Museographs: The Old City of Jerusalem a Cultural Crossroad

Caron Caswell Lazar

Description

Just uttering the word Jerusalem results in an automatic change in the state of mind for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Their individual and collective history in this city–a holy place for all three of the great monotheistic faiths–has covered over three thousand years but Jerusalem's history extends two millennia farther in the sands of time.

The Old City of Jerusalem surveys the City of Peace and her inhabitants from the Canaanite Period through the Ottoman Empire in 1917. You will travel from the Pre-Davidic period with stops during the establishment of the Jewish nation, the conquest of Hellenism, the Hasmoneans, Jerusalem as a Roman outpost, the extravagance of the Byzantine period, the capture of the City during the First Muslim period, the Crusader period and once again to Muslim rule. The monograph includes beautiful color plates picturing objects from the various periods.

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des Arts
• Middle Est
• Histoire
• Israel
• History

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 02 février 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456607531
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

MUSEOGRAPHS
 
The Old City of Jerusalem:
A Cultural Crossroad
 
 
by
Carôn Caswell Lazar
 


Copyright 2012 Carôn Caswell Lazar,
All rights reserved.
 
Published in eBook format by eBookit.com
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0753-1
 
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including
information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
 
The Museographs monographs are publications of The Lazar Group, Incorporated
 
The Old City of Jerusalem: A Cultural Crossroad , Copyright 1993 Carôn Caswell Lazar
All rights reserved
No reproductions of this newsletter, or its attending materials, in whole or in part or in any form may be
made without written authorization of the copyright owner.
 
Museographs Titles:
 
Japanese Satsuma Pottery
Contemporary African-American Folk Art
Shaker Design
Mexican Painting of the 19th & 20th Centuries
American Indians I: The Sioux
Appalachian Handicrafts
American Indians II: The Cherokee
The Art of Islam: A Survey
Illuminated Manuscripts
Mexican Folk Art
American Indians III: Kanien’kehaka
Art, Myth, Legend and Story
The Art of the Celts
 
The Old City of Jerusalem: A Cultural Crossroad
Note:
In the United States we use the designations B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini or after the Lord) to define the eras between ancient and modern history. In other areas of the world the designations B.C.E. (Before Christian Era) and C.E. (Christian Era) are used.
 
Because this monograph deals with a city revered as a holy place by all three of the world’s great monotheistic religions, I have chosen to use the designations B.C.E. and C.E. in keeping with my respect towards all of the world’s cultures and beliefs.
 
 
 
Pre-Davidic times; the Canaanite Period
(3000-1200 B.C.E. )
 

 
Bone dolls, Fatamid period 10 th -11 th centuries, Egypt.
Collection and copyright: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
 
 
As early as 3000 B.C.E. dwellings formed a small settlement of farmers around the spring of Gihon in Canaan on the eastern slope of the Palestine Hills. This settlement did not last long and after it was abandoned, in the middle of the third millennium B.C.E., the area remained unsettled for the next thousand years. Then in the first half of the second millennium B.C.E. the area was again settled, this time as one of a series of walled and fortified towns that stretched along the main trading route to Egypt. This town was probably the stronghold of a much larger community. In fact archaeological surveys reveal that there was an extensive settlement composed of well-planned stone buildings built on natural terraces surrounding the town. The number, size and quality of the houses indicate the presence of a prosperous community of farmers. In the second half of the second millennium both urban and rural settlements declined. The site of Jerusalem continued to exist during this period but its area diminished and the surrounding settlements were abandoned.
 
The name Jerusalem first appears four thousand years ago in the 19th century B.C.E. on Egyptian pottery figurines called execration texts . Execration texts were images made to resemble the Egyptian’s enemies. They also took a secondary form of clay tablets with the enemy’s name written on it. During a ceremony the execration texts were cursed and then smashed to show Egyptian superiority over all of their enemies.
 
During the 14th century B.C.E. Canaan became a part of the Egyptian empire. Although local city-rulers kept their autonomy, they officially came under the control of Egyptian imperial administration and were in great part dependent on Egyptian support for their continuing in power. During this period Jerusalem is again mentioned in Egyptian documents called the El Amarna letters . These letters were communications sent to and from the royal palace at El Amarna. They describe the prominent standing within the Egyptian empire of Jerusalem and its king. Jerusalem enjoyed a very high standard of living evidenced by the fine examples of Cypriote and Mycenaen pottery vessels found in burial caves dating from this period.
 
By the end of the second millennium B.CE. a new group of people came to live and rule in Jerusalem. They were called the Jebusites and nothing is known about who they were, where they came from or what their lives were like but when the Jewish king, David, conquered the city, it was the Jebusites that he displaced.
 


The Time of David and the First Temple Period
(1000-586 B.C.E. )
 
After the brief reign of the Jewish king Saul, David, a member of the tribe of Judah, was crowned king and accepted as the legitimate monarch by the divided Jewish people of the separate states of Israel and Judah.
 
David’s choice for the site of a united capital was indeed inspired. Jerusalem was politically neutral—land not inhabited by any of the twelve Jewish tribes. This made it acceptable as a place of unification. It was also centrally located, close to the boundary that separated the two largest groups of tribes.
 
Finally, it possessed strong geographical advantages. The original City of David was surrounded on all sides by deep valleys making it easy to defend. The city was also well supplied by water, as it was fed by the spring of Gihon—the best water source in the area. As the city spread beyond its original borders these advantages would lose their importance but their initial impact was one of security, strength and provision.
 
David further unified the tribes by bringing the Ark of the Covenant —the casket that held the stone tablets with the original Ten Commandments inscribed on them—to Jerusalem. This gave Jerusalem the dual importance of having national status as the capital city and religious status as the holiest city of the Jewish people.
 
Although the kingdom of the Jews would once again become divided eighty years later, David’s dynasty would reign for over four hundred years, and Jerusalem would continue as the capital of the southern kingdom of Judea.
 
David’s son, Solomon, expanded the city beyond its original borders and built the First Temple in Jerusalem north of the City of David on Mount Moriah , also known as the Temple Mount . This site had the importance of being believed to be the site of the Jewish patriarch Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Isaac and so was already revered by the Jews. Around the Temple Mount Solomon also built a luxurious royal palace that, according to the Bible (I Kings 6:38, 7:1), dwarfed the Temple and took twice as much time to build as the Temple itself. Both the palace and the Temple were part of a royal compound that included other government buildings contiguous to the City of David which lay to the south. During this time Jerusalem expanded, prospered and became the center for the spiritual and religious guidance of the Jewish people.
 
During the reign of King Hezekiah of Judea (727-698 B.CE. ) Jerusalem was refortified and strengthened.