1.
Old City (Jerusalem)
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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.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
3.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
4.
Citadel
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A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a fortress, castle, or fortified center, the term is a diminutive of city and thus means little city, so called because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. It is positioned to be the last line of defense, should the enemy breach the other components of the fortification system, a citadel is also a term of the third part of a medieval castle, with higher walls than the rest. It was to be the last line of defense before the keep itself, some of the oldest known structures which have served as citadels were built by the Indus Valley Civilization, harappan, where the citadel represented a centralised authority. The main citadel in Indus Valley was almost 12 meters tall, the purpose of these structures, however, remains debated. Though the structures found in the ruins of Mohenjo-daro were walled, rather, they may have been built to divert flood waters. The most well-known is the Acropolis of Athens, but nearly every Greek city-state had one – the Acrocorinth famed as a strong fortress. In a much later period, when Greece was ruled by the Latin Empire, rebels who took power in the city but with the citadel still held by the former rulers could by no means regard their tenure of power as secure. One such incident played an important part in the history of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire, the Hellenistic garrison of Jerusalem and local supporters of the Seleucids held out for many years in the Acra citadel, making Maccabean rule in the rest of Jerusalem precarious. When finally gaining possession of the place, the Maccabeans pointedly destroyed and razed the Acra, a city where the citadel held out against an invading army was not considered conquered. In the Philippines The Ivatan people of the islands of Batanes often built fortifications to protect themselves during times of war. They built their so-called idjangs on hills and elevated areas. These fortifications were likened to European castles because of their purpose. Usually, the entrance to the castles would be via a rope ladder that would only be lowered for the villagers. In time of war the citadel in many cases afforded retreat to the living in the areas around the town. For example, during the Dutch Wars of 1664-67, King Charles II of England constructed a Royal Citadel at Plymouth, barcelona had a great citadel built in 1714 to intimidate the Catalans against repeating their mid-17th- and early-18th-century rebellions against the Spanish central government. A similar example is the Citadella in Budapest, Hungary, the Citadelle of Québec still survives as the largest citadel still in official military operation in North America. It is home to the Royal 22nd Regiment of Canada, citadels since the mid 20th century, are commonly military command and control centres built to resist attack commonly aerial or nuclear bombardment. The Military citadels under London such as the underground complex beneath the Ministry of Defense called Pindar is one such example
5.
Jaffa Gate
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Jaffa Gate is a stone portal in the historic walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is one of eight gates in Jerusalems Old City walls, Jaffa Gate is the only one of the Old City gates positioned at a right angle to the wall. Both the Jaffa Gate and Jaffa Road are named after the port of Jaffa, from which the Prophet Jonah embarked on his sea journey, the modern-day Highway 1, which starts from the western end of Jaffa Road, completes the same route to Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The Arabic name for the gate, Bab el-Khalil, refers to Abraham, since Abraham lived in Hebron, another name for the Jaffa Gate is Hebron Gate. The Arabs also called this gate Bab Mihrab Daud, since King David is considered a prophet by Islam, the Crusaders, who rebuilt the citadel to the south of Jaffa Gate, also built a gate behind the present location of Jaffa Gate, calling it Davids Gate. Like the stones used for the rest of the Old City walls, the entryway stands about 20 feet high, and the wall rises another 20 feet above that. Immediately next to the old gate, which is used only by pedestrians, is a breach in the wall, according to legend, this was made in 1898 when German Emperor Wilhelm II insisted on entering the city mounted on his white horse. However, photographs from 1880 show that the city wall was never continuous at that point owing to a moat around the Citadel / Tower of David that interrupted the walls path, the moat has since been filled in, leaving the gap today. The Tower of David is an ancient citadel located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. The strong bulwarks still seen today surrounding the base of the tower are believed to have built by king Herod, in memorial of his brother. During the Jewish war with Rome, Simon bar Giora made the tower his place of residence, the site contains important archaeological finds dating back 2,700 years, and is a popular venue for benefit events, craft shows, concerts, and sound-and-light performances. This pillar appears to have fallen or been demolished during the Byzantine period, in the 20th Century the plaza outside the Jaffa Gate served the same purpose. During the British Mandate for Palestine a marker outside the doorway served as the point for distances to. There is no such marker today, Bezalel Pavilion near Jaffa Gate was a tin-plated wooden structure with a jagged roof and tower, built in 1912 at a shop and showroom in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. It was designed specifically for tourists and passersby on their way to, the pavilion was destroyed six years after it was established. In 1907 a clock was built on the roof of the Jaffa Gate and it was meant to be one of approximately one hundred such clock towers built throughout the Ottoman Empire in 1900 in celebration of the 25th year of rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The tower cost 20,000 francs, such was the poverty of the city that the money was not raised – and therefore the clock tower was not completed – until 1908. Seven such clock towers were erected in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories – in Safed, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, Nablus, Jerusalem, and the famous tower in Jaffa
6.
Jerusalem
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Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
7.
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
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The Mamluk Sultanate was a medieval realm spanning Egypt, the Levant, and Hejaz. It lasted from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, historians have traditionally broken the era of Mamlūk rule into two periods—one covering 1250–1382, the other, 1382–1517. Western historians call the former the Baḥrī period and the latter the Burjī due to the dominance of the regimes known by these names during the respective eras. Contemporary Muslim historians refer to the divisions as the Turkish. The Mamlūk state reached its height under Turkic rule with Arabic culture, the sultanates ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, soldiers of predominantly Cuman-Kipchaks, Circassian, Abkhazian, Oghuz Turks and Georgian slave origin. While Mamluks were purchased, their status was above ordinary slaves, Mamluks were considered to be true lords, with social status above citizens of Egypt. Though it declined towards the end of its existence, at its height the sultanate represented the zenith of medieval Egyptian and Levantine political, economic, the term Mamluk Sultanate is a modern historiographical term. The Arabic sources for the period of the Bahri Mamluks refer to the dynasty as the State/Realm of the Turks, other official names used were State of the Circassians. A variant thereof emphasized the fact that the Circassians were Turkish-speaking, the term Mongol State was used during Sultan al-Adil Kitbughas rule, who was of Mongol extraction. Dawlatāl Qalāwūn or Dawlat Banī Qalāwūn which means Qalāwūnī State/Dynasty which have ruled for hundred years between 1279 and 1382, al-dawla al-Ẓāhiriyya which meant Ẓāhirī state/dynasty which is the dynasty of Baibars and his two sons al-Said Barakah and Solamish. This dynasty have ruled consecutively for 19 years, Mamluk was a term defined as owned slave, distinguishing the mamluk from the garya and ghulam, which referred to household slaves. After thorough training in fields such as martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences. However, they were expected to remain loyal to their master. Mamluks had formed a part of the state or military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. Most of the mamluks in the Ayyubids service were ethnic Kipchak Turks from Central Asia and they were highly committed to their masters, who they often referred to as father, and were in turn treated more as kinsmen than as slaves by their masters. These mamluks became known as the Salihiyyah, to provision his mamluks, as-Salih forcibly seized the iqtaʿat of his predecessors emirs. Despite his close relationship with his mamluks, tensions existed between as-Salih and the Salihiyyah, and a number of Salihi mamluks were imprisoned or exiled throughout as-Salihs reign. Tensions between as-Salih and his mamluks came to a later in 1249 when Louis IX of Frances forces captured Damietta in their bid to conquer Egypt during the Seventh Crusade
8.
Ottoman Empire
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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
9.
