Jerusalem Timeline
Below is a timeline of major events in Jerusalem, from prehistory to the present day. This is a work in progress; more events will occasionally be added.
| 2600 BC | The site of Jerusalem is first settled (early Bronze Age) |
| 1800s BC | Jerusalem first documented - on a list of Egypt's enemies that was broken as a curse |
| 1350 BC | The Amarna letters from the Canaanite king to Pharoah Akhenaton of Egypt ask for help against the "Habiru" beseiging their city |
| 1200 BC | Israelite invasion of Jerusalem under Joshua |
| 1000 BC | Jerusalem taken by King David, who makes it his capital (the City of David is south of today's Old City) |
| 960 BC | David's son Solomon extends Jerusalem's city limits and builds the First Temple on Mount Moriah |
| 701 BC | Assyrian emperor Sennacherib beseiges Jerusalem; he is unsuccessful thanks to King Hezekiah's tunnel that supplies the city with water from Gihon Spring. By this time, the city has expanded north to cover Mount Zion and today's Armenian and Jewish Quarters. |
| 612 BC | Babylonians conquer Assyrian empire; Judah's king Joash makes an alliance with Egypt against the Babylonians. |
| 597 BC | Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeats Judah and installs the puppet king Zedekiah on the throne in Jerusalem |
| 586 BC | After Judah again joins with Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians invade Jerusalem, destroy the Temple, and drive the population into exile in Babylon |
| 586-39 BC | Jerusalem lies virtually abandoned |
| 539 BC | Persian king Cyrus the Great defeats the Babylonians and allows the Judeans (now also known as Jews) to return from exile. About 50,000 Jews return to Jerusalem, led by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. |
| 515 BC | A smaller and less elaborate Second Temple is rebuilt on the site of Solomon's original Temple |
| 400s BC | In the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, more Jews return from Babylon |
| 322 BC | Jerusalem captured by Alexander the Great |
| 198 BC | The Seleucids gain Jerusalem from the Ptolemies and later Hellenize the Temple and dedicate it to Zeus. |
| 164 BC | The Maccabees, fervent opponents of Hellenization, lead a revolt. They conquer Jerusalem and rededicate the Temple to the Jewish God (the event commemorated at Hanukkah). The Hasmoneans rule Jerusalem for the next century. |
| 63 BC | Strife among the Hasmoneans leads to the Roman general Pompey taking Jerusalem and installing the Hasmonean king Hyrcanus on the throne |
| 37 BC | The Romans depose the Hasmonean ruler and install Herod the Great on the throne of Jerusalem |
| 37-4 BC | Rule of Herod the Great, during which he extensively refurbished Jerusalem and restored and enlarged the Second Temple |
| c.33 AD | According to the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, buried, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven in Jerusalem. |
| 66 | Great Jewish Revolt against Roman rule in Judea |
| 70 | Titus defeats the Jewish rebellion and sacks Jerusalem, destroying the Second Temple. Only the Western Wall remains to this day. |
| 135 | Emperor Hadrian begins to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina. |
| 132-36 | Bar Kokhba revolt by Jews against the Roman empire, successful for two yeas but eventually defeated by Hadrian. Jews were thereafter banned from Jerusalem except on one day each year, Tisha B'Av. |
| 335 | Constantine the Great begins construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the traditional site of Jesus' tomb. |
| 610 | The Prophet Muhammad receives his first revelation from God. Islam soon spread throughout the Middle East. |
| 650-750 | Umayyad rule of Jerusalem |
| 750-969 | Abbasid rule of Jerusalem |
| 1099 | Frankish Christians capture Jerusalem during the First Crusade, establishing the Kingdom of Jerusalem. |
| 13C | Jerusalem captured by the Egyptian Mamluks |
| 1517 | Jerusalem captured by the Ottoman Empire under Sulieman the Magnificent. A period of peace and religious tolerance begins. |
| 1700 | The first major group of Jewish immigrants arrive in Israel from Poland, building the Hurva Synagogue soon after their arrival. |
| Late 19C | Construction begins on the New City |
| 1917-48 | British Mandate period following the British victory over the Turks in World War I |
| 1948 | The Arab-Israeli War begins after withdrawal of British rule in May 1948 |
| 1950 | The Knesset passes a resolution that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel |
| 1967 | Six-Day War, during which East Jerusalem is captured by the Israel Defense Forces |
| 1980 | Israel passes the Jerusalem Law, which declares Jerusalem to be Israel's "eternal and indivisible" capital. The United Nations then passes a resolution declaring the law null and void, a violation of international law, and requiring that it be rescinded. Most nations move their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. |
| March 15, 2010 | The Hurva Synagogue reopens in the Jewish Quarter |
