Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus

The purpose of this course is to bring forth the urban development of the Holy City from the 6th century BC when the repatriates from Babylon rebuilt the city and the Temple. After the Babylonian exile, the city was reconstructed in its former limits but later extended even more. Because of the ability to follow the development of the city, one can contribute nowadays to the authenticity of the holy sites and understand what kind of city Christ saw when he came to the city. This study is possible thanks to the scriptures and Archeology, which revealed great sections of that city that the Romans covered in the second century AD and so they disappeared. The discrepancies between the various sources describing Jerusalem will also be discussed and analyzed and so cast more light on the Gospel descriptions of the city. The scriptures are not books of history and therefore their descriptions are far from detailed and it is to us to complete the views of the city with the help of archeology and the knowledge that comes from later sources. All this will be dealt with in the course.