Hasmonean dynasty
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The Hasmonean dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea, some modern scholars refer to this period as an independent kingdom of Israel. In 63 BCE, the kingdom was conquered by the Roman Republic, broken up, the dynasty had survived for 103 years before yielding to the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE. Even then, Herod the Great tried to bolster the legitimacy of his reign by marrying a Hasmonean princess, Mariamne, the dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt. However, the power vacuum that enabled the Jewish state to be recognized by the Roman Senate c. 139 BCE was later exploited by the Romans themselves. Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, Simons great-grandsons, became pawns in a war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. The deaths of Pompey and Caesar, and the related Roman civil wars temporarily relaxed Romes grip on Israel and this short independence was rapidly crushed by the Romans under Mark Antony and Octavian. The installation of Herod the Great as king in 37 BCE made Israel a Roman client state, in AD6, Rome joined Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea into the Roman province of Iudaea. In AD44, Rome installed the rule of a Roman procurator side by side with the rule of the Herodian kings, an alternative view posits that the Hebrew name Hashmonai is linked with the village of Heshbon, mentioned in Joshua 15,27. Gott and Licht attribute the name to Ha Simeon, a reference to the Simeonite Tribe. Between 319 and 302 BC. Under Antiochus III the Seleucids wrested control of Israel from the Ptolemies for the final time and it was in Antioch that the Jews first made the acquaintance of Hellenism and of the more corrupt sides of Greek culture, and it was from Antioch that Judea henceforth was ruled. The books are considered part of the Biblical canon by the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and apocryphal by most Protestants, the books include historical and religious material from the Septuagint that was codified by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians. The other primary source for the Hasmonean dynasty is the first book of The Wars of the Jews by the Jewish historian Josephus, Josephus account is the only primary source covering the history of the Hasmonean dynasty during the period of its expansion and independence between 110 to 63 BCE. The books of Maccabees use the names Judea and Israel as geographical descriptors throughout for both the land and people over whom the Hasmoneans would rule, the Talmud includes one of the Hasmonean kings under the description Kings of Israel. Scholars refer to the state as the Hasmonean Kingdom to distinguish it from the kingdoms of Israel. The Hellenization of the Jews in the period was not universally resisted. Generally, the Jews accepted foreign rule when they were required to pay tribute. Nevertheless, Jews were divided between those favoring Hellenization and those opposing it, and were divided over allegiance to the Ptolemies or Seleucids, when the High Priest Simon II died in 175 BCE, conflict broke out between supporters of his son Onias III and his son Jason
10.
Herodian architecture
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Herodian architecture is a style of classical architecture characteristic of the numerous building projects undertaken during the reign of Herod the Great, the Roman client king of Judea. Herod undertook many colossal building projects, most famously his reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, many of his structures were built upon comparable, previous Hasmonean buildings and most of his have, in their turn, vanished as well. Herod introduced numerous architectural innovations and construction techniques in his buildings and he adapted the mikveh — a Jewish ritual bath — for use as the frigidarium in the Roman-style bathhouses in his many palaces. Characteristically, they have one tower higher and stronger than the others, herod’s fortification innovations strongly influenced the military architecture of subsequent generations. In line with contemporary Jewish customs, Herod generally avoided the representation of human and animal figures, even in the closed, in the eighteenth year of his reign, Herod rebuilt the Second Temple in Jerusalem on a more magnificent scale. The new Temple was finished in a year and a half, although work on out-buildings, to comply with religious law, Herod employed a thousand priests as masons and carpenters for the rebuilding. The finished temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, is referred to as Herods Temple. Recent findings suggest that the Temple Mount walls and Robsons Arch may not have been completed until at least 20 years after his death during the reign of Herod Agrippa II. Herod constructed several lavish palace-fortresses within his kingdom, most notably at Jerusalem, Herodium, Masada, herod’s massive building projects featured a distinctive style of stone-dressing. It makes Herodian stones easily discernible from the stone courses below. Best known is the example of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount. Freeing the stones from the bedrock was a process, Wide grooves were chiseled with metal tools around the intended stone block. The block was then freed up by driving wedges into the grooves. The initial dressing of the stone was probably accomplished on site before transport, many of these stones were very large, weighing between two and five tons. Once moved to the site, further fine chiseling was done. The stones were laid in dry courses, typically about 1 meter high without the use of any mortar, each course was set 3 to 5 cm back from the course underneath it. Final dressing and refinements were carried out once the stones had been set in place, the depressed “frame” is sunk some 2 centimeters below the smooth face of the stone and its average width is about 8 centimeters. A wide, toothed chisel was used to smooth the stone margins, the origins of this margin-cutting style predate Herod, as witnessed by the Hellenistic architecture of Alexandria, Asia Minor, and Greece itself, as well as by examples in the Levant
11.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
12.
Muslim
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A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco
13.
Dan Bahat
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Dan Bahat is an Israeli archaeologist especially known for his excavations in Jerusalem, particularly at the western wall tunnels. Bahat was born in Poland to parents who were citizens of Mandatory Palestine, the family moved to Tel Aviv in 1939 and became Israeli citizens in 1948. He served in the IDF from 1956 to 1958, in 1964 he gained a Bachelors degree in archaeology and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He finished his masters degree in 1978, in 1990 he obtained the PhD degree from the Hebrew University on the topic Topography and Toponymy of Crusader Jerusalem under the supervision of Joshua Prawer. The stone measured 13.6 metres in length,4.6 metres in depth,3.5 metres in height, and is estimated at weighing ca.517 tonnes, twenty Centuries of Jewish Life in the Holy Land, The Forgotten Generations. The Western Wall Tunnels, Touching The Stones of Our Heritage, Israel MOD/The Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Dan Bahat and Chaim T. Rubinstein, carta, the Israel Map & Pub Co Ltd
14.
David
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David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
15.
Mosque
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A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. There are strict and detailed requirements in Sunni jurisprudence for a place of worship to be considered a mosque, many mosques have elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls, in varying styles of architecture. Mosques originated on the Arabian Peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents, the mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat as well as a center for information, education, social welfare, and dispute settlement. The imam leads the congregation in prayer, the first mosque in the world is often considered to be the area around the Kaaba in Mecca now known as the Masjid al-Haram. Others regard the first mosque in history to be the Quba Mosque in present-day Medina since it was the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622. The Islamic Prophet Muhammad went on to another mosque in Medina. Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Masjid al-Nabawi introduced some of the still common in todays mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab. The Masjid al-Nabawi was also constructed with a courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then. Mosques had been built in Iraq and North Africa by the end of the 7th century, the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala is reportedly one of the oldest mosques in Iraq, although its present form – typical of Persian architecture – only goes back to the 11th century. The shrine, while operating as a mosque, remains one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, as it honors the death of the third Shia imam. The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As was reportedly the first mosque in Egypt, serving as a religious, like the Imam Husayn Shrine, though, nothing of its original structure remains. With the later Shia Fatimid Caliphate, mosques throughout Egypt evolved to include schools, hospitals and it was the first to incorporate a square minaret and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusian mosques, including the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb. The first mosque in East Asia was reportedly established in the 8th century in Xian, however, the Great Mosque of Xian, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Indeed, minarets were initially prohibited by the state, mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesias Austronesian neighbors—Malaysia, Brunei, Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the 7th century, reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles
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Broad Wall (Jerusalem)
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The Broad Wall is an ancient defensive wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The wall was unearthed in the 1970s by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad, the Broad Wall is a massive defensive structure, seven meters thick. The unbroken length of wall uncovered by Avigads dig runs 65 metres long and is preserved in places to a height of 3.3 metres. It was long believed that the city in this period was confined to the fortified, Avigads dig demonstrated that by the late eighth century the city had expanded to include the hill to the west of the Temple Mount. The motivation for building the walls was the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib. The wall is referred to in Nehemiah 3,8 and Isaiah 22, 9–10
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Hezekiah
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Hezekiah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Judah. Archaeologist Edwin Thiele has concluded that his reign was between c.715 and 686 BC and he is considered a very righteous king by the author of the Book of Kings. He is also one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and is one of the mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Hezekiah enacted sweeping reforms, including a strict mandate for the sole worship of Yahweh. Isaiah and Micah prophesied during his reign, Hezekiah, more properly transliterated as Ḥizkiyyahu, or Ḥizkiyyah. It also spawns a number of nouns, including חוֹזֶק, חָזְקָה, חֶזְקָה strength, as well as the adjectives חָזָק, חָזֵק strong. Accordingly, חִזְקִיָּהוּ Ḥizkiyyahu can be said to mean something like Strengthened by Yahweh, the main account of Hezekiahs reign is found in 2 Kings 18–20, Isaiah 36–39, and 2 Chronicles 29–32 of the Hebrew Bible. Proverbs 25,1 mentions that it is a collection of King Solomons proverbs that were copied by the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah and his reign is also referred to in the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah. The books of Hosea and Micah record that their prophecies were made during Hezekiah’s reign, Hezekiah was the son of King Ahaz and Abijah. His mother, Abijah, was a daughter of the high priest Zechariah, based on Thieles dating, Hezekiah was born in c.741 BC. He died from natural causes at the age of 54 in c.687 BC, according to the Hebrew Bible, Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah at the age of 25 and reigned for 29 years. Some writers have proposed that Hezekiah served as coregent with his father Ahaz for about 14 years and his sole reign is dated by William F. Albright as 715–687 BC, and by Edwin R. Thiele as 716–687 BC. Hezekiah purified and repaired the Temple, purged its idols, in an effort to abolish what he considered idolatry from his kingdom, he destroyed the high places and bronze serpent, recorded as being made by Moses, which became objects of idolatrous worship. In place of this, he centralized the worship of God at the Jerusalem Temple, Hezekiah also resumed the Passover pilgrimage and the tradition of inviting the scattered tribes of Israel to take part in a Passover festival. He sent messengers to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover, the messengers, however, were not only not listened to, but were even laughed at, only a few men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun came to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the Passover was celebrated with solemnity and such rejoicing as had not been in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon. Hezekiah is portrayed by the Hebrew Bible as a great and good king, when Sargon II, the king of Assyria, died in 705 BC, states, including Judah, that were subject to Assyria saw an opportunity to throw off their subservience to the Assyrian kings. Hezekiah ceased to pay the tribute imposed on his father, in 703 BC Sennacherib, Sargons son and successor, began a series of major campaigns to quash opposition to Assyrian rule
