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!!!