia, menas the city of the Temple. Bait Maqdis, meaning "house of the holy place", was shortened in the 10th century to al-Quds, meaning "the Holy". Lastly was hte Haram al-Sharif, meaning "the noble sacturary". It was used to describe the temple mount.Some terms that had to do with the architecture were Qibla- which was the direction of prayer. The second was Miharb, meaning the niche pointing the direction of prayer. He wanted us to know what Mihrab was becasue before it was moved to Mecca, it used to be Jerusalem.
Next we looked at the Kaaba in Mecca. When people are praying they all circle around the Kaaba. It is a cube shaped building made from granite. In the eastern corner of it, there is the black stone. As islam rises in the prominance, all of the traditions that were absorbed by Jerusalem are now coming towards the Kaaba. It connects heaven to earth, becasue it was said to be from outter space. It is the second most sacred space in islam. At one point it used to contain alot of idols representing all the arabian tribal Gods, including some for Jesus and Mary. Muslims do not worship the Kaaba, they worship around it.There are five pillars of Islam. 1. Shahada: ther eis no god  but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger 2. Salat: prayer five times a day towards Mecca 3. Zakat: Almsgiving to the needy 4. Sawm: Fasting in the month of Ramadan, in wich the Qu'ran was first revealed 5. Hajj: making pilgrimage to Mecca once in one's lifetime.We went into detail about Hajj. When one goes on Hajj, you paint your door with beautiful colors. It was a sign to people who would try to steal form you when you were away. It was like a triple sin to steel from soneone who was on Hajj.
Next we talked about Umayyad Jerusalem. The Umayyad Dynasty was from 638-750. Caliph Umar build a wooden Mosque and Abd al-Malik builds the Dome of the Rock.We then looked at pictures of Haram al-Sharif, or the "nobel sacturary". We saw pictures of the Southwestrn corner of the temple as well as a sketch of what the whole thing used to look like. The early Islamic Palaces and Administrative buildings began during the reign of Caliph Walid from 705-715. They had fresh water and sewage systems, decorated (with carved adn molded stucco) frescoes as well as floors paved with plagstone and mosaics. It was never completed as inteded, however it was sill used into the early Abbasid period.
We next looked at the Dome of the Rock. Professor explained to us that he was allowed to go in there before 9-11 but now they only let Muslims in. Artist had to be very creative when doing this becasue there was no picuteres allowed. they had to learn to do designs. It was originally known as the Mosque of Omar. It was build by Umayyad Ruler Abd al-Malik.Some of the key dates for the Rock were, 687, its commission, 691, its completion, 1099, the crusaders conquered Jerusalem and converted the dome to a church, and  1187, the dome is restored by Salah ad-Din when he re-conquered Jerusalem.Professor showed us pictures of the Dome, like the cross section, and some of the interior. I was fascinated by how much detail was put into it and how beautiful it was.Since the Dome was based off the church of they holy seplachur, we see many similar qualities. We also see similar qualites in the mosaics on the Umayad Mosque.
The Dome fo the Chain was a place where the final judgment will occur in the "end of days". It is the gemometric center of the Haram esh-Sharif. It is considered to be an Axis Mundi. It had one characteristic. If two men approached it to solbe a point of litigation, only the honest and upright man could take hod of it; the unjust man saw it move out of his reach.We then talked about the Al-Aqsa Mosque. There is a buldge in a wall because it is starting to give way. They are fighting over it in order to see who will fix it. We looked at a couple of pictures of it.It is considered to be the "farthest mosque". It was built between 705 and 715 by Caliph Walid. It was built over the "stables of solomon". There was alot of earthquake damage which cause for it to be rebuilt in 1033. A prayer there is considered to be worth 500 elsewhere.We ran out of time in class so we will finish it next time!

Lecture 14:

Todays topic was Byzantine Jerusalem. It was professors birthdays so he brouht us diddy!!! it was so good! Byzantine Jerusalem came after the Roman Rule and before the Persian Captured Jerusalem. Its rule was from 312-637CE. Christianity began to rise during this time. As well as the metaphysical Jerusalem. We also start to see Jesus and his role in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, buried and resurreced. We can see stroys this in Matthew 27: 33-40.In the Byzantine empire, there was a division between the east and the west. On each side, they had both an Augustus and a Caesar to rule. Constantine was one of the great rulers during the Byzantine empire. He ruled from 312-337CE. He legalized Christianity at the Edict of Milan in 313. It was said that he used Christianity in order to uite the emipre. In 330, Byzantium was renamed Constantinople. Helena was Constantine's mother. She came to Jerusalem in  324. She was the lead the first christian Pilgrimage and created teh church of nativity as well as the church of the ascension. She also rededicated the church of the Holy Sepulcher.
We then looked at the Madaba Map from 6th century CE. The Madaba was a mosaic on a church floor that is a map of the holy land with Jerusalem as its center.On it are the six gates, The Damascus gate, the stephan gate, the dung gate, the zion gate, the jaffa gate and the golden gate. We saw pictures of all of these and where they were located on the map. We also looked at the church of the holy sepulcher. It was said that it was the place in which adam was buried. Abraham also bound issac for sacrifice there. It is considered the symbolic cneter where divinity touches humanity in a unique way. We finished the lecture by going over the Nea church. IT was a Christian church that was built by Justinian. It copies the layout of the ancient temple with "two columns in the front".

