Timeline for the History of Jerusalem

 

4500-3200 BCE Chalcolithic Period
3500 BCE First Settlement
3200-2220 BCE Early Bronze Age
2500 BCE First Houses
2220-1550 BCE Middle Bronze Age
1800 BCE First City Wall
1550-1200 BCE Late Bronze Age
1400 BCE Mention of Jerusalem in cuneiform Amarna letters
1200-1000 BCE Iron Age I: Jerusalem is a Canaanite (Jebusite) City
1000-539 BCE Iron Age II
1000 BCE King David conquers Jerusalem
960 BCE King Solomon builds First Temple
721 BCE Assyrians conquer Samaria. Refugees flee to Jerusalem. City expands onto western hill.
701 BCE Assyrian ruler Sennacherib beseiges Jerusalem.
586 BCE Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem.
539-322 BCE Persian Period
539 BCE Persian ruler Cyrus the Great conquers Babylonian Empire
516 BCE Second Temple built
445-425 BCE Nehemiah rebuilds walls. City confined to eastern hill
332 BCE Alexander the Great conquers Judea
332-141 BCE Hellenistic Period: Ptolemaic and Seleucid rule.
141-37 BCE Hasmonean Period
141 BCE Hasmonean Dynasty begins. Jerusalem again expands into the western hill
63 BCE Roman General Pompey captures Jerusalem
37 BCE-70 CE Herodian Period
37 BCE Herod rebuilds Second Temple
30 CE Jesus crucified
70 CE Romans destroy Jerusalem
70-324 CE Roman Period
135 CE Jerusalem rebuilt as Roman city
324-638 CE Byzantine Period
335 CE Church of the Holy Sepulchre built
614 CE Persians capture Jerusalem
629 CE Byzantine Christians recapture Jerusalem
638-1099 CE First Muslim Period
638 CE Caliph Omar enters Jerusalem
661-750 CE Umayyad Dynasty
691 CE Dome of the Rock built
750-974 CE Abassid Dynasty
1099-1187 CE Crusader Period
1099 CE Crusaders capture Jerusalem
1187-1250 CE Ayyubid Period
1187 CE Saladin captures Jerusalem
1229-1244 CE Crusaders briefly recapture Jerusalem twice
1250-1516 CE Mamluk Period
1250 CE Muslim caliph dismantles walls of Jerusalem. Population declines
1516-1917 CE Ottoman Period
1517 CE Ottomans capture Jerusalem
1538-1541 CE Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem
1917 CE-present Modern Period
1917 British capture Jerusalem
1948 State of Israel established. Jerusalem divided
1967 Israel captures Old City and reunifies Jerusalem

 

Source: "Chronological Reference Points." Middle East Insight, January-February 1999.