Timeline of Jerusalem


This is a timeline of major events in the history of Jerusalem; a city that has been fought over sixteen times over millennia. During its history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

Chalcolithic

  • 4500–3500 BC: First settlement established near Gihon Spring.

Bronze Age: [Canaan]ite city

Iron Age

Independent [Israelite] capital

Jerusalem becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Judah and, according to the Bible, for the first few decades even of a wider united kingdom of Judah and Israel, under kings belonging to the House of David.

Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian period

Persian (Achaemenid) period

Hellenistic period

Under Alexander, the Ptolemies">Ptolemaic dynasty">Ptolemies, and [Seleucid]s

Hasmonean kingdom

Classical/Polytheistic Roman period

Early Roman period

Events from the New Testament offer a narrative regarded by most Christians as Holy Scripture. Much of the narrative lacks historical anchors and Christian apologists have tried to calculate a historical chronology of events without reaching consensual conclusions. All such events and dates listed here are presented under this reservation, and are generally lacking non-sectarian scholarly recognition. They are marked in the list with a cross .

Late Roman period (Aelia Capitolina)

Byzantine/Christian Roman period

Early Muslim period

Rashidun, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates

Fatimid and Seljuk rule

Crusader/Ayyubid period

First Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1187)

Ayyubids and Second Crusader Kingdom

The Crusader defeat at the Battle of Hattin leads to the end of the First Crusader Kingdom. During the Second Crusader Kingdom, the Crusaders can only gain a foothold in Jerusalem on a limited scale, twice through treaties, and again for a last time between 1241 and 1244.

Mamluk period

Ottoman period

Early Ottoman period

Late Ottoman period

British Mandate

After 1948

Partition into West (Israel) and East (Jordan)

Reunification after 1967