Lecture 13: Feb 16

Todays topic was Jerusalem in Revolt. There were two revolts. the fist was the Great revolt 66-73 and the second was the bar kokhba revolt 132-135CE.Herod the great dies in 4 BC. (which is how we know that Jesus was born around this time). He had many wills and in them described what happened to Herods Kingdom. It was given to his sons.One was given to Archelaus. He became the ethnarch of Judea. He got all the main lands. However, he was an awful ruller and was exiled in less then ten years. The second son was Herod Antipas. He became the tetrarch of perea ad Galilee. He too was exiled but lasted much longer then his first brother. He ruled the region up in Galilee as well as the transjordan.  The third son was Herod Philip, sometimes called philip the second. He became tetrarch of Iturea nd trachonitis. It was way up in the north and he basically got the worst part. He ruled until his death in 34 CE.As all these sons disappear, the area that they controlled was taken over by procurators.
The Romans to over and began to rule. One man was Pontius Pilate. He was the only governor mentioned in the Gospels. He was highly ineffective and provoked the jews. He tried Jesus and sent him to his execution. He was such an awful ruler that he was recalled to Rome. There was a stone with an inscription on it, that talks about Pontius Pilate.It helps us prove that he did exist.WIth all the other govenors, all of the Roman ones were inexperienced and inept. Under their rein, there was growing internal jewish conflicts as well as provocatins from all sides. As time went on there was a steady decline of law and order under their rein. The Jews became tired of it and by summer of 66CE, the jews revolted against Rome.One way to assert you own athority was to make you own money. It was a way to state their own independce. So they created Jewish Revolt Coins.
The revolt broke out in 66CE. In 67CE, Rome appointed Vespasian to conquer Galilee. In 68-70, Nero Dies he committed suicide. And Vespasian became emperor. Then in the spring, his son Titus took charge. On the 9th of Ab, the northern city falls and the temple was destroyed. People scattered becasue they wanted to get out, and it was told they went to Masada.So even though the temple was destroyed by Titus in 70CE, the ruins remained there and in 135 CE, Hadrian built a temple to Jupitor in its place. Now we are faced with the same problems in 586. WHere will God go? and what does it mean to be Jewish if there is no temple? Hadrian came up with an idea. He said that if you are Jewish you have to pay a half shekle. If they dont want to pay the tax all they had to say was they werent Jewish.
We then looked at pictures of Masada. I love when he shows us pictures.Professor then showed us pictures of coins that they created after Judea was captured. They were called Judea Capta. On one side, there was a women who was sitting at the bottom of a tree and she is crying. It was a constant reminder to the Jews that they had been conquered.
We then moved on to the second revolt. There are very few sources about this revolt.THe revolt in a nut shell, it was from 132-135. He name was Simon ben Kosiba. It can be interpreted as the liar. And so he changed his name to bar-kokhba son of the star. There was an institutional and spiritual chrisis. you can see this through some of the prayers the jews were saying. The center of Judaism migrates to the west to a place called yavneh and then to Tiberias. Jerusalem rebuilt as Aelia capitolina, by hadrian. The province was renamed syria-palestina from Iudaea. That was a big insult to the Jews. THen the jews were forbidden to visit Jerusalem except for one day of the year on the 9th of Ab and mourn their defeat.
Some of the archiological evidence of this revolt was the coins that were created. It wasnt very successful because the revolt wasnt that big. Words were frequently misspelled.There were also revolt letters. With the coins, there were many different sayings on them. "the redemption of isreal",the freedom of jerusalem,
who was simon Bar-kohba. He really wanted to be considered the prince. He was not from a royal family or a priestly family so he could not take the title king or priest.The outcome: emperor Hadrian punished the jews bloodily. He banned circumcision. He rebuilt Jerusalem as a roman city with a temple to Jupiter. And then banned Jews from the city. This was the end of Jerusalem for a very long time.