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Sennacherib
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Sennacherib was the king of Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. He is principally remembered for his campaigns against Babylon and Judah. He was assassinated in obscure circumstances in 681 BCE, apparently by his eldest son, the primary preoccupation of his reign was the so-called Babylonian problem, the refusal of the Babylonians to accept Assyrian rule, culminating in his destruction of the city in 689 BCE. Further campaigns were carried out in Syria in the mountains east of Assyria, against the kingdoms of Anatolia and his death was welcomed in Babylon as divine punishment for the destruction of that city. He was also a builder, it was under him that Assyrian art reached its peak. Assyria began as a Bronze Age city-state or small kingdom on the middle-Tigris, the empires rise aroused the fear and hatred of its neighbours, notably Babylon, Elam and Egypt, and the many smaller kingdoms of the region such as Judah. Any perceived weakness on the part of Assyria led inevitably to rebellion, solving the so-called Babylonian problem was Sennacheribs primary preoccupation. Sennacheribs grandfather Tiglath-pileser III had made himself king of Babylon, creating a monarchy in which the Babylonians retained a nominal independence. This arrangement was never accepted by local leaders, particularly an important tribal chief named Marduk-apla-iddina. Marduk-apla-iddina paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser, but when Tiglath-pilesers successor Shalmaneser V was overthrown by Sargon II he seized the opportunity to crown himself king of Babylon, the next thirty years saw a repeating pattern of Assyrian reconquest and renewed rebellion. His relations, instead, were military, and culminated in his complete destruction of Babylon in 689 BCE. He destroyed the temples and the images of the gods, except for that of Marduk, the creator-god and divine patron of Babylon and this caused consternation in Assyria itself, where Babylon and its gods were held in high esteem. Sennacherib attempted to justify his actions to his own countrymen through a campaign of religious propaganda, in Babylon itself, Sennachribs answer to the Babylonian problem sparked an intense hatred that would eventually lead to a war for independence and the destruction of Assyria. Sennacherib was probably not the son of Sargon II, but he was groomed for royal succession. Sargon died in battle, and ancient sources give three different years for Sennacheribs first reign-year—705 BCE,704 BCE, and 703 BCE—suggesting that the succession was not smooth, Sennacheribs first campaign began late in 703 BCE against Marduk-apla-iddina, who had once more taken the throne of Babylon. The rebellion was defeated, Marduk-apla-iddina fled, and Babylon was taken, a puppet king named Bel-ibni was placed on the throne and for the next two years Babylon was left in peace. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib turned from Babylonia to the part of the empire. Ekron called on Egypt for help but the Egyptians were defeated, Sennacherib then turned on Jerusalem, Hezekiahs capital
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Mount Zion
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For Zion as a symbol for Jerusalem, redemption, etc. See Zion Mount Zion is a hill in Jerusalem just outside the walls of the Old City, in a wider sense, the term is also used for the entire Land of Israel. The etymology of the word Zion is uncertain, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Samuel as the name of the Jebusite fortress conquered by King David, its origin likely predates the Israelites. If Semitic, it may be associated with the Hebrew root ṣiyyôn or the Arabic root ṣiyya or the Arabic šanā and it might also be related to the Arabic root ṣahî or ṣuhhay. A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word šeya has also been suggested, sahyun is the word for Zion in Arabic and Syriac. A valley called Wâdi Sahyûn seemingly preserves the name and is located approximately one, Mount Zion, appears nine times in the Tanakh. It is spelled with a Tzadi and not Zayin, at first, Mount Zion was the name given to the Jebusite fortified city on the lower part of ancient Jerusalems Eastern Hill, also known as the City of David. Once the First Temple was erected at the top of the Eastern Hill, after the conquest of the Jebusite city, its build-up area expanded northward towards the uppermost part of the same, Eastern Hill. This highest part became the site of Solomons Temple. The Mount Zion mentioned in the parts of the Book of Isaiah, in the Book of Psalms. The Western Hill is what today is called Mount Zion, in the second half of the First Temple period, the city expanded westward and its defensive walls were extended to include the entire Western Hill behind them. Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the city almost completely around 586 BCE, severing the continuity of historical memory, a long period of rebuilding followed, ending with Jerusalems second total destruction at the hands of the Romans in 70 CE. During the 1948 war, Mount Zion was conquered by the Harel Brigade on May 18,1948, a cable car capable of carrying a load of 250 kilos was designed for this purpose. The cable car was used at night and lowered into the valley during the day to escape detection. The ride from the Israeli position at the St. John Eye Hospital to Mount Zion took two minutes, between 1948 and 1967, when the Old City was under Jordanian occupation, Israelis were forbidden access to the Jewish holy places. Mount Zion was a designated no-mans land between Israel and Jordan, Mount Zion was the closest accessible site to the ancient Jewish Temple. Until East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War, the winding road leading up to Mount Zion is known as Popes Way. It was paved in honor of the visit to Jerusalem of Pope Paul VI in 1964
20.
Josephus
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Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter, after Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperors family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship and he became an advisor and friend of Vespasians son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the citys destruction, Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, the Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience and these works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus introduces himself in Greek as Iōsēpos, son of Matthias and he was the second-born son of Matthias. His older full-blooded brother was also called Matthias and their mother was an aristocratic woman who descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Josephuss paternal grandparents were Josephus and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman, distant relatives of each other and he descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus was a descendant of the high priest Jonathon, born and raised in Jerusalem, Josephus was educated alongside his brother. In his early twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests, Josephus successfully fought the Roman army in Galilee, until he was captured by the Romans during the height of the war. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands, according to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 CE. The Romans asked the group to surrender, but they refused, Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide, they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, counting to every third person. Two men were left, who surrendered to the Roman forces, in 69 CE, Josephus was released. According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, in which his parents and first wife died. While being confined at Yodfat, Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation, after the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. In 71 CE, he went to Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen, in addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in conquered Judaea and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works, although he uses Josephus, he appears to have taken the Roman praenomen Titus and nomen Flavius from his patrons
21.
Herod the Great
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Herod, also known as Herod the Great and Herod I, was a Roman client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus, Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing and his reign polarizes opinion amongst scholars and historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, or a reminder of his tyrannical rule. It is generally accepted that Herod was born around 73 BCE in Idumea, however, some authors think that he was born in about 72/71 BCE. He was the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros. Herods father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism, Herod was raised as a Jew. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed his son governor of Galilee in 47 BCE and his elder brother, Phasael, was appointed governor of Jerusalem. Herod enjoyed the backing of Rome, but his brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin, in 41 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael, were named as tetrarchs by the Roman leader Mark Antony. They were placed in this role to support Hyrcanus II, later, Antigonus, Hyrcanus nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore Hyrcanus II to power, the Romans had a special interest in Judea because their general Pompey the Great had conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thus placing the region in the Roman sphere of influence. In Rome, Herod was unexpectedly appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate, Josephus puts this in the year of the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio, but Appian places it in 39 BCE. Herod went back to Judea to win his kingdom from Antigonus, toward the end of the campaign against Antigonus, Herod married the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, Mariamne, who was also a niece of Antigonus. Herod did this in an attempt to secure his claim to the throne, however, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a young son, Antipater, and chose therefore to banish Doris and her child. After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and Herod sent Antigonus for execution to Marc Antony, Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus, but also says that it was exactly 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, cassius Dio also reports that in 37 BCE the Romans accomplished nothing worthy of note in the area. According to Josephus, Herod ruled for 37 years,34 of them after capturing Jerusalem, as Herods family were converts to Judaism, his religious commitment was questioned by some elements of Jewish society. Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne I, Herods rule marked a new beginning in the history of Judea. Judea had been ruled autonomously by the Hasmonean kings from 140 BCE until 63 BCE, the Hasmoneans retained their titles, but became clients of Rome after the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE
22.
