How has Jerusalem changed over time?

Answer 1

Originally, Jerusalem was built by the Canaanites, the name the people in what is now named Israel/The West Bank, were given, although, the truth is, the Canaanites were Phoenician. From Lebanon, down to the Sinai desert, or the border of the Sinai where Israel meets Egypt, part of modern day western Syria, and a small piece of western Jordan, that whole area, was once known as Phoenicia, which in Greek means "land of the red people." Oh yeah, and of course the whole of Israel. Jerusalem, was originally a vitally important trade route for the Phoenicians, which connected them to the ancient silk and spice roads. The silk road is much older than you think you know; it dates back, easily, to the time of the first kingdoms of ancient Egypt. We know, China's "mythic" Yellow Emperor, is not a myth, because, what was that country India and Egypt both talked about well beyond their borders, far to the east? I'm just saying, China is a lot older than you think, much older than what communist propaganda says; the PRC government, does not want the people of China thinking of a Utopic past, they want them remembering the past of the King of Qin, the dictator past. You figure out why that is. Shifting the subject back to Israel; Jerusalem, connected both to the silk road which did indeed go to China, and the spice road, specifically the camel caravan roads which went down to the kingdom of Yemen, a kingdom that was wealthy in ancient times from sea faring, and trading with India. Originally, it was a Phoenician city, until King David conquered it, and then made it his capital. The original, Phoenician Jerusalem was destroyed by David, absolutely everything, and a new one was built in its place. David's Jerusalem, had walls where many of the boulders weigh well over 50 tons. Foundation stone, some of them weigh up to 500 tons, and it is 50 to 500 tons mind, of solid granite. Jerusalem's walls, were never successfully breached by any human enemy; the only time in the city's history, where its walls were breached, was during an earthquake, which occured in 70 A.D., the year Rome put down a Jewish revolt. Both the Ottomans, and Napoleon, fired cannon balls at the walls, and all they did was chip them. Later on those same walls endured artillery shells by the Turks in WWI, yet, even more artillery by the British, who sometimes shot the walls for fun, and yet, the walls stood defiantly. During Israel's wars from 1948 until now, it has seen its share of bombs, and yet not even modern artillery can crack it. Much of the stone is buried underground, however one fact is well known, is the strength of Jerusalem's walls; no human enemy, and this is true, has ever breached them. There are some Rabbis, who hold the view that Jerusalem's walls are symbolic of the bloodline of King David, and David himself; the walls, are ever defiant, even as history passes by. Even as tyranny holds sway over Israel, the bloodline of David, remains ever defiant. You can not crack Jerusalem's wall, any more than you can crack a descendant of David. The only one with the power to break Jerusalem's wall, is God. Don't forget it. Also, buried is not the same as broken! Jerusalem though, David's Jerusalem, was burned to the ground; because invading armies of various empires could not fight them out, throughout the city's history, its residents always had to be starved out. Alexander the great, Trajan's armies, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and finally the Romans, they all had to starve them out. The only army that actually entered Jerusalem was Rome, and they were let in by an earthquake, not their catapults. Jews saw it as a horrible omen, and felt that God had abandoned them, that is why when the dust settled, most gave up without a fight, and the only resistance left where the zealots who holed up at Masada. The Jerusalem of today, is not David's Jerusalem; it was destroyed by the Romans stone for stone. The architecture of the so-called old city, even, more closely ressembles a small Italian town, than it does a middle eastern city, and yes there IS a difference.