Lecture 12: Feb

Todays topic was on Roman Jerusalem, Herodian Jerusalem and Jesus' Jerusalem.The romans rule over palestine began in 63 BCE. Pompey annexed it for Rome.Idumean Antipater, was installed as procurator, basically the local ruler. His son, revenges the death of murder of his father, which happened in 43BCE. In 39 BCE he took control of Galilee, samaria and Idumea. He also took Jerusalem from Parthians in 37 BCE.There are coins found that of of Herod the Great. He is very sensitive to the fact that he is rulling Jews, so there are no faces, only symbols. However, he is also trying to be good to Rome so he doesnt loss power. It makes him a client king.Herod was one of the most brutal dictoators we have ever seen. He was extremly paranoid, but it worked for him. We see this in the Gospel of Matthew. When he realized that the magi had not listened to him, he was so furious that he had all the boys in Behtlehem under the age of two killed. Although he was known for his paranoia and impulsiveness, he was best known for his massive building projects. He wanted to remembered so he build things in his name and for him.
Professor showed us some pictures of the model of Jerusalem as well as heroian temple mount. Then we are shown what it looks like today. We were shown the picture with the letters in the wall again. We also looked at teh model of Herods Temple. We also saw the temple month southern entrances. We looked at the Al aqsa Mosque.
Next we looked at Herodian Miqvah. Miqvah is a jewish ritual bath. It was necessary to purify yourself before you entered teh mosque so they had these all around. you walked in unpure and then when you walked out.On the southwest corner of hte temple mount, we saw the Rovinson's Arch.The Herodian Temple mount was build with roman architecure. It was extremely big, about 15 football fields. Some of the longest stones were 40 feet long and 100 tons.There was an inscription found that said "the place of the trumpeting" which suggest that what josipha says to be true. It was the actual point where the trumpet was that told people to go and stop.There is this place called the Burnt house. It tells us alot about this period of time. You see cups, bowls and dishes and other things they would have used.He showed us another overview of the city of David. Herod built a large portion of it.
There were also things like a hippodrome, which is where they ran horses, and then there was an Antonia Fortress. It was a place that they could go to look out at everyting. And then you have the actual temple. There was a fence around it, and they found a message on it. It said that nonjews of gentiles said they couldnt go past a certain point. If they wernt Jewish they couldnt go past and if they did they it is their fault for their death.Along the western wall, you will constantly see people there. Often you see barmitsfas. It is a holy place, so you cant spit or brign your video camera or things like that. In the picture, the wall was discolored and it was because of all the people who have prayed and touche the wall over time.Another construction site that Herod made was the Theater at Caesarea. They still use this theature for preformances to this day. Professor told us he snuck in there once and that he almost saw pearl jam there.
There was  a mountain, and in it was a huge whole cut in the middle and it was basically a fortress. It was perfect to hide in becaseu there was no way you could get into it without anyone knowing. This is where we thing Herod was buried.The Triclinium at Herodion was like the place where you would eat. Like a dinner table. You would lie down to eat on your left hand and eat with your right hand. Professor made a funny picture of what it would look like if you were reclined at the table. It was pretty funny.But the real questionis, was Herod a good king or a bad king.He was a good dictator, but he Bible paints him as a bad person. Was he really that bad? He was respectful to the temple, he let Jews pick their High Priest, he married a Hasmonean princess, he offered generous relief during famine, he put inanimate objects on coins, he avoided vuilding pagan temples in Jewish areas, and he employed numberous jewish workers as builders.
We spent the last ten minutes talking about the archaeological evidence for Jesus. He showed us a blank page because there is no proof. it is taken by people faith.Some pieces of evidence that thye think they have found are Jesus' boat. It was a boat from Ginosar on the sea of Galilee. This could have been a boat that the disciples might have used. There is no proof its Jesus but people seem to think that it does.Another is a box thingy and i forgot the name, it was ment to hold the bones of a person and you would put it in the wall. It had an inscription on it taht said, Jacob (james), sone of Joseph, brother of Jeshua (Jesus). However,it turns out that the inscription is fake. Only part of it is fake.There were signes that crusifiction was real. They found a crucified heel bone from ossuary wit inscription "Jehohanan the son of Hgqwl" There was a nail that went through wood as well as ankle bone.
We finished lecture by saying that there is no archaeological evidence for the exisrence of Jesus. There is evidence that people believe he existed, but is absence of evidence, does that mean it didnt exist???

Lecture 11: Feb 9

Today we talked about Hellenistic Jerusalem. There are a few sources we can look at. The Apocrypha, which were the books that didnt make it into the bible. And the Josephus.We are then introduced to Alexander the Great. he Conquered the land which people thought was impossible. It was modern. He took alot of land. This included Palistine. It was from 336-332 BC. He Defeated Persias King Darius in 333BCE. He died in 323. The story is that he was so sad and that he had nothing to live for anymore. After he died his land was slit into two divisions. Ptolemies, which went to the egyptians, and Seleucids, which was the syrians. There were many different Ptolemies coins. Pttolemies control over palistine lasted form 300 to 201 BCE. During the Seleucids period, whichs started in 198BCE by defeating Ptolemy V,they tried to enforce Hellenism. They wanted to impose their way of doing things on Jerusalem to enforce their rein. They wanted to turn Jerusalem into a Polis, or city, the center of greek life.The polis is the highest and most natural civil instituion. Acrording to aristotle, the essential characteristics are food,skills and crafts, military supplies, commerce, religion and a system of justice.so we get some political uncertainty in jerusalem which attracts Social/Economic Experimentation.
WIth the Hellenixation in process, every aspect of jewish life was effected. things like architectrue, art, coinage, education, entertainment, house wares, language, literature, philosophy, recreation, religion and rhetoric. Some evidence htat shows this is in the kidron valley tombs. The tombs now had greek pillars and didnt look like it was from jerusalem, it looked like greece.We also saw them in Jewish Burial inscriptions. Everyting was written in Jewish symbols but written in Greek.He showed us pictures of a Sepphoris Mosaic. Some Jewish homes had greek art in it.The mosaic tells a story with in it and it is all related to Greek history and traditions.We can see it in greek arcitecture. For example we see it in Bet She'an.When it came to the Bible, greek became the most spoken language and so the Hebrew bible was translated into greek. It was called Septuagint. It took about 150 years to translate. It also became the most widely used jewish bible.
We then talked about Antiochus III "the great" he took control of Palestine fromt he Ptolemies.
Next was Antochus IV. He thoroughly hellenized palestine and Jerusalem. He luted the temple of Treasure. In 167, he outlawed Jewish Religous practices. He went into the alter and sacrificed a pig. This was very disgraceful. And then converted the temple into a temple of Zeus. Everything has turned greek.
The Jews reaction varried. There were some people that welcomed it and others who resisted it. Some people cooperated, others didnt. Some abandoned circumcision, they literally tired to reverse the act of circumcision so that they looked more greek. The jews then started fighting each other and they began to revolt.
We then started a new section called Hasmonean Jerusalem.The Jews began to revolt. it was mostly the Conservatives that did this. It was called Maccabean Revolt.The revolt was actually very successful. They regained control of Jerusalem and Temple from the Seleucids. They redid everyting and to commemorate the victory they established Hanukkah.We then looked at some Hasmonean Coins, they were created after the revolt. The Hasmonean Dynasty is what came to be after it. They were very jewish coins. There was no trace of greek in them.One main detail was that there were no humans in them, just symbols and pictures.It was called the Hasmonean dynasty because the leaders were said to be form Hasmon. They said these were temporary because they wernt of the right line. They restored the Golden age, or what they thougth it was. They had Jewish self-rule for about a hundred year.But this became a problem. THe Hasmonean rulers became increasingly Hellenized, secular, corrupt. They held onto the title and it ruined them. They considered them selves Kings (which was not right) as well as High priests. This was extremely unecceptable.
Professor showed us a wall. It was the Se corner of hte temple mount. And as you look at it you can tell the difference between the Herodian and the Hasmonean times. At the bottom, there were big stones, on the bottom and then smaller ones at the top.They also had to make pools for water. They called them "solomon's pools" but it was created by Hasmonean. They did this to show that they were still tied to their past and to show that they are as powerful as the person they thought was attoritative in the past.
We ended class with the last Hasmonean rulers. Queen Salmone Alexandra, Hyrcanus II, and Aristobulus II were he last. The romans came in and took over. It was the Roman conquest, lead by Pompey in 63 BCE.