Mariamne I
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Mariamne I, also called Mariamne the Hasmonean, was a Hasmonean princess and the second wife of Herod the Great. She was known for her beauty, as was her brother Aristobulus III. Herods fear of his rivals, the Hasmoneans, led to him executing all of the prominent members of the family and her name is spelled Μαριάμη by Josephus, but in some editions of his work the second m is doubled. In later copies of those editions the spelling was dissimilated to its now most common form, in Hebrew, Mariamne is known as מִרְיָם, as in the traditional, Biblical name. Mariamne was the daughter of the Hasmonean Alexandros, also known as Alexander of Judaea, Mariamnes only sibling was Aristobulus III. By virtue of her parents union, Mariamne claimed Hasmonean royalty on both sides of her family lineage and her mother, Alexandra, arranged for her betrothal to Herod in 41 BCE. The two were wed four years later in Samaria, Mariamne bore Herod four children, two sons, Alexandros and Aristobulus, and two daughters, Salampsio and Cypros. Josephus writes that it was because of Mariamnes vehement insistence that Herod made her brother Aristobulos a High Priest, Aristobulos, who was not even eighteen years old, drowned within a year of his appointment, Alexandra, his mother, blamed Herod. Alexandra wrote to Cleopatra, begging her assistance in avenging the boys murder, Cleopatra in turn urged Mark Antony to punish Herod for the crime, and Antony sent for him to make his defense. Herod left his wife in the care of his uncle Joseph, along with the instructions that if Antony should kill him. Rumors soon circulated that Herod had been killed by Antony, and Alexandra persuaded Joseph to take Mariamne, however, Herod was released by Antony and returned home, only to be informed of Alexandras plan by his mother and sister, Salome. Salome also accused Mariamne of committing adultery with Joseph, a charge which Herod initially dismissed after discussing it with his wife and he gave orders for Joseph to be executed and for Alexandra to be confined, but Herod did not punish his wife. Because of this conflict between Mariamne and Salome, when Herod visited Augustus in Rhodes, he separated the women and he left his sister and his sons in Masada while he moved his wife and mother-in-law to Alexandrium. Again, Herod left instructions that should he die, the charge of the government was to be left to Salome and his sons, and Mariamne and her mother were to be killed. Mariamne and Alexandra were left in the charge of another man named Sohemus, Mariamne became convinced that Herod did not truly love her and resented that he would not let her survive him. When Herod returned home, Mariamne treated him coldly and did not conceal her hatred for him, Salome and her mother preyed on this opportunity, feeding Herod false information to fuel his dislike. Herod still favored her, but she refused to have relations with him and accused him of killing her grandfather, Hyrcanus II. Salome insinuated that Mariamne planned to poison Herod, and Herod had Mariamnes favorite eunuch tortured to learn more
23.
Ashlars
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Ashlar is finely dressed masonry, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the masonry built of such stone. It is the finest stone masonry unit, generally cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, one such decorative treatment consists of small grooves achieved by the application of a metal comb. Generally used only on softer stone ashlar, this decoration is known as masons drag, ashlar is in contrast to rubble masonry, which employs irregularly shaped stones, although sometimes minimally worked or selected for similar size, or both. Ashlar is related but distinct from other stone masonry that is finely dressed but not quadrilateral, such as curvilinear masonry, ashlar may be coursed, which involves lengthy horizontal courses of stone blocks laid in parallel, and therefore with continuous horizontal joints. Ashlar may also be random, which involves stone blocks laid with deliberately discontinuous courses, in either case, it generally uses a joining material such as mortar to bind the blocks together, although dry ashlar construction, metal ties, and other methods of assembly have been used. The dry ashlar of Inca architecture in Cusco and Machu Picchu is particularly fine, the word is attested in Middle English and derives from Old French aisselier, from Latin axilla, diminutive of axis, plank. Ashlar blocks have been used in the construction of buildings as an alternative to brick or other materials. In classical architecture, ashlar wall surfaces were contrasted with rustication. The term is used to describe the dressed stone work of prehistoric Greece and Crete. For example, the tombs of Bronze Age Mycenae use ashlar masonry in the construction of the so-called beehive dome. This dome consists of finely cut ashlar blocks that decrease in size and these domes are not true domes, but are constructed using the corbel arch. Ashlar masonry was also used in the construction of palace facades on Crete. These constructions date to the MM III-LM Ib period, ca, in modern European masonry the blocks are generally about 35 centimetres in height. When shorter than 30 centimetres, they are called small ashlar. In some Masonic groupings, which such societies term jurisdictions, ashlars are used as a metaphor for how ones personal development relates to the tenets of their lodge. Ablaq Dimension stone Opus quadratum Rustication Stone cladding Stone veneer
24.
Simon bar Giora
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Simon bar Giora was the leader of a rebel faction during the First Jewish-Roman War in 1st-century Judea. Simon bar Giora became notable during the First Jewish-Roman War, when Roman troops marched towards Jerusalem in 66 CE. Simon helped in defeating the advance by attacking from the north. He put the hindmost of the army into disorder and carried off many of the beasts that carried the weapons of war and he gathered power quickly as more people and influential men joined him. He soon dared to venture into the flatlands, constructed a fort in a village called Nain and it was obvious that he prepared to attack Jerusalem. However, Simon ben Giora first attacked Idumea and his army met no real resistance. He marched into Hebron, robbed the grain stores of towns and villages, by this time, he was followed by forty thousand people not including his soldiers. Simons success began worrying the Zealots in Jerusalem, since they did not dare fight in open battle, they lay an ambush, capturing his wife and some of her entourage. They expected Simon to lay down his weapons in exchange for her freedom, however, Simon grew very angry, went to Jerusalem and took everybody leaving the city captive. Some he tortured, some he killed and he cut off the hands of others and this frightened the Zealots so immensely that they eventually let her go. In spring 69 CE, the advancing Roman army forced Simon ben Giora to retreat to Jerusalem, within Jerusalem, John of Giscala had set himself up as a despotic ruler after overthrowing lawful authority in the Zealot Temple Siege. In order to get rid of him, the Jerusalem authorities decided to ask Simon to enter the city, acclaimed by the people as their savior and guardian, Simon was admitted. With fifteen thousand soldiers at hand Simon soon controlled the upper city. John held parts of the city and the Temples outer court with six thousand men. Factions fought vigorously over the control of Jerusalem, always trying to destroy each others grain stores to starve each other into submission and this internal fighting later proved disastrous, not only was this a sabbatical year, but the city was under siege by the time the harvest began. Nevertheless, of the leaders of the rebellion, Simon in particular was regarded with reverence, by his authority, coins were minted declaring the redemption of Zion. Just before Passover in 70 CE, Titus began the siege of Jerusalem and he quickly took down the first and second wall, but then met fierce resistance as the factions within Jerusalem realized the necessity of joining forces. However, Simon and John both upheld their reigns of terror over the citizens, causing many to flee to the Romans, to counteract these desertions, Simon put every potential betrayer, including some of his previous friends, to death. In August 70, five months after the siege began, Jerusalem fell to Titus, Simon escaped into the subterranean passages of the city
25.
Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)
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The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War. The siege ended with the sacking of the city and the destruction of its Second Temple, the destruction of both the first and second temples is still mourned annually as the Jewish fast Tisha BAv. The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem, at one point they destroyed the food stocks in the city, a drastic measure thought to have been undertaken perhaps in order to enlist a merciful Gods intervention on behalf of the besieged Jews. Titus began his siege a few days before Passover, surrounding the city, the thrust of the siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the Jaffa Gate. By May, this was breached and the Second Wall also was taken shortly afterwards, leaving the defenders in possession of the Temple and the upper and lower city. The Jewish defenders were split into factions, John of Gischalas group murdered another faction leader, Eleazar ben Simon, the enmities between John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were papered over only when the Roman siege engineers began to erect ramparts. Titus then had a built to girdle the city in order to starve out the population more effectively. Titus was almost captured during this attack, but escaped. Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire, destroying the Temple was not among Titus goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a dedicated to the Roman Emperor. The fire spread quickly and was out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 Tisha BAv, at the end of August, Josephus described the scene, As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity, passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesars commands, the partisans were no longer in a position to help, everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood, josephuss account absolves Titus of any culpability for the destruction of the Temple, but this may merely reflect his desire to curry favor with the Flavian dynasty. The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance, some of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden underground tunnels, while others made a final stand in the Upper City
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Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
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Roman army
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The Early Roman army of the Roman Kingdom and of the early Republic. During this period, when warfare chiefly consisted of small-scale plundering raids, it has suggested that the Roman Army followed Etruscan or Greek models of organisation. The early Roman army was based on an annual levy, the infantry ranks were filled with the lower classes while the cavalry were left to the patricians, because the wealthier could afford horses. Moreover, the authority during the regal period was the high king. Until the establishment of the Republic and the office of consul, however, from about 508 BC Rome no longer had a king. The commanding position of the army was given to the consuls, the term legion is derived from the Latin word legio, which ultimately means draft or levy. At first there were only four legions and these legions were numbered I to IIII, with the fourth being written as such and not IV. The first legion was seen as the most prestigious, the latter being a recurring theme in many elements of the Roman army. The bulk of the army was made up of citizens and these citizens could not choose the legion to which they were allocated. Any man from ages 16-46 were selected by ballot and assigned to a legion, until the Roman military disaster of 390 BC at the Battle of the Allia, Romes army was organised similarly to the Greek Phalanx. This was due to Greek influence in Italy by way of their colonies, patricia Southern quotes ancient historians Livy and Dionysius in saying that the phalanx consisted of 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry. Each man had to provide his equipment in battle, the equipment which he could afford determined which position he took in the battle. Politically they shared the ranking system in the Comitia Centuriata. The Roman army of the mid-Republic was also known as the army or the Polybian army after the Greek historian Polybius. The latter were required to roughly the same number of troops to joint forces as the Romans to serve under Roman command. Legions in this phase were always accompanied on campaign by the number of allied alae. After the 2nd Punic War, the Romans acquired an overseas empire and these volunteers were mainly from the poorest social class, who did not have plots to tend at home and were attracted by the modest military pay and the prospect of a share of war booty. The minimum property requirement for service in the legions, which had been suspended during the 2nd Punic War, was effectively ignored from 201 BC onward in order to recruit sufficient volunteers
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Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
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First Crusade
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The First Crusade was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to capture the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II in 1095. An additional goal became the principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. During the crusades, nobility, knights, peasants and serfs from many regions of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea, first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city and they also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa. The First Crusade was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades and it was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The majority view is that it had elements of both in its nature, the origin of the Crusades in general, and particularly that of the First Crusade, is widely debated among historians. The confusion is due to the numerous armies in the first crusade. The similar ideologies held the armies to similar goals, but the connections were rarely strong, the Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria, Egypt, and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire, and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom. In North Africa, the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged, such as the Aghlabids, who attacked Italy in the 9th century. Pisa, Genoa, and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin, exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia. Essentially, between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves, in the early summer of 1096, the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople. This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill-equipped as an army and this first group is often called the Peasants’ or People’s Crusade. It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The second wave was not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders. Together, this group and the first wave numbered an estimated 60,000, the second wave was led by Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I of France. Also among the wave were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse. It was this wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor, captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem 15 July 1099. ”The third wave, composed of contingents from Lombardy, France. At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion, the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century and it was intermittently ideological, as evidenced by the Codex Vigilanus compiled in 881
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Jaffa
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Jaffa or Yafo, is the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the stories of Jonah, Solomon and Saint Peter as well as the mythological story of Andromeda. The town was mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna letters as Yapu, mythology says that it is named for Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, the one who built it after the Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to Iopeia, or Cassiopeia, an outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Iopa, daughter of Aeolus, the Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi referred to it as Yaffa. The tell of Jaffa rises to a height of 40 metres, with a view of the coastline. The accumulation of debris and landfill over the centuries made the even higher. Archaeological evidence shows that Jaffa was inhabited roughly 7500 BCE, the natural harbour of Jaffa has been in use since the Bronze Age. The city is mentioned in the Amarna letters under its Egyptian name Ya-Pho. The city was under Egyptian rule until around 800 BCE, Jaffa is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as the territorial border of the Tribe of Dan, hence the modern term Gush Dan for the center of the coastal plain. The tribe of Dan did not manage to dislocate the Philistines from Jaffa, in the Song of Deborah the prophetess asks, דן למה יגור אוניות, Why doth Dan dwell in ships. After Canaanite and Philistine dominion, King David and his son King Solomon conquered Jaffa, the city remained in Israelite hands even after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BCE, in the days of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, after a period of Babylonian occupation, under Persian rule, Jaffa was governed by Phoenicians from Tyre. Alexander the Greats troops were stationed in Jaffa and it later became a port of the Seleucid Empire until it was taken over by the Maccabees and ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty. During the First Jewish–Roman War, Jaffa was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus, the Roman Jewish historian Josephus writes that 8,400 inhabitants were massacred. Pirates operating from the rebuilt port incurred the wrath of Vespasian, the New Testament account of Saint Peter bringing back to life the widow Dorcas (recorded in Acts of the Apostles,9, 36–42, takes place in Jaffa, then called in Greek Ἰόππη. Peter retells the story of his vision in Acts 11, 4-17, in Midrash Tannaim in its chapter Deuteronomy 33,19, reference is made to Jose ben Halafta traveling through Jaffa. Jaffa seems to have attracted serious Jewish scholars in the 4th and 5th century, the Jerusalem Talmud in Moed Ketan references Rav Acha of Jaffa, and in Pesachim chapter 1 refers to Rav Phineas of Jaffa
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Kingdom of Jerusalem
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The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was a crusader state established in the Southern Levant by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, the sometimes so-called First Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1187, when it was almost entirely overrun by Saladin. This second kingdom is called the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Kingdom of Acre. Three other crusader states founded during and after the First Crusade were located north, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch. While all three were independent, they were tied to Jerusalem. Beyond these to the north and west lay the states of Armenian Cilicia, further east, various Muslim emirates were located which were ultimately allied with the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Jerusalem itself fell to Saladin in 1187, and in the 13th century the kingdom was reduced to a few cities along the Mediterranean coast. In this period, the kingdom was ruled by the Lusignan dynasty of the Kingdom of Cyprus, dynastic ties also strengthened with Tripoli, Antioch, and Armenia. The kingdom was soon dominated by the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa. Emperor Frederick II claimed the kingdom by marriage, but his presence sparked a war among the kingdoms nobility. The kingdom became more than a pawn in the politics and warfare of the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Egypt, as well as the Khwarezmian. The Mamluk sultans Baibars and al-Ashraf Khalil eventually reconquered all the remaining crusader strongholds, the kingdom was ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse, although the crusaders themselves and their descendants were an elite Catholic minority. They imported many customs and institutions from their homelands in Western Europe, the kingdom also inherited oriental qualities, influenced by the pre-existing customs and populations. The majority of the inhabitants were native Christians, especially Greek and Syrian Orthodox, as well as Sunni. The native Christians and Muslims, who were a lower class, tended to speak Greek and Arabic, while the crusaders spoke French. There were also a number of Jews and Samaritans. According to the Jewish writer Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled through the kingdom around 1170, since sets a lower bound for the Samaritan population at 1,500, since the contemporary Tolidah, a Samaritan chronicle, also mentions communities in Gaza and Acre. The First Crusade was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1095 by Pope Urban II, however, the main objective quickly became the control of the Holy Land
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Saladin
