Timeline of Jerusalem History

A chronology of events in Jerusalem and related to the history of Jerusalem.

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
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. 4 BC	Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem
c.30 AD	Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph (celebrated on Palm Sunday) and is crucified and resurrected a week later (celebrated on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, respectively). The sites of Jesus' death and burial are likely enclosed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
66	First Revolt (or Jewish War) is fought against the Romans
70	Destruction of the Temple by Titus, son of Roman Emperor Vespasian (commemorated on the Arch of Titus in Rome)
132	Second Revolt under Simon Bar Kokhba
135	The Jewish revolt is defeated by Hadrian, who razes Jerusalem to the ground and builds a Roman city, Aelia Capitolina, on top of it. Jews are expelled and prohibited from even entering the city. Hadrian's city is roughly the shape of the Old City seen today, including the basic layout of the streets.
313	Emperor Constantine the Great legalizes Christianity in the Roman empire and soon builds several churches in the Holy Land (including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Pater Noster, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem).
330	Constantine moves the Roman capital to Constantinople (Istanbul), beginning the Byzantine period. In the Byzantine era, Jerusalem and the Cardo are expanded southward and several more churches are built.
333	The "Bordeux pilgrim" visits Jerusalem
384	The Spanish pilgrim Egeria visits Jerusalem
614	Jerusalem attacked and heavily damaged by the Persians
571-632	Life of the Prophet Muhammad in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia
c.620	Muhammad's "Night Journey" from Mecca to Jerusalem and then into heaven (Qur'an 17)
638	Arab Muslims take Jerusalem in a bloodless surrender accepted in person by Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab. Omar famously refuses to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which allows it to remain a Christian site. (This is commemorated by the Omar Mosque.)
660-750	Jerusalem flourishes under the rule of the Ummayad caliphs, who rule from Damascus. Jerusalem becomes the capital of a province covering most of Palestine and the al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are built early in the period.
750-969	The Abbasid dynasty rules from Baghdad. During this period Jerusalem is home to several prominent Sufi scholars and receives many Jewish and Christian pilgrims
969	Jerusalem taken by the Fatimids, a dynasty of Shi'ites ruling from Egypt
1071	Jerusalem taken by the Seljuk Turks, who began to threaten the Byzantine empire as well. The Byzantine emperor appeals to the West for help.
1099	Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade.
July 1099	The Crusaders or "Franks" (they are mostly French) conquer Jerusalem and massacre its Jews and most of its Muslims. The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem is established, led by Godfrey de Bouillon.
1171	Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin) defeats the weak Fatimids in Egypt.
July 1187	Saladin defeats the Crusaders at the battle of the Horns of Hittin
Oct 1187	Saladin captures Jerusalem from the Crusaders. He allows Christians to remain in the city and the Jews to return; members of all faiths lived alongside each other throughout Jerusalem.
1229	Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II negotiates a deal with Saladin's dynasty and gains all of Jerusalem except Temple Mount.
1254	Jerusalem taken by the Khwarizmian Turks, who slaughter most of the city's Christian population
1260	Jerusalem taken by the Mamluks (Mamelukes). Mamluk sultan Baybars the Great (1260-77) ousts the Crusaders from Palestine for good.
1260-1516	Mamluk Jerusalem: many Muslim buildings constructed, including much of the Muslim Quarter, and Jerusalem becoms a center of Muslim pilgrimage and scholarship.
1516	Jerusalem taken by the Ottoman Turks.
1537-41	Rule of Sulieman the Magnificent, who rebuilds Jerusalem's walls and much of the city.
1516-1917	Ottoman Jerusalem: a relatively peaceful period during which Jerusalem was a rather dilapidated provincial outpost of the empire.
Dec 1917	British troops marched into Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate (on foot, out of respect for the Holy City)
1918	At the end of World War I, Jerusalem becomes the capital of the British Mandate in Palestine.
1929	Nationwide race riots start in Jerusalem
1936	Arabs revolt against the British but are defeated
1947	United Nations Partition Plan proposes to divide Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem shared by both.
1948	British pull out of Palestine; the 1948 war between Arabs and Jews over Jerusalem ensues. Arabs force Jews out of the Old City and the Jewish Quarter is mostly destroyed.
June 1967	The Six Day War ends with Israelis occupying Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Jewish Quarter is rebuilt and the Western Wall Plaza cleared.