Lecture 10: Feb 7

Today professor started class by discussing some historical background of the persian period. Some of the books we can find the persian period are the book of Chronicles, Minor Prophets, Books of Ezra and Nehemiah and Second Isaiah. There Re no non-biblical text dealing with this period, it just goes black.We then talked about he prophet Ezekiels. We want to deal with the begining and end of ezekiels Vision. He has a vision that we see as a mobil throne of God. It basically is a new picture of Jerusalem.In Ezekiel 1, we see how his vision was basically like a mobil throne of God. He saw a thing, with four faces, four wings, with straight legs and the sole of a calfs foot. The faces were the human face, a lion, an ox and an eagle. The idea is that we see things that we used to have in the temple, like the protective beasts or divine protectors. And then he goes on the describe this box or throne, which we could see as the Ark of the Covenant. When they descirve it, it has poles which was very important when it came to the Ark. The vision of the ark is important because It is saying that god is still here, and that he is once again mobil, he is not tied to any particualr place.But what happened to the Ark?? It was brought to Jerusalem by David, put in the temple by Solomon, but in 2 kings 24:13-14 and 25:13-17, it is missing in the temple lists.  It basically just disappeared! Professor thinks that it was already gone, and destroyed during Hezikiahs rein. But then, it is replaced by the "mobil ark" vision seen in Ezekiel 1.
We then moved on to what happened after the Exile. It was said that the Persians were in control, and that the King didnt want the Jews there anymore. He gave them money and told them to go home. They could rebuild their temple with the money they gave them. But this is not the exact story we are given in the Bible. However, we believe the story becasue of the Cyrus Cylinder. It was a cylinder announcing a general return to homelands.
So, we look at Cyrus, the persian king who opposed and conquered the Babylonian empire. They saw him as a good person becasue they whiped our their enemy, the Babylonians. We can see that they thought he was a good person becasue is Isaiah 44:24,28 and 45:1,5. However, they called him the anointed one, which was a problem becasue he was not part of the dividic line. This became a problem, and changed the way people described the king in future. They are no longer part of the dividic line.then on a side note, the porfessor wanted to compair the similarites between Judaism and Zoroastrianism.
Now, we have to ask what happened to them once they came back to the city. The Jerusalem temple was rebuilt between 520 and 515 BCE under Darius 1.We have evidence of this outside of the bible. We see it in the Yehud coins. It is the persion province of Judah. Judah then becomes known as the land "beyond the river".Professor then asked the question, now that they had a religion that was not based on having a place to be or somewhere to worship, do we really need a temple? Do you need it to be Jewish? the answer for most Jews is no, we can be Jewish by things like praying, holidays, etc. The Jews are the ones that are arguing whether or not they need a temple or not. In Haggai 1, we see this quesiton.
But what do we really know about the rebuilding of hte second temple? It was said to be built in the second month. It was almost like the creation of the first temple. So it interesting because the construction of the first and second temple were on the same days as well as the destruciton of both temples.But now we are confused because we see multiple temples. We have the utopian temple, samaitan temple, the request to build a temple in elephantine letter, the leontopolis temple, or the umran or "temple by Gods hand" .In the coin Neapolis coin, we can see the construciton of Mt. Gerizim. You can see the Temple, the Altar and the stairs leading to the temple.
Professor then showed us a picture of the dead sea. and the qumran, which is close to where the dead sea scrolls were found.We saw the Biblical text that show us the Dead Sea Scrolls.
We are then presented the question is it really necessary to build a new temple. He showed us the size of Post-exilic Jerusalem. before there was a population of 40,000 after there were the population of 1,500 and then once they went back there were 35,000. THis shows that they really dont need it they have pretty much the same amount of people.
We ended class by looking at Nehemiah 4: 16-23. We see that people dont want the temple to be rebuilt.