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An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, known as Saladin, was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant, at the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa. When Saladins uncle Shirkuh died in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin vizier, in the following years, he led forays against the Crusaders in Palestine, commissioned the successful conquest of Yemen, and staved off pro-Fatimid rebellions in Upper Egypt. Not long after Nur ad-Dins death in 1174, Saladin launched his conquest of Syria, by mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of his former Zengid lords, who had been the official rulers of Syria. Soon after, he defeated the Zengid army at the Battle of the Horns of Hama and was proclaimed the Sultan of Egypt. Saladin made further conquests in northern Syria and Jazira, escaping two attempts on his life by the Assassins, before returning to Egypt in 1177 to address issues there. By 1182, Saladin completed the conquest of Muslim Syria after capturing Aleppo, although the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem continued to exist until the late 13th century, its defeat at Hattin marked a turning point in its conflict with the Muslim powers of the region. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193, having given away much of his wealth to his subjects. He is buried in an adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque. Saladin has become a prominent figure in Muslim, Arab, Turkish and Kurdish culture, Saladin was born in Tikrit in modern-day Iraq. His personal name was Yusuf, Salah ad-Din is a laqab and his family was of Kurdish ancestry, and had originated from the city of Dvin in medieval Armenia. The Rawadid tribe he hailed from had been assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world by this time. Ayyub provided ferries for the army and gave refuge in Tikrit. According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Saladin was born on the night his family left Tikrit. In 1139, Ayyub and his moved to Mosul, where Imad ad-Din Zengi acknowledged his debt. After the death of Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Aleppo, Saladin, who now lived in Damascus, was reported to have a particular fondness for the city, but information on his early childhood is scarce. About education, Saladin wrote children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up, several sources claim that during his studies he was more interested in religion than joining the military. Another factor which may have affected his interest in religion was that, during the First Crusade, in addition to Islam, Saladin had a knowledge of the genealogies, biographies, and histories of the Arabs, as well as the bloodlines of Arabian horses
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Al-Karak
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Al-Karak, also known as just Karak or Kerak, is a city in Jordan known for its Crusader castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the city of the Karak Governorate. Al-Karak lies 140 kilometres to the south of Amman on the ancient Kings Highway and it is situated on a hilltop about 1,000 metres above sea level and is surrounded on three sides by a valley. Al-Karak has a view of the Dead Sea, a city of about 20,000 people has been built up around the castle and it has buildings from the 19th-century Ottoman period. The town is built on a plateau, with the castle at its narrow southern tip. Al-Karak has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and was an important city for the Moabites, in 1958 the remains of an inscription was found in Wadi al-Karak that has been dated to the late 9th century BC. During the late Hellenistic Period, al-Karak became an important town taking its name from the Aramaic word for town, the area eventually fell under the power of the Nabateans. The Roman Empire – with support from the Arab Ghassanid tribe, the city was known in Late Antiquity as Harreketh. Under the Byzantine Empire it was the seat of a bishopric, housing the much venerated Church of Nazareth and its bishop Demetrius took part in the council of the three provinces of Palaestina held in Jerusalem in 536. Another, named John, is said to have existed in the 9th century, Al-Karak fell within the Crusader Oultrejourdain, the lands east of the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. In 1132 King Fulk of Jerusalem, made Pagan the Butler Lord of Montreal, Pagan made his headquarters at al-Karak where he built a castle on a hill called by the crusaders Petra Deserti - The Stone of the Desert. His castle, much modified, dominates the town to this day, the castle was only in Crusader hands for 46 years. It had been threatened by Saladins armies several times but finally, surrendered in 1188, Saladins younger brother, Al-Adil was governor of the district until becoming ruler of Egypt and Syria in 1199. The castle played an important role as a place of exile and its significance lay in its control over the caravan route between Damascus and Egypt and the pilgrimage route between Damascus and Mecca. In the thirteenth century the Mamluk ruler Baibars used it as a stone on his climb to power. In 1389 Sultan Barquq was exiled to al-Karak where he gathered his supporters before returning to Cairo, Al-Karak was the birthplace of Ibn al-Quff, an Arab physician and surgeon and author of the earliest medieval Arabic treatise intended solely for surgeons. The Ghassanid tribe is believed to be the first to inhabit the site of modern al-Karak, the tribe consists of the families, Suheimat, Dmour, Mbaydeen, Adaileh, Soub, and Mdanat and Karakiyeen
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Khwarezm
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It was the center of the Iranian Khwarezmian civilization and a series of kingdoms such as the Persian Empire, whose capitals were Kath, Gurganj and – from the 16th century on – Khiva. Today Khwarezm belongs partly to Uzbekistan, partly to Kazakhstan and partly to Turkmenistan, Khwarezm has been known also as Chorasmia, Khwarezmia, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Khorezm, Khoresm, Khorasam, Kharazm, Harezm, Horezm, and Chorezm. C. E. Bosworth, however, believes the Persian name to be made up of xor and zam, designating the land from which the sun rises, another view is that the Iranian compound stands for lowland from khar low and zam land. Khwarezm is indeed the lowest region in Central Asia, located on the delta of the Amu Darya on the shores of the Aral Sea. Some of the early scholars believed Khwarezm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as Airyanem Vaejah. These sources claim that Old Urgench, which was the capital of ancient Khwarezm for many years, was actually Ourva, the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad. Al-Biruni starts giving names only with the Afrighid line of Khwarazmshahs, having placed the ascension of Afrighids in 616 of the Seleucid era, like Soghdiana, Khwarezm was an expansion of the BMAC culture during the Bronze Age which later fused with Indo-Iranians during their migrations around 1000 BC. Early Iron Age states arose from this cultural exchange, ruled by the native Afrighid Dynasty. It was at point that Khwarezm entered the historical record with the Achamenid expansion. An East Iranian language, known as Khwarezmian language, was spoken in Khwarezm proper until soon after the Mongol invasion and it was closely related to Sogdian. In the very part of its history, the inhabitants of the area were from Iranian stock. Sometime before the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Greats death in 530 BC, while he was dying, he appointed his son Smerdis/Bardiya as the governor of the region, along with Bactriana, Carmania, and the other eastern provinces of the empire. And the Persian poet Ferdowsi mentions Persian cities like Afrasiab and Chach in abundance in his epic Shahnama, the kings emissary offered to lead Alexanders armies against his own enemies, west over the Caspian towards the Black Sea. Although largely independent during the Seleucid, Bactrian and Arsacid dynasties, it is known that Khwarezm, yaqut al-Hamawi verifies that Khwarezm was a regional capital of the Sassanid empire. It was also vassal kingdom during periods of Kushans, Hephthalites, the Afrighids were a native Chorasmian dynasty which ruled over the kingdom of Khwarezm from 305 until 995 A. D. Sometimes it was under Sassanid control, in 712 Khwarezm was conquered by the Arab Umayyads. In 995, they overthrew the Afrighids of Kath and themselves assumed the traditional title of Khwarazm-Shah. Briefly, the area was under Samanid suzerainty, before it passed to Mahmud of Ghazna in 1017, in the 12th century, the Khwarezmid Empire was founded and, in the early 13th century, ruled over all of Persia under the Shah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Muhammad II
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Mamluk
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Mamluk is an Arabic designation for slaves. The term is most commonly used to refer to Muslim slave soldiers and these were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin, over time, the mamluks became a powerful military knightly caste in various societies that were controlled by Muslim rulers. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Mesopotamia, in some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as emirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on Egypt and Syria, the Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European Christian Crusaders in 1154-1169 and 1213-1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt, in 1302 the mamluks formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, in a sense they were like enslaved mercenaries. In the Middle Ages, the Mamlukes took up the practice of furusiyya chivalry although Mamluk knights were slaves until their service ended, the Arabic term for a knight was fāris, The faris and the notion of furusiyya originated in pre-Muslim Persian brotherhoods. Within the Muslim world, the fursān became prized as ideal warriors and they were also trained in wrestling, and their martial skills were honed first on foot as piéton and then perfected when as mounted warriors. They were popularly used as heavy knightly cavalry by a number of different Islamic kingdoms and empires, including the Ayyubid dynasty, the origins of the mamluk system are disputed. Historians agree that a military caste such as the mamluks appeared to develop in Islamic societies beginning with the ninth-century Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. When in the century has not been determined. Up until the 1990s, it was believed that the earliest mamluks were known as ghilman and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs. By the end of the 9th century, such warrior slaves had become the dominant element in the military, conflict between these ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Mutasim to move his capital to the city of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave-soldiers in 861, adult slaves and freemen both served as warriros. The mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s and it included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills. The Mamluk system is considered to have been an experiment of al-Muwaffaq. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted, after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either mamluks or ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power
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An-Nasir Muhammad
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An-Nasir Muhammad was born and died in Cairo. He was the youngest son of Sultan Qalawun and the brother of Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil and he was born in Cairo at Qalat al-Jabal. His mother was of Mongol origin, Al-Nasir Mohammad married Khawand Toghay, who started as his slave but was freed by him. She gave birth to Prince Anook and his reign was in three stages, as he was deposed twice during his reign. After the assassination of al-Ashraf Khalil in December 1293, he was installed as sultan with Zayn-ad-Din Kitbugha as the regent and vice-sultan, as an-Nasir was only 9-years-old, he was a sultan in name only. Kitbugha and al-Shujai were the rulers of Egypt. The two emirs, Kitbugha, who was of Mongol origin, and al-Shujai were rivals and did not get on each other. The Ashrafiyah were defeated and many of them were killed and executed, Kitbugha deposed an-Nasir Muhammad and installed himself sultan with Lajin as his vice-sultan. An-Nasir, who was by now 10 years old, was removed with his mother to another section in the palace where they stayed until they were sent to Karak thus ending the first reign of an-Nasir Muhammad. In 1296 Kitbugha was deposed by his vice-Sultan Lajin and he fled to Syria, Lajin ruled as a sultan until he was murdered with his vice-sultan Mangu-Temur in 1299 by a group of Emirs led by Saif al-Din Kirji. But the recall of an-Nasir was delayed for some time as Emir Kirji, who murdered Lajin, at last, an-Nasir was recalled and he arrived with his mother in Cairo amid widespread celebration by its population. An-Nasir, who was by now 14 years old, was re-installed with Seif ad-Din Salar, An-Nasir was, again, a nominal Sultan, with the actual rulers being Salar and Baibars al-Jashnakir. The Burji Mamluks became more powerful during the reign of an-Nasir Muhammad. They imposed taxes on people who needed their services or their protection and this official bribery was called Himayah. The rivals of the Burjis, who were led by Baibars al-Jashnakir, were the Salihiyya, news reached Cairo that Ghazan was preparing to attack the Levant with a big army and about 30 Crusade ships arrived in Beirut. The Emirs decided to send forces from Egypt to Syria, in 1299 Sultan An-Nasir led the Egyptian Army to Syria to take on the army of Ghazan. While the Sultan was on his way to Syria, some Oirats conspired with a mamluk of the Sultan to kill Baibars al-Jashnakir, the sultans mamluk attacked Baibars al-Jashnakir and tried to kill him but he was himself killed. The Oirats attacked the Dihliz of the Sultan but they were stopped in a way that made Salar, the Oirats were arrested and punished and the mamluks who were involved were sent to Al Kark
37.
