1.
Old City (Jerusalem)
–
The Old City is a 0.9 square kilometers walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem. Until 1860, when the Jewish neighborhood Mishkenot Shaananim was established, traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four uneven quarters, although the current designations were introduced only in the 19th century. Today, the Old City is roughly divided into the Muslim Quarter, Christian Quarter, Armenian Quarter, the Old Citys monumental defensive walls and city gates were built in the years 1535–1542 by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The current population of the Old City resides mostly in the Muslim and Christian quarters. As of 2007 the total population was 36,965, the breakdown of religious groups in 2006 was 27,500 Muslims,5,681 Christians, not including the 790 Armenians, and 3,089 Jews. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Old City was captured by Jordan, today, the Israeli government controls the entire area, which it considers part of its national capital. However, the Jerusalem Law of 1980, which effectively annexed East Jerusalem to Israel, was declared null, East Jerusalem is now regarded by the international community as part of occupied Palestinian territory. In 2010, Jerusalems oldest fragment of writing was found outside the Old Citys walls, according to the Bible, before King Davids conquest of Jerusalem in the 11th century BCE the city was home to the Jebusites. The Bible describes the city as heavily fortified with a city wall. The city ruled by King David, known as Ir David, or the City of David, was southeast of the Old City walls, outside the Dung Gate. His son King Solomon extended the city walls and then, in about 440 BCE, during the Persian period, Nehemiah returned from Babylon, in 41–44 CE, Agrippa, king of Judea, built a new city wall known as the Third Wall. Muslims occupied Jerusalem in the 7th Century under the second caliph and he granted its inhabitants an assurance treaty. Sophronius believed that Umar, a warrior who led an austere life, was a fulfillment of this prophecy. In the account by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius, it is said that Umar paid a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and sat in its courtyard. Eutychius adds that Umar also wrote a decree which he handed to the Patriarch, in which he prohibited Muslims gathering in prayer at the site. In 1099, Jerusalem was captured by the Western Christian army of the First Crusade and it remained in their hands until recaptured by the Arab Muslims, led by Saladin and he summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city. In 1219, the walls of the city were razed by Muazzim Sultan of Damascus, in 1229, by treaty with Egypt, in 1239 he began to rebuild the walls, but they were demolished again by Daud, the emir of Kerak. In 1243, Jerusalem came again under the control of the Christians, the Kharezmian Tatars took the city in 1244 and Sultan Malik al-Muattam razed the walls, rendering it again defenseless and dealing a heavy blow to the citys status
2.
Israeli-occupied territories
–
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. Originally, those included the Syrian Golan Heights, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict, termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. From 1967 to 1982, the four areas were governed under the Israeli Military Governorate, the IMG was dissolved in 1982, after the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. Between 1998 and 2012, the term Palestinian territories, Occupied was used to refer to territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, the International Court of Justice, the UN General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council regards Israel as the Occupying Power. UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk called Israels occupation an affront to international law, the Israeli High Court of Justice has ruled that Israel holds the West Bank under belligerent occupation. Israeli governments have preferred the term disputed territories in the case of the West Bank, officially Israel maintains that the West Bank is disputed territory. Israel asserts that since the disengagement of Israel from Gaza in 2005, the significance of the designation of these territories as occupied territory is that certain legal obligations fall on the occupying power under international law. Under international law there are laws of war governing military occupation, including the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. In 2015, over 800,000 Israelis resided over the 1949 Armistice Lines, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt in the 1967 Six-Day War. It established settlements along the Gulf of Aqaba and in the northeast portion and it had plans to expand the settlement of Yamit into a city with a population of 200,000, though the actual population of Yamit did not exceed 3,000. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in stages beginning in 1979 as part of the Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty, as required by the treaty, Israel evacuated Israeli military installations and civilian settlements prior to the establishment of normal and friendly relations between it and Egypt. Israel dismantled eighteen settlements, two air bases, a naval base, and other installations by 1982, including the only oil resources under Israeli control. The evacuation of the population, which took place in 1982, was done forcefully in some instances. The settlements were demolished, as it was feared that settlers might try to return to their homes after the evacuation, since 1982, the Sinai Peninsula has not been regarded as occupied territory. Israels stated purpose for the Security Belt was to create a space separating its northern border towns from terrorists residing in Lebanon, during the stay in the security belt, the IDF held many positions and supported the SLA. The SLA took over daily life in the security zone, initially as the force of the Free Lebanon State. Notably, the South Lebanon Army controlled the prison in Khiam, in addition, United Nations forces and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon were deployed to the security belt
3.