Lecture 9

We started the next section, exile destruciton and cognitive dissonance. it is importatnt to know the date 586. We talked about the events that lead to the Exile.Now there are two accounts of Josiahs death in the Bible. So how do we reconcile this? In one of hte passages, it gives more detail in how he died, it said that he was not following orders which added to the problem. Megiddo was apposing Neco therefore he was killed. It was also said that Megiddo was helping Babylong and therefore God said it was ok to kill him. The reason for this is so that there are no questions as to why a good king was killed.It clears up some problems that people had with his death.
We then talked about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It was considered to be the most beutiful places on earth. How do we know that they were exiled to Babylon outside of the bible. We know it fromt he 290 tablets excavated near the ishtar gate and the four tablets mention judean royal family.
We are given a text that shows how htey kept the kings faithful even though they were exiled. They basically given an allowance. They had tablets/lists of jewish captives that proves this as well.
Now we are given zedekiahs rein. He rebeled against Babylon. But he was so mad that he burned the house of the lord and every great house, he burned down. Eveything was basically destroyed and they exiled all the other people. This is what happened in 586. So now what happens to Gods promise in 2 Samuel. Professor showed us a picture of some arrowheads that were used during the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon.
We are then given 2 conclusions of what happened. In the first one nothing happens and Gods promise is still intact. But in the second one, it appears that he lied becasue they have no king, they have no homeland and were not safe. It is said that God was still very angry that he destroyed it this is completely contradictoy of what he previously stated.This is the first time the we see people trying to notion wtih God breaking his promise. Professor showed us a chart of the Devestation from Babylon. There was less sites and areas  after it happend. Also all the luxuries disapeared at the same time. So then what do you do with your belief was a catastrophy strikes? The end of the dynasty, land ,chosen people, temple, everything just ended. What do you do? he compared it to a story if you got in your car and told soemone you love you'll see them in a little, and you get home and they dont because they died in  a crash on the way home. It was such an awful statement and made me sad and realized how awful it was for them.So one basically like us singing the blues.But another comon thing to do is lament!. hence the name Lamentation. we are still trying to find an excuse for what has happened. We did something therefore God is punishing us.We again see how they delt with greif in Psalm 137.
So now the promise needs to be redefined.We finsihed the class with him showing us how people trying to compensate with what happened. He compared it to the superbowl, if the packers beat the stealers. If you were a packers fan you would say something along the lines of of course then won, they are better. but if you were a stealers fan, you have to find some excuse like it was cold and they cheated, inorder for them to cope with the loss. We tend to rationalize things when they are in complete opposition of each other. LIke my father beats me because he loves me.

Lecture 8: Jan 26

Todays topic was on Josiah's Jerusalem: centralization of Religion in Jerusalem.
We started with talking about the last kings of old Jerusalem. The last kings were Hezekia, Manasseh and Josiah. The destructions of Jerusalem happened in 586 BCE by nebuchadnezzar.
We then loked at hte growth of Jerusalem. After the invasion we can see extra0mural suburbs on the outside of the city of david. The population increased as well as the land area it went from 130 acres to 150 acres. They impacted Jerusalem in many ways. One being Urbanization. There was Political and Religious Unrest.Hezekiah created religious reforms which are showin in 2 kings 18:4
We then looked at Josiah's reform. Josiah's book orthodoxy: the blueprint for Judasim. This reform was refered to as the Deuteromonic Reform.We were shown some evidency for literacy. There were a variety and number of inscriptions like ostraca, graffiti, seals and seal impressions and econoiimc text. We finished by looking at The Letter of a literate soldier. It was a lachish letter written in 587.We started lecuture by looking at a picture of Yavneh Yam Letter. It is a complaint letter. The question is. who ever wrote this letter, did he know exodus? or was it not yet written or that tradition was already a rule and he knew he could appeal to it.is he sighting exodus or a law? It shows that there is some literacy in poor people as well therefore the Bible might not be made up.
We then takled about the Torah Amulet. He compaired them to a lucky charm that we have.  They were 2 silver amulets that they found. It was worn, like piece of jewlery. On it, it has a prayer that blesses the people. Basically have the LORD watch over you. One of hte oldest blessing in the Bible. Then we question, did he write this after the Bible? or was it part of oral tradition before the Bible? Professor then asked the question, why a book? When oral traditions become written down, we can interpret things in different ways, instead of strictly one way. For example, look at the way we text and twitter, we type things differently (shorthand) and its creating a new language. you are no longer stuck with one version of the story, we now have multipule ways and can compair them to see what one is more truthful. So from here on out, the fate of Jerusalem will closely follow the interpretation of texts.
we finished the section by asking what happens to faith when experience contradicts it???

Lecture 7: Jan 25

Today we talked about Hezekiah's Jerusalem: the growth of the city. We started off by asking how do you make a godlen age??? some things that are important are build great places, create a united kingdom, and build a great temple. All of which can be found in 1 kings 4-9. Jerusalem's Golden age lasted from 1010 to 930 BCE under the rein of David and Solomon.
In the eight centry of Jerusalem,, the Rise of United monarch happened, the split into isreal and Judah, the rise of the Assyriah empire, growth and urbanization of Jerusalem and the Hezekiah came, and was called the "messiah". In 925 BCE, Pharaoh Shoshenq invaded isreal. It has been said that it was  bribe and invitation to shoshenq to restore order. In 875, Baasha, King of Isreal attacked Judah. Asa, teamed up wiht ben-hadad of syria for help. THen Jehu, king of isreal, becomes vassal of Assyria and send tribute to shalmaneser III in 841.
We then looked at the timeline of the assyrian Empire. It began in 745BCE. Tiglath-Pileser III reined from 745-727, Shalmaneser V reined from 727-722, Sargon II reined from 722-705, Sennacherib reined from 705-681, Esarhaddon reined from 681-669, and Assurbanipal reined from 669- 642. The Babyloninas then took over Assyria in 609 BCE. There were fears of Assyria. Some were Policy of massive deprotations, impaling rebels outside the city, wall and public display.