Suleiman the Magnificent
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Suleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Kanuni in his realm, was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman state ruled over 15 to 25 million people, Suleiman became a prominent monarch of 16th-century Europe, presiding over the apex of the Ottoman Empires economic, military and political power. Suleiman personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade and he annexed much of the Middle East in his conflict with the Safavids and large areas of North Africa as far west as Algeria. Under his rule, the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, at the helm of an expanding empire, Suleiman personally instituted major legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation and criminal law. His reforms, carried out in conjunction with the chief judicial official Ebussuud Efendi. He was a poet and goldsmith, he also became a great patron of culture, overseeing the Golden age of the Ottoman Empire in its artistic, literary. Breaking with Ottoman tradition, Suleiman married Hürrem Sultan, a woman from his harem, a Christian of Rusyn origin who converted to Islam, and their son Selim II succeeded Suleiman following his death in 1566 after 46 years of rule. Suleimans previous heirs apparent Mehmed and Mustafa had died, the former from smallpox and his other son Bayezid was executed in 1561 on Suleimans orders, along with his four sons, after a rebellion. Although scholars no longer believe that the empire declined after his death, in the decades after Suleiman, the empire began to experience significant political, institutional, and economic changes, in a period often referred to as the Transformation of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent, as he was known in the West, was also called Suleiman the First and it is unclear when exactly the term Kanunî first came to be used as an epithet for Suleiman. It is entirely absent from sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman sources, Suleiman was born in Trabzon along the east coast of the Black Sea to Şehzade Selim, probably on 6 November 1494, although this date is not known with absolute certainty. His mother was Hafsa Sultan, a convert to Islam of unknown origins, at the age of seven, Suleiman was sent to study science, history, literature, theology and military tactics in the schools of the imperial Topkapı Palace in Constantinople. As a young man, he befriended Pargalı Ibrahim, a slave who became one of his most trusted advisers. From the age of seventeen, he was appointed as the governor of first Kaffa, then Manisa, upon the death of his father, Selim I, Suleiman entered Constantinople and ascended to the throne as the tenth Ottoman Sultan. Facial hair is evident but only barely, the sultan appears friendly and in good humor. Rumor has it that Suleiman is aptly named, enjoys reading, is knowledgeable, some historians claim that in his youth Suleiman had an admiration for Alexander the Great. Upon succeeding his father, Suleiman began a series of military conquests, Suleiman encircled Belgrade and began a series of heavy bombardments from an island in the Danube. Belgrade, with a garrison of only 700 men, and receiving no aid from Hungary, the fall of Christendoms major strongholds spread fear across Europe
38.
Garrison
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Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base. The garrison is usually in a city, town, fort, castle, garrison town is a common expression for any town that has a military base nearby. Garrison towns were used during the Arab Islamic conquests of Middle Eastern lands by Arab-Muslim armies to increase their dominance over indigenous populations. In Ireland, Association football has historically been termed the game or the garrison sport for its connections with British military serving in Irish cities. In Israel, a unit is a regular unit defending a specified Israeli zone in need of protection from attack from combatants. Israeli garrison units placed in the territories of West Bank are recognized under UN Resolution 242 as occupied pending peaceful recognition by all regional combatants. It was an old custom in ancient Italy to send out colonies for the purpose of securing new conquests, the Romans, having no standing army, used to plant bodies of their own citizens in conquered towns as a kind of garrison
39.
Minaret
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A minaret, from Arabic, منارة manāra, lit. lighthouse, also known as Goldaste, is a distinctive architectural structure akin to a tower and typically found adjacent to mosques. Generally a tall spire with a conical or onion-shaped crown, usually either free-standing or taller than associated support structure, the basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery. Styles vary regionally and by period, minarets provide a visual focal point and are traditionally used for the Muslim call to prayer. The purpose of minarets in traditional Eastern region architecture is to serve as a system for a building in very hot climates. That buildings of middle eastern origins have such outstanding features is architecturally intentional, however in modern times, with the invention of the modern air conditioners, the purpose of minarets has changed to traditional symbol. The minaret would be equipped with a speaker that would call people to prayers in Muslim countries. In addition to providing a visual cue to a Muslim community, the call to prayer is issued five times each day, dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most modern mosques, the adhān is called from the musallah via microphone to a system on the minaret. Around 80 years after Muhammads death, the first known minarets appeared, minarets have been described as the gate from heaven and earth, and as the Arabic language letter aleph. The massive minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is the oldest standing minaret and its construction began during the first third of the 8th century and was completed in 836 CE. The imposing square-plan tower consists of three sections of decreasing size reaching 31.5 meters, considered as the prototype for minarets of the western Islamic world, it served as a model for many later minarets. The tallest minaret, at 210 metres is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, the tallest brick minaret is Qutub Minar located in Delhi, India. In some of the oldest mosques, such as the Great Mosque of Damascus, the basic form of minarets consists of three parts, a base, shaft, and a gallery. For the base, the ground is excavated until a foundation is reached. Gravel and other supporting materials may be used as a foundation, minarets may be conical, square, cylindrical, or polygonal. Stairs circle the shaft in a fashion, providing necessary structural support to the highly elongated shaft. The gallery is a balcony that encircles the upper sections from which the muezzin may give the call to prayer, styles and architecture can vary widely according to region and time period. Here are a few styles and the localities from which they derive, Tunisia Quadrangular, turkish 1,2,4 or 6 minarets related to the size of the mosque
40.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
41.
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
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Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG, GCVO was an English soldier and British Imperial Governor. The British succeed in capturing Beersheba, Jaffa, and Jerusalem from October to December 1917, subsequently, the EEF Pursuit by Desert Mounted Corps captured Damascus and advanced into northern Syria. During this pursuit, he commanded T. E and he continued to serve in the region as High Commissioner for Egypt and Sudan from 1919 until 1925. Allenby was born in 1861, the son of Hynman Allenby and he had no great desire to be a soldier, and tried to enter the Indian Civil Service but failed the entry exam. He sat the exam for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1880, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 6th Dragoons on 10 May 1882, and joined his regiment in South Africa later that year. After serving at the depot in Canterbury, he was promoted to captain on 10 January 1888. Allenby returned to Britain in 1890 and he sat – and failed – the entry exam for the Staff College in Camberley, not deterred, he sat the exam again the next year and passed. Captain Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered the Staff College at the same time, Allenby was more popular with fellow officers, even being made Master of the Draghounds in preference to Haig who was the better rider, Allenby had already developed a passion for polo. He was promoted to major on 19 May 1897 and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, then serving in Ireland, as the Brigade-Major in March 1898. At the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Allenby was returned to his regiment, while camped beside the Australian Light Horse outside Bloemfontein with Lord Roberts army, the New South Wales Lancers with the rest of Frenchs cavalry, waited to move. At this time men and horses suffered continuously rainy weather and cases of enteric were taken away every day. Major Allenby, appointed to command the squadron of New South Wales Lancers and he was about to walk in on a rum soaked officers mess, when he was intercepted by an acquaintance, who informed Allenby the mess were just drinking his health. But thats no excuse for keeping the whole camp awake and you tell them to be in bed with all lights out, in five minutes, or Ill have to do something about it. He was promoted to local lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1901, in a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kichener, Commander-in-Chief during the latter part of the war, described him as a popular and capable Cavalry Brigadier. For his services during the war, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902 and he was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel and to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 19 October 1905. He assumed command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in 1906 and he was promoted again to the rank of major-general on 10 September 1909 and was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry in 1910 due to his extensive cavalry experience. He was nicknamed The Bull due to a tendency for sudden bellowing outbursts of explosive rage directed at his subordinates. Allenby stood 62 with a barrel chest and his bad temper made The Bull a figure who inspired much consternation under those who had to work under him
42.