Western Wall
–
The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall. The Western Wall is considered due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though it is not the holiest site in the Jewish faith, which lies behind it. The original, natural and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top, on top of this box-like structure Herod built a vast paved esplanade which surrounded the Temple. Of the four retaining walls, the one is considered to be closest to the former Temple. The term Wailing Wall is not used by Jews and increasingly many others who consider it derogatory, in a broader sense, Western Wall can refer to the entire 488 metre-long retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, from the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none was successful. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. This period ended on June 10,1967, when Israel gained control of the following the Six-Day War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza. The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term ha-kotel ha-maaravi, the Western Wall, the name Wailing Wall, and descriptions such as wailing place, appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German and this term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-Mabka, or Place of Weeping, the traditional Arabic term for the wall. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn, at some time in the 19th century, the Arabs began referring to the wall as the al-Buraq Wall. This was based on the tradition that inside the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his miraculous winged steed, al-Buraq. The tradition on which this is based only states that the Prophet, or the angel Jibrail, tethered the steed at the gate of the mosque, meaning, at the gate of the Temple Mount. Israeli archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov concluded that the Muslim association with Western Wall began in the nineteenth century in response to renewed Jewish identification with the site. The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot exposed section of ancient wall situated on the flank of the Temple Mount
4.
Temple Mount
–
The Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif, a hill located in the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of the most important religious sites in the world. It has been venerated as a site for thousands of years by Judaism, Christianity. The present site is dominated by three monumental structures from the early Umayyad period, the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, Herodian walls and gates with additions dating back to the late Byzantine and early Islamic periods cut through the flanks of the Mount. Currently it can be reached through eleven gates, ten reserved for Muslims and one for non-Muslims, the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, which regards it as the place where Gods divine presence is manifested more than in any other place. According to the rabbinic sages whose debates produced the Talmud, it was here the world expanded into its present form. Several passages in the Hebrew Bible indicate that during the time when they were written, the Temple Mount was identified as Mount Zion. The Mount Zion mentioned in the parts of the Book of Isaiah, in the Book of Psalms. The name later migrated for a last time, this time to Jerusalems Western Hill, according to the Bible, both Jewish Temples stood at the Temple Mount, though archaeological evidence only exists for the Second Temple. However, the identification of Solomons Temple with the area of the Temple Mount is widespread, according to the Bible the site should function as the center of all national life—a governmental, judicial and religious center. During the Second Temple period it functioned also as an economic center, according to Jewish tradition and scripture, the First Temple was built by King Solomon the son of King David in 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The second was constructed under the auspices of Zerubbabel in 516 BCE, in the 2nd century, the site was used for a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. It was redeveloped following the Arab conquest, Jewish tradition maintains it is here a Third and final Temple will also be built. The location is the holiest site in Judaism and is the place Jews turn towards during prayer and it was from the Holy of Holies that the High Priest communicated directly with God. The Temple was of importance in Jewish worship, in the Tanakh. In the New Testament it remains the site of events in the life of Jesus. It was to end, proof of a biblical prophecy fulfilled and of Christianitys victory over Judaism with the New Covenant. Among Sunni Muslims, the Mount is widely considered the third holiest site in Islam, revered as the Noble Sanctuary, the location of Muhammads journey to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, the site is also associated with Jewish biblical prophets who are also venerated in Islam. Muslims preferred to the esplanade as the heart for the Muslim quarter since it had abandoned by Christians
5.