We then talked about Jerusalems growth and the outcomes from it. The kingdom was divided in 925BCE and Jerusalem expanded to western hill in the 8th century. The responce to all this growth was Urbanization. Tiglath-PileserIII was ruler from 745-727. The rise of the Assyrian empire began to happen as well as industrialization.Another outcome was Global economy. It was seen that there was merchant or craft literacty. They found things like Economic Seals, receipts (ostraca),or "signature" literacy. He showed us a picture of a silver receipt with 17 signatures.There were also growths in the olive industry and wine production.Within the growth of jerusalems population, there was an increase of 400%. Jerusalem increases from 6% to 30% Judah's population. Some of the changest that came with urbanization and rapid growth were Social Dislocation. Changing Family structure (extended vs. Nuclear), they split up into groups or clans vs Individuals. There were new religious movenments, more specifically Manasseh and Josiah's reform. There were urban vs Rural or Cosmopolitan vs Traditional. The centralization of power, and government bureaucracy changed. Lastly the issues of social justice. There were rise of craft specialiazation as well as social classes.
Next we talked about Hezekiah's preparations. He did three main things. He fortified Jerusalem, he added water supplies, and created administration. When fortifying Jerusalem, he created a "broad" wall which can be seen in Isaiah 22:9-11. With the water supply, Hezekiah's tunnel was created. With Administration, royal storage jars and LMLK seal impressions were found.
We finished class with a question. How was the Assyrian failure to conquer Jerusalem interpreted? The Assyrians failure to destroy Jerusalem was the single greatest catalyst for the snowballng legend of an inviolable Jerusalem.

Lecture 6: Jan 20

Class started with 2 samuels 7. the most important verse in the hebrew bible especially for the christan bible. As far as mesianism is concerned. God comes to nathan and changes his mind saying no i dont want you to build me anything. God will appoint a place. The lord will make you a house verse 11-16. the reason he wont build him a house is so that God can build a house (dynasty) and will produce an aire and he will create a kingdom. The problem with this is that it doesnt happen. The babylonians come in and knock down the temple and the kings are dethrown. So people quesiton this because they dont want to lose their faith. they think that there must be something else that God ment by this. Who is going to be the king, the isrealites can thing that their is a messiah coming. In the new testement we are showing that there is a king of the jews, or JESUS!

Professor then made a quick note to 1 chronicles 21:28-22:10.In 2 samuels, God said he didnt want a temple, but here he says that you shouldnt build a house becasue they have shed to much blood.

(In review about David) God choose jerusalem specifically. We are presented with the Ark of the Covenant. Then the creation and the Sabbath story become affiliated with Jerusalem. Fourth Jerusalem is associated with Mt. Moriah when God tells him not to kill his son Isaac. Lastly, Melchizedek's Salem and Jerusalem are affiliated together. 

Next we talked about Solomon's Temple. In first kings 8, God still physcially dwells in the temple, however this will change. Solomon built the table, in order for the ark to be placed there.We were given Biblical acconts that talk about King Solomon. One important one was 2 Kings 3, 10. It showed his wisdom with the story of the two mothers and a child. In the Book of Provervs, Ecclesiastes and the song of songs, it is told that Solomon wrote them.We then reviewed some concepts that were already described in previous lectures.

We spent the last part of practice comparing Solomons temple in 1 Kings 6-7 from other temples. The front or big area, the back area, which is were the ark would have been located, and the front porch, which would be full of articles that were symbolic.There are two pillars that are at the front of the temple. They are the Boaz and the Jachin. Some scholars argue that these are early precursers to the jewish faith. It was like worshiping other Gods within the Hebrew Religion. 

Lecture 5: Jan 5

We started todays lecture by talking about Warrens shaft. It was thought to have been used to get to the water in the gihon spring. Now scholars are doubting it. Its more of a natural cave that they might have cut a little. They gave it names like water shaft or water tunnel. Professor then presented us with the question, why did they name this what they did? Was it for the shape or for what it was used for? Professor then showed us a couple more pictures to show us why people thought it was used for water. While looking at the pictures we began to question it. How did they get water from the spring to the main land? Archeologist have been arguing this for awhile because they have yet to find the answer.It is thought that johab might have climbed up this to get to the jebusite city. We then looked at 2 Samuels 5:6-9 and 2 Chronicles 11:4-9. This refrense to the water shaft and someone climbing down to get to the Jubusite City. But 2 chronicles it is cleaned up alittle it specifies that johab was the one who climbed. The question is was warren shaft a cut shaft or was it already there or was it both? Was it used for water did they drop buckets to get the water?

We then looked at the Gihon Spring. He moved quickly through pictures of the Gihon spring just so that we can see it. Siloam channel is originally constructed in the middle of the bronze age. One of the significant purposes of the gihon spring. Explained in 1 Kings 1:32-40 it was part of the corination ceremony. They put someone on a donkey and would bring them to gihon spring and they are then annointed. (side note if name ends in iah, it refers to the divine name and puts it into your name. same as the names that end in el). We are then presented with the passage zechariah 9:9-10. it is a reflection on the corination ceremony previously stated. It is also presented in the new testement. Refers to Jesus and says that he was put on a donkey and people said he was the son of david. marches from mount of olives to jerusalem and he must go through kidron and the gihon spring. Jesus is making a claim of royalty. he is the king of the jews.