Battle of Jerusalem
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Before Jerusalem could be secured, two battles were recognised by the British as being fought in the Judean Hills to the north and east of the Hebron–Junction Station line. These were the Battle of Nebi Samwill from 17 to 24 November, as a result of these victories, British Empire forces captured Jerusalem and established a new strategically strong fortified line. This line ran from well to the north of Jaffa on the plain, across the Judean Hills to Bireh north of Jerusalem. With the capture of the road from Beersheba to Jerusalem via Hebron and Bethlehem, together with substantial Ottoman territory south of Jerusalem, the city was secured. On 11 December, General Edmund Allenby entered the Old City on foot through the Jaffa Gate instead of horse or vehicles to show respect for the holy city and he was the first Christian in many centuries to control Jerusalem, a city held holy by three great religions. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lloyd George described the capture as a Christmas present for the British people, the battle was a great morale boost for the British Empire. The British Empire victory forced von Falkenhayn to withdraw his Seventh and Eighth Armies, as the Ottoman III Corps reached Jerusalem via the Hebron road after its defeat at Beersheba, it was ordered to develop defences around Jerusalem. This corps held the city while the XX Corps retreated from Junction Station into the Judean Hills towards Jerusalem, as they retired the XX Corps left strong rearguards to stop or slow the British advance. Time was needed to construct defences and for reorganisation of the depleted and disorganised Seventh Army, when they arrived in the city XX Corps took over responsibility for Jerusalems defences, while III Corps continued to move northwards from Jerusalem along the Nablus road. The British War Cabinet had cautioned Allenby not to commit to any operations that might not be sustainable in the term if the strength of British forces in the area could not be maintained. Their concerns were possibly linked to a proposal published on 8 November by the new Russian Bolshevik government between Russia and Germany. The document, scheduled to be signed on 3 March 1918, would constitute a separate peace treaty, all German forces on the eastern front could then turn their attention to fighting British and French forces elsewhere. His front-line forces had been fighting and advancing for a period fighting many miles from their bases and were tired and depleted. Now 35 miles from the railhead at Deir el Belah, Allenbys troops did not have a line of defensive entrenchments behind which they could stop a concerted push by these two Ottoman armies, such a counterattack could well see them driven back to Gaza and Beersheba. He decided to quickly attack Fevzi Pashas Ottoman 7th Army in the Judean Hills with the hope of capturing Jerusalem and this would keep pressure on this army in the hope of denying them time to complete their reorganisation, dig deep trenches or worst of all, counterattack. The planned advance into the Judean Hills would rely heavily on the ability of the lines of communications to keep the front line supplied with food, water. Between Gaza and Beit Hanun the road was unsealed and deep in making it difficult for lorries to proceed. Supplies were also shipped by sea and landed at Wadi Sukereir, lack of infrastructure at Jaffa meant all supplies brought via ship had to be cross-loaded onto surf boats, which then had to be unloaded on the beaches
43.
British Mandate for Palestine (legal instrument)
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The Mandate of Palestine was superseded with UN Charter, Chapter XII, Article 80 UN Trusteeship Agreement, UNGA181 of November 29,1947. The Palestine Mandate was administrated by the United Kingdom from September 29,1922 to November 29,1947, Government of the State of Israel was proclaimed over parts of this territory on 14 May,1948. The approximate northern border with the French Mandate was agreed upon in the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement of 23 December 1920, Transjordan had been a no mans land following the July 1920 Battle of Maysalun. The Trans-Jordan Memorandum provided the detail to support Article 25 of the Mandate and it also established a separate Administration of Trans-Jordan for the application of the Mandate, under the general supervision of Great Britain. Transjordan became largely autonomous under British tutelage according to an agreement of February 20,1928, the League of Nations welcomed the end of the mandate in Transjordan on 18 April 1946. The conquest of Palestine became part of British strategies aimed at establishing a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. This would enable rapid deployment of troops to the Gulf, then the line of defence for British interests in India. A land bridge was also an alternative to the Suez Canal, the committee considered various scenarios and provided guidelines for negotiations with France, Italy, and Russia regarding the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Committee recommended in favour of the creation of a decentralised, at the same time, the British and French also opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks successfully repelled the British, French and Australian, from 1915, Zionist leader and anglophile Zeev Jabotinsky was pressing the British to agree to the formation of a Zionist volunteer corps that would serve under the aegis of the British army. The British eventually agreed to set up the Zion Mule Corps, after Lloyd George was made prime minister during the war, the British waged the Sinai and Palestine Campaign under General Allenby. This time the British agreed to a Jewish Legion, which participated in the invasion, russian Jews regarded the German army as a liberator and the creation of the Legion was designed to encourage them to participate in the war on Britains side. At the same time, British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence was encouraging an Arab Revolt led by the Sharif of Mecca. The British defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Ottoman Syria, the land remained under British military administration for the remainder of the war, and beyond. The Ottoman Empire capitulated on 30 October 1918, and on 23 November 1918, the Middle East was divided into three OETAs. Occupied Enemy Territory Administration South extended from the Egyptian border of Sinai into Palestine and Lebanon as far north as Acre and Nablus, a temporary British military governor Major General Sir Arthur Wigram Money would administer this sector. In October 1919, British forces in Syria and the last British soldiers stationed east of the Jordan were withdrawn and the region came under exclusive control of Faisal bin Hussein from Damascus. In 1916, Britain and France concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence, with Palestine as an international enclave, the British made two potentially conflicting promises regarding the territory it was expecting to acquire
44.
High commissioner
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High commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment. The English term is used to render various equivalent titles in other languages. In the Commonwealth of Nations, a commissioner is the senior diplomat in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. In this usage, a Commonwealth nations high commission is its embassy to another Commonwealth nation, an example was the island of Cyprus. Until 12 July 1878 Cyprus was under Ottoman rule based in Istanbul, from that date it was under British administration, but Istanbul retained nominal sovereignty until Cyprus was fully annexed by Britain on 5 November 1914. As diplomatic residents were appointed to native rulers, high commissioners could likewise be appointed as British agents of indirect rule upon native states. The best known of these commissioners, Alfred Milner who was appointed to both positions in the 1890s, is considered responsible by some for igniting the Second Boer War. He was represented in each of the other units by a Resident Commissioner. In the colonial sense, some other powers have or previously had high commissioners, in the Kingdom of Denmark, High Commissioners represent the Government of Denmark in Greenland and the Faroe Islands and take part in negotiations on policies and decisions affecting their region. Greenland and the Faroe Islands have one Commissioner each, originally the French word Haut Commissaire, or in full Haut Commissaire de la république, was rarely used for governatorial functions, rather gouverneur and various lower titles. In Atlantic waters, from 14 September 1939 till September 1943, yet a colony could achieve independence without a High Commissioner, e. g. Guinée. The current High Commissioner of Vanuatu to the US is David J. Wilson. e. In early May 1919, the Kingdom of Greece was given a mandate by the Supreme Allied War Council for the city of Smyrna and its hinterland, which it proceeded to occupy on 12 May. A civilian administration was set up in the Smyrna Zone, headed, from 21 May 1919 until 9 September 1922, in the Monarchy, before 1910, they were known as Comissários Régios. In 1934–1956 the Governors of the Western Sahara were subordinated to him, the office itself was however filled by the governors of Spanish West Africa from 1939 to 1956. Haiti, the half of the island of Hispaniola, had a similar experience. It was a US protectorate from 1915 to 1936, after five US military commanders, there was one High Commissioner, John H. Russell, following World War I, Rear Admiral Mark Lambert Bristol served as United States High Commissioner for Turkey from 1919 to 1927. The Philippines became a United States unincorporated territory on 13 August 1898, after gaining autonomy on 15 November 1935, it had the following High Commissioners, 1935–1937 William Francis Frank Murphy, who was also the last Governor-General over the Islands