Hurva Synagogue
–
The Hurva Synagogue, also known as Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid, is a historic synagogue located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The synagogue was founded in the early 18th century by followers of Judah heHasid, the plot lay in ruins for over 140 years and became known as the Ruin, or Hurva. In 1864, the Perushim rebuilt the synagogue, and although officially named the Beis Yaakov Synagogue and it became Jerusalems main Ashkenazic synagogue, until it too was deliberately destroyed by the Arab Legion after the withdrawal of Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. After Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, a number of plans were submitted for the design of a new building. After years of deliberation and indecision, an arch was erected instead at the site in 1977. The plan to rebuild the synagogue in its 19th-century style received approval by the Israeli Government in 2000, the Hurva Synagogue today stands off a plaza in the centre of Jerusalems Jewish Quarter. Excavations carried out at the site in July and August 2003 revealed evidence from four main settlement periods, First Temple, Second Temple, Byzantine, three bedrock-hewn mikvehs were uncovered there dating from the 1st century. The earliest tradition regarding the site is of a synagogue existing there at the time of the second-century sage Judah the Prince, by the 13th century, the area had become a courtyard, known as Der Ashkenaz, for the Ashkenazic community of Jerusalem. The Ramban Synagogue had been used jointly by both Ashkenazim and Sephardim until 1586, when the Ottoman authorities confiscated the building, thereafter, the Ashkenazim established a synagogue within their own, adjacent courtyard. In the winter of 1700, a group of around 500 Ashkenazim led by Judah heHasid arrived from Europe and they were mystics who were intent on advancing the arrival of the Messianic Era by settling in Jerusalem and leading ascetic lives. A few days after their arrival in the city, heHasid died, and without a leader, their messianic hopes dissipated and those who remained managed to build forty dwellings and a small synagogue in the Ashkenazic Compound. Soon after, they endeavoured to construct a synagogue. They found themselves having to bribe the Ottoman authorities in order to them to proceed with their building project. Unexpected costs relating to the construction, financial hardships and the burden of other taxes drained their funds. They became impoverished and were forced to take loans from local Arabs, pressure and threats from the creditors led to a meshulach being sent abroad to solicit funds for repayment of the loans. In late 1720, with the debts still outstanding, the Arab lenders lost patience and set the synagogue, the leaders of the community were imprisoned and shortly after, all the Ashkenazim were banished from the city. Over the course of time, shops were built in the courtyard and it thus became known as the Ruin of Rabbi Judah heHasid. Between 1808 and 1812 another group of ascetic Jews, known as Perushim and they were disciples of the Vilna Gaon and had settled in the city of Safed to the north
6.
Cardo
–
A cardo was the Latin name given to a north-south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus was the main or central north–south-oriented street, the cardo maximus was the hinge or axis of the city, derived from the same root as cardinal and as such was generally lined with shops and vendors, and served as a hub of economic life. Most Roman cities also had a Decumanus Maximus, an east-west street that served as a main street. Due to varying geography, in cities the Decumanus is the main street and the Cardo is secondary. The Forum was normally located at, or close to, the intersection of the Decumanus, the thoroughfare was about 1.85 kilometres long and 37 metres wide, as it was used for wheeled transport. The great colonnade was erected in the 2nd century and it was standing until the 12th. The earthquakes of 1157 and 1170 demolished the colonnade, the cardo was lined on both sides with civic and religious buildings. The excavations at Jerash in Jordan have unearthed the remains of an ancient Roman city on the site, hohe Strasse and Schildergasse in Cologne, Germany may be taken as examples of streets that have kept their course and function of Cardo and Decumanus Maximus until this day. After the Jewish rebellion led by Simon Bar Kokhba was crushed by Hadrian in the 130s AD, Hadrian built a Roman colony in its place, naming it Colonia Aelia Capitolina, after the Roman deities Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, worshiped at the Capitoline Hill temple in Rome. Like many Roman colonies, Aelia Capitolina was laid out with a Hippodamian grid plan of narrower streets and wider avenues. The southern addition to the Cardo, constructed under Justinian in the 6th century AD, along its length, the roadway was divided into three parts, two colonnaded covered walks flanking a 12 meter wide road. The central open pavement provided commercial access as well as ritual space, the Cardo’s most striking visual feature was its colonnade, clearly depicted on the Madaba Map. Simple bases supported monolithic shafts, spaced 5.77 meters apart, the shafts supported Byzantine-style Corinthian capitals – intricately carved, but more stylized versions of their Classical counterparts. Although this combination of elements was uniform the preserved examples display some variation in the profile and size of the bases, and in the pattern of the capitals. Despite aesthetic differences, the height of the base, column, and capital units of the colonnade was five meters. The wall of the Cardo’s eastern portico featured an arcade that housed various stalls and workshops leased by craftsmen, the line of the Cardo Maximus is still visible on the Jewish Quarter Street, though the original pavement lies several meters below the modern street level. In the 7th century, when Jerusalem fell under Muslim rule, remains of the Byzantine Cardo were found in the Jewish Quarter excavations beginning in 1969. In 1971, a plan for preserving the ancient street was submitted by architects Peter Bogod, Esther Krendel and their proposal relied heavily on the sixth century Madaba map, a mosaic map of Jerusalem found in 1897 in Madaba, Jordan
7.
Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue
–
Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue, most often spelled Tiferet Israel, was one of the most outstanding synagogues in the Old City of Jerusalem in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was destroyed by the Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, named after Rabbi Yisroel of Ruzhin, founder of the Ruzhin Hasidic dynasty, it was also known as the Nissan Beck Shul, after its founder, Rabbi Nissan Beck. In 2012 the Jerusalem municipality announced its approval for plans to rebuild the synagogue, the cornerstone was laid on May 29,2014. Although Hasidim had arrived in Jerusalem by 1747, it was only in 1839 that Rabbi Nissan Beck began plans for a Hasidic synagogue, until then they had prayed in small, private locations like Rabbi Israel Becks house. In 1843 Rabbi Beck traveled from Jerusalem to visit the Ruzhiner Rebbe in Sadigura and he informed him that Czar Nikolai I intended to buy a plot of land near the Western Wall with the intention of building a church and monastery there. The Ruzhiner Rebbe, who was involved in assisting the yishuv. Beck managed to buy the land from its Arab owners for an exorbitant sum mere days before the Czar ordered the Russian counsul in Jerusalem to make the purchase for him. The Czar was forced to buy a different plot of land for a church, when Rabbi Friedman died in 1851, his son, Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, the first Rebbe of Sadigura, continued the task of raising the necessary funds for the project. Rabbi Beck was the architect and contractor of the project, initially the Ottoman authorities refused to grant permission to dig the foundations, and when permission was eventually granted, the crew discovered a Muslim sheiks grave on the site. Eventually the Muslim religious judge agreed for the tomb to be moved outside the city walls, after the foundations had been dug, another setback cropped up. It became apparent that it was necessary to obtain a permit from the officials in Turkey who were not keen to grant the request. Rabbi Beck, an Austrian national, convinced Franz Joseph I of Austria to intercede, over ten years were spent raising funds as the building slowly took shape. In November 1869 Franz Joseph, en route to the inauguration of the Suez Canal, included in his itinerary was a tour of the Jewish institutions of the city. When he toured the Old City with Rabbi Beck and others, Rabbi Beck quipped, Why, the synagogue took off its hat in honor of Your Majesty. The Kaiser smiled and replied, I hope the roof will be built soon, from then on, the dome was referred to by locals as Franz Josephs cap. The three-story synagogue was inaugurated on 19 August 1872,29 years after the land had been purchased, for the next 75 years, it served as the centre for the Hasidic community in the city. It was considered one of the most beautiful synagogues of Jerusalem, with a view of the Temple Mount, ornate decorations. During the Israel War of Independence, the Tiferet Yisrael Synagogue was used as a post by the Haganah in the defense of the Old City
8.
Hadrian
–
Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests
9.