Next we talked about Hezekiah Tunnel and the pool of Siloam. There is accounts of the tunneling. They are digging form two directions and they here eachother so they through their pics and the tips hit and water flows out. shows evidence of authenticity that in the bible he expands the waterworks. There are so many false tunnels. they kept going the wrong way. We then looked at some pictures of the Siloam pool. one refrense to the pool of siloam is John 9: 1-11. Jesus rubs dirt on a blind mans eyes and he can see again.

Lastly we went over the Ark of the Covenant. He went through the last couple of slides quickly and briefly describing each one. God commands that we need to make an ark and cover it with gold. God told us that it was the palce he would meet with us. But what is a cherubim? its some type of protector. for instance the shedu and lammasu. find them on both sides of a gate. example british museam someone cracked a joke and said harry potter. the kodak theater in holywood. Mythical beats that are guardians. these are on top of the ark.

and that was the end of the lecture!

Lecture 4: Jan 13

This lecture was shorter then usual but very informative. Class was cut short today which was amazing :) thank you professor!
This lecutre is about proving Jerusalems history with Architecture and Bible passages.We compare them inorder to make conclusions. We started off by talking about the agricultural settlements of Jerusalem before David. Settlements were somewhere around 2000BC. There were three main Settlement factors; water (Gihon spring), agriculture: (emek refa'im), and communication and trade (watershed highway).

We then talked about the bonze age of Jerusalem. The cliams made by the bible are not backed up by science. This make the bible considered false and imfaliable.Some people think we should just disregaurd it and others think that it is perfect. Professor Cargil thinks that it is somewhere in the middle. There is archiological evidence. He then showed us some pots from 3200BC that helps prove there was a long standing settlement. Jerusalem is also in the earliest non-biblical texts. For example they were showin in execreation text. Scholars found some in 1900 in hirogliphic. What they were was that you wrote you enemys names on the clay figurenes and then you smashed it. It was considered to be a curse. It refers to why we dont write the name of God, becasue if it is erased or torn it is a bad thing and a curse. He then refrensed that we can spell suck wihtout USC (which made me really happy i abosluely hate USC). If we did this and then ruined the picture of it, it would curse them. Besides text, there is archiological evidence. they found a wall near the gihon Spring. This could be the fountain gate in the book of Nehemiah. He shows us pictures to help us see the evidence of what was left behind.One picture was used to protect the Gihon spring. It was the pool tower. Another was the pool near Gihon Spring. It is evidence becasue people took the time to cave and protect he spring its not just ruble.

There are writings about Jerusalem before the bible. For instatnce in the Amarna Letters.They are written from rulers in Canaan to Egyptian Pharoahs. They did this becasue they were asking for help. The same reason we ask for finacial aid. They were a place of refuge because they needed the help. Egypt gets to decide who they want to be king by sending money to a certain group. This set assurance that these kings would back up the Egyptians Pharoahs.He then gave us an example of a text sent to one of the Pharoahs. It was from Jerusalem King Abdi-Kheba to Pharaoh. It states that you are so great, blah blah blah( just saying nice things), but i cant praise you if im not king so please send me money. He was basically bribing the Pharaoh.small nations couldnt defend themselves so they made deals with the biggest countries in order to protect them in exchange for money.

However there were problems with the "conquest". Problems? When you go in and kill EVERYONE, is it considered geniside? Why dont we think of it the same way now? Is it fair to take modern ethics and use them back in the day. In Joshua 21, again they whiped everyone out. In Joshua 24, they destroyed everyone. But in the same book, we find a different story, in Joshua 15 it says that they cant drive out the Jebusites, in Joshua 24, it says they defeated them. This is what makes scholars think that there are many different authors. Also in Judges 1, it says that Canaanites need to be faught, but wait didnt you already defeat them. There are a couple of contradictories in the book. It contradicts itself.

Then we are forced to ask the question how did Israelites get there? We have different stories so it leades to different theories. So what to do with the conquest.1) you except the story of the bible. 2) we have imagration storeis. people starting coming and they gradually moved in and they made up great stories of how they came to be there. 3) (which is becoming more and more popular), the isrealites are of mix ethnic orgin, in otherwords they were always there, they used to be canaanites and then intermarried and became a different society, that or they became a different society and started to drift apart. or people joined them and a group broke off.

Professor finished with two passages about the "Jubusite City". And then he ended class early because he did not want to start a new lecture and only get a little into it. But it was the perfect day to do it:)
Next blog coming soon!

Lecture 3: Jan 11

For some reason I felt like professor Cargil didn't spend as much time on each slide today, almost like he was rushing, and yet he still did a fantastic job explaining everything!

We started the lecture by talking about why people choose to build a temple when building sacred spaces for worship. People did not use pyramids because they were used for burying the dead, where as a place like a temple was used for worship. Information about the plans for the temple were lowered down and given by divine beings. An example of this was given from "Sacred Space" (Eliade) in Revelations 21:1-5. It was said to be the divine decree sent from above. This example concluded the section of building a place to make it sacred. Once a construction is made, the next step is to consecrate it. This is the creation or re-creation of the sacred space. The consecration normally takes place with a ceremony or the act of prayer. After it is consecrated, people can continue to build on to it, but really it is the reputation of the sacred place that gets the attention of visitors. The reputations are created by stories and their connection to that sacred place. This is what happened to Jerusalem: for example, the Garden of Eden. The story goes that man is formed last after the earth, plants and animals. Since Adam was the first man created and was in the Garden of Eden he becomes an important part of the story. It is told that Adam is buried under the Dome of the Rock, explaining how Jerusalem is tied to the story and making it a sacred place. We next talked about how Jerusalem became affiliated with the Hebrew God. Professor Cargil made it very clear that it is extremely disrespectful to say the LORDs name. However, he felt it was important that as scholars we need to know it. It is written as YHWH. However, over time people would replace Gods name with the word LORD (it is important that it is in all caps because it means that it has been substituted for the actual name). As time went on, people also started replacing it with four dots .... because it was no longer acceptable to write it. In Genesis 14:17-20, the LORD comes out and blesses Abram, which is how they are connected. The next connection we talked about was Mr. Moriah. It is brought up in multiple passages making the connection between it and Jerusalem very strong. The passages we talked about were Genesis 22:1-14 and 2 Chronicles 3:1.

