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Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Names. The first mention of Jerusalem (Rusha Lemun) can be found in Egyptian curses of the hostile cities of XIX-XX centuries B. C. Under the name of Ura Salem the city is mentioned in Al-Amarna letters (XIV century B. C.), and under the name Ursalemmu – in the annals of San Herib (end of VIII century B. C.). In the Bible spelling ירושלם is used later to be modified to the spelling of יְרוּשָׁלַםִ according to only four times used ירושלים; in the Aramaic parts of the Bible the spelling ירושלם is used modified into ירְוּשְׁלֵם. The Greek name of Jerusalem is associated to the city’s holiness (Yeros in Greek is Holy).

It seems that the original name of the city was Yerusalem (Yearakh means to found and Salem or Sulmanu is a west-semitan deity which probably was the city’s patron). In midrashim the name of the city is usually related to the word Salom (peace).

The name Salem, under which the city is mentioned in the book of Genesis, means Canaanite Jerusalem, until the country was conquered by the Israelites. The same name (in Hebrew – whole, one, uniting) in the Psalms is, maybe, related to the strategic goal of David (see the period of the first Temple below). Jerusalem is also called in the Bible Jevus – after the name of the nation of Jebusites who possessed the city until David conquered it. Under the name of Zion, the meaning of which is unknown (possibly a citadel or a fortified hill), only the fortress of the Jebusite nation was initially implied; after David’s conquest it was renamed into Ir David (the city of David).

The name Aelia Capitolina – after emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus and Capitol Triade (Jupiter, Iunon and Minerva) – was given to the city built by Romans in 135 A. D. on the site of Jewish Jerusalem on Hadrianus’ order. The Muslims who first called Jerusalem Ilia later began to call the city Madina Bite Al-Macdiz (the City of the Temple), later – just Al-Macdiz (the Temple); since X century in Arabic the borrowing from Hebrew establishes – Urusalim with an epithet Al-Qutz (Holiness, Holy – Bite Al-Quts or Madina Al-Qutz that is the Holy Temple or Holy City).

The prophets and – later – the Jewish poets gave Jerusalem many epithets expressing the feeling of love, admiration and deep reverence – the Holy City, the City of God, the City of Justice, the True Capital, the City of Peace, the Beautiful City, Ariel (the Divine Lion) and simply the City (הָעִיר).

The Canaanite Period. History of Jerusalem can be traced back to the early Bronze Age: as early as in XIX-XVIII centuries B. C. Jerusalem is mentioned as a city-state. In El-Amarna letters (XIV century B. C.) there is the text of an epistle of the ruler of Jerusalem to pharaoh Akhenaten about the danger impeding the city because of the Habirus’ (most likely, Israelites; see also Abraham, patriarchs) invasion into Canaan; the ruler of Jerusalem in this text bears the Hurrite name of Abdihebp (a slave of goddess Hebp).

Some information about Jerusalem of the Canaanite epoch can be found in the Bible. Jerusalem just like many other cities of this area was considered as property of a certain deity represented on the earth by a king-priest. Rulers of the city from a theocratic dynasty bore names that included the word Tsedek (Justice), for instance, kings Melkisedek (literally King of Justice) and Adonisedek (Lord of Justice). In the book Yehoshoa bin Nun we are told that the king of Jerusalem was the head of five Amorrean kings who in vain tried to resist the Israelites.

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