Legio X Fretensis
–
Legio X Fretensis was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the young Gaius Octavius in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic. X Fretensis is then recorded to have existed at least until the 410s, X Fretensis symbols were the bull — the holy animal of the goddess Venus — a ship, the god Neptune, and a boar. The symbol of Taurus may also mean that it was organized between 20 April and 20 May, Octavian, later known as Augustus, levied a legion and gave it the number ten, as a reference to Julius Caesars famous Tenth Legion. In 36 BC, the Tenth Legion fought under Octavian against Sextus Pompey in the Battle of Naulochus, the name refers to the fact that the battle took place near the sea Strait of Messina. In 31 BC, it fought in the Battle of Actium against Mark Antony, although Actium was a battle at sea, the legion was able to board enemy ships that had been hooked close by means of an iron grapnel known as the Corvus. Its key participation in battle is probably the reason that the legion also used a trireme as one of its symbols. Actium marked the end of the war and the rise to power of Octavian. Tiles found in Caesarea Maritima, built in the second decade BC, later X Fretensis moved to Syria. In 6 it was stationed in that together with legions III Gallica, VI Ferrata. In the same year, Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, governor of Syria, under Nero, in 58-63, X Fretensis participated in the campaigns of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo against the Parthians. X Fretensis was centrally involved in the First Jewish-Roman War, under the command of Vespasian. In 66, the X Fretensis and V Macedonica went to Alexandria for an invasion of Ethiopia planned by Nero, however, the two legions were needed in Judaea to suppress a revolt. After spending the winter in Ptolemais Ace, X Fretensis and V Macedonica relocated in the city of Caesarea Maritima. This was due to the number of legions being mobilized in Ptolemais, under Marcus Ulpius Traianus, future governor of Syria. During that same winter, the Caesarea camp of Xth and Vth hosted Vespasian, who was forced to go to Rome the following year, vespasians son, Titus finished the suppression of the revolt. When Tarichacae and Gamla were conquered, the X Fretensis moved to Scythopolis, in the summer of 68, X Fretensis destroyed the monastery of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are believed to have originated. Its winter camp was at Jericho, by 70, the rebellion in all of Judaea had been crushed, except for Jerusalem and a few fortresses, including Masada
10.
Jews
–
The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
11.
Land of Israel
–
The Land of Israel is the traditional Jewish name for an area of indefinite geographical extension in the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions of the limits of this territory vary between passages in the Hebrew Bible, with mentions in Genesis 15, Exodus 23, Numbers 34. Nine times elsewhere in the Bible, the land is referred as from Dan to Beersheba. According to the Book of Genesis, the land was first promised by God to the descendants of Abram, abrams name was later changed to Abraham, with the promise refined to pass through his son Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abrahams grandson. During the mandatory period the term Eretz Yisrael or the Land of Israel was part of the official Hebrew name of Mandatory Palestine, official Hebrew documents used the Hebrew transliteration of the word “Palestine” פלשתינה followed always by the two initial letters of Eretz Yisrael, א״י Aleph-Yod. The Land of Israel concept has been evoked by the founders of the State of Israel. It often surfaces in political debates on the status of the West Bank, Ezekiel, though generally preferring the phrase soil of Israel, employs eretz israel twice, respectively at Ezekiel 40,2 and Ezekiel 47,18. According to Anita Shapira, the term Eretz Yisrael was a term, vague as far as the exact boundaries of the territories are concerned. The Hebrew Bible provides three specific sets of borders for the Promised Land, each with a different purpose. And to their descendants after them, whilst Numbers 34, 1–15 describes the Land of Canaan which is allocated to nine, the expression Land of Israel is first used in a later book,1 Samuel 13,19. It is defined in detail in the exilic Book of Ezekiel as a land where both the tribes and the strangers in midst, can claim inheritance. The name Israel first appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name given by God to the patriarch Jacob, deriving from the name Israel, other designations that came to be associated with the Jewish people have included the Children of Israel or Israelite. The term Land of Israel occurs in one episode in the New Testament, the section in which it appears was written as a parallel to the earlier Book of Exodus. The passage describes the area as the land of the ten named ancient peoples living there. Genesis gives the border with Egypt as Nahar Mitzrayim – nahar in Hebrew denotes a river, never a wadi. Only the Red Sea and the Euphrates are mentioned to define the southern and eastern borders of the land promised to the Israelites. The Red Sea corresponding to Hebrew Yam Suf was understood in ancient times to be the Erythraean Sea, thus the entire Arabian peninsula lies within the borders described
12.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