Although it is important to have Sacred Space, it is also important to have Sacred Time. The first example is the creation of the Sabbath (every sunday in which you are supposed to spend relaxing and worshiping God). In Exodus, one can see time and space together. The reason being is that if a sacred space was destroyed, how do you know if your Jewish. With sacred time, they don't have to go to the temple, but you could keep the Sabbath and pray and do things outside the sacred space. When talking about sacred time, the Ten Commandments are brought up three times. Each of which explain the importance of keeping the Sabbath, but for different reasons. In Exodus 20, one must keep the Sabbath because God rested on the 7th day of creation. However, in Deuteronomy 5 the reason for keeping the Sabbath is to remember that they were once slaves and are now free, they must give thanks on the Sabbath for their freedom.

After the sacred space has been consecrated, it becomes the center of the world or Axis Mundi. The places that make it so special are the Temple, Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Axis Mundi is the connection between heaven and earth, and earth and the underworld. Some places in which we can find signs of how these places are connected are the Garden of Eden, the Cosmic Mountain, Place of Prayer, and Place of the Underworld. These contains stories like the burning bush, which is where the name of God is presented, Come up the Mountain, which is where the Ten Commandments are given, THreshing Floor of Araunah, which is were God answered to the building of the alter with the fire of heaven and Gehenna, when is a valley like is a good representation of hell.

Lastly we went over the Sacred Spaces related to the three religions in Jerusalem. Judaism has the Temple of the Mount and the Western Wall, Christianity has the Holy Sepulcher, and Islam has the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque. Professor finished class with pictures of these places from google earth. My favorite was the picture of the Western Wall with all the papers shoved in the stone. I think it is a very interesting and unique concept! that was about it for this lecture.

I love the fact that Professor uses pictures. It makes it so much better! ill be posting my next blog soon!!!

Lecture 2: Jan 6, blog 1

So basically I have never blogged before this so dont judge me if its not that great:)
Today was the first lecture in which our professor started teaching the information about Jerusalem. We started off talking about what makes a certain area sacred or profane. In other words, is something special or common. To make a place sacred, a supernatural being must come to that sight, a significant event must occur there, or an important being was born there. Another reason a place could be sacred would be because of the routes that lead to a space. Two major routes in Jerusalem are the The Via Maris and The King's Highway. We were then shown a map of Jerusalem and how everything is connected together. These two routes connect three major continents together, Asia, India and Egypt. Other geographical features are the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point located on Earth. I think its interesting that out of the entire earth something like the Dead Sea would be the lowest thing on Earth. The Dead Sea gets its water from the heights mountain in Jerusalem. This river is known as the Jordan river. There are also three main valleys located in Jerusalem, the Kidron, Tropean, and Hinnom Valleys, each of which are considered sacred places. Some other sacred places we discussed were Jaffa Gate, the Dome of the Rock, Hebrew University and Sultan's Pool. To help us understand these concepts further, Professor Cargill showed us pictures from google map. The only time I had used google map was to try to find my house one day because I didnt believe my friend. The fact that I got to fully see parts of Jerusalem was exciting because I have a solid picture in my head, not just my imagination of what it might look like.

We next discussed if Jerusalem's features suggest a great city. In Jerusalem, you are surrounded by valleys (which is looked at as bad because it is the farthest point away from the sky or heaven), routes (to get to Jerusalem you must go out of your way to get there), and water shortages. Because of the water scarcity, they had to dig tunnels in order for water to come out of a spring. The spring in which they would pull water from was Gihon Spring. Getting water was the biggest problem in which Jerusalem faced because everything revolved around it. Another location in which people started getting water from was the Siloam Pool, exit of Hezekiah's Tunnel and location of John 9 miracle. This sight however has causes problems because people built a house upon it. In order to expand it, Israelites knocked down the houses built by the Palestinians. This then created problems between the two groups, causing archeology to be considered a weapon. Professor Cargill kept stressing that water has always been the biggest problem in Jerusalem and to me its obvious because it causes multiple problems everywhere.


The reason for Jerusalem's holiness was because of its physical attributes. After these attributes were discovered, people started building on so that people can come and view the holy sites and the consecration of the Sacred Space takes place. Once there were places to visit, stories start beging told and connecting to other places in order to draw more attention. This is when it becomes the center of the world, or Axis Mundi. In Jerusalem the Axis Mundi consists of the Temple, the Dome of the Rock, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.


Lastly, Professor Cargill went over some passages from the Eliade and the important events of the Jewish Temple. The temple is obviously extremely holy and important to Jerusalem because of how many times it was destroyed and rebuilt. 
Thats the gist of how much we covered in class. I'll be posting another blog about next lecture soon!!!