1960 Israel FLOATY PEN Jewish JERUSALEM OLD CITY Souvenir POINT BALL Judaica

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1960 Israel FLOATY PEN Jewish JERUSALEM OLD CITY Souvenir POINT BALL Judaica:
$65.00

DESCRIPTION : In the late 1960\'s , Asa part of the ISRAELI-JEWISH-HEBREW growing SOUVENIR industry which followedthe great victory in the 1967 SIX DAYS WAR , There was a short try tomanufacture ORIGINAL Israeli FLOATY ( Float ) PEN , Presenting typical VIEWSand IMAGES of Eretz Israel . Not many such floaty pens were manufactured andmuch less survived . Here for sale is a VERY RARE and nice sample of suchfloaty pen , Depicts the DAMASCUS GATE ( The NABLUS GATE ) in the OLD CITY ofJERUSALEM . The headings are in Hebrew and in English. Thepen , MADE IN ISRAEL , somewhat resembles the ESKESEN floart pens of thatperiod . The moving ( Hardly moves....) object on the background oftheJREUSALEM OLD CITY WALLS and the DAMASCUS GATEis a largeAMERICAN CAR . Good condition. Doesn\'t write The car hardly moves.( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images - The colors of the pen on sale differ from the scanned one ) .Will be sent inside a protectiveRIGIDpackaging .AUTHENTICITY :Thefloaty penis fullyguaranteed ORIGINAL fromca 1960\'s, It is NOT a reproduction or a recently madepen or an immitation ,Itholds alife long GUARANTEE for itsAUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY.PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal .SHIPPMENT : SHIPP worldwide via registered airmailis $ 15 .Will be sent inside a protective RIGIDpackaging . Handling within 3-5 days after payment. Estimated Int\'l duration around 14 days.

A floaty pen is treasured by many people around the world- Thousands of colelctors have collected the floaty pen since they were children and a trading and swapping pens on , special collector\'s websites or at trade shows around the world. The popularity of the Floaty pen is immense and growing. Most people know the pen from their childhood, having played with the \"lady\" version in which a lady undresses. The Original Floating Action Pen is the only true Floaty pen. Do not support piracy - buy the original.Float Pens aka Floaty Pens.Floaty Pens is a writing instrument that has something floating inside a clear window. Eskesen, the world’s largest producer of float pens, calls them Floating Action Pens.During their 60+ year history well over half a billion pens have been produced, 90% of the world’s supply. Floaty pens consist of two main components:1) A lower half made of opaque plastic usually containing a retractable ball-point tip.2) An upper half called the design barrel, it’s a transparent plastic oil-filled tube that contains a stationary background scene with a moving component on a glider in front.When the pen is titled horizontally to one side or another the glider figure moves across the background scene.Float Pens aka Floaty Pens The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus Gate) (Hebrew: שער שכם‎, Sha\'ar Shkhem, Arabic: باب العامود‎, Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column) is an important gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The modern gate was built in 1542 by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent. The original gate was presumably built in Second Temple times. The Romans built a new gate at the time of Hadrian, in the second century AD. In front of the gate stood a Roman victory column, shown on the Madaba Map, thus giving the gate its name in Arabic to this day, Bab el-Amud, The Column Gate. The column has never been found, but the Roman gate can be seen today, due to excavations made during the British mandate. This was the northern entrance gate to the city at the time of the Crusades. The gate has two towers, each equipped with machicolations. It is located at the edge of the Arab bazaar and marketplace. In contrast to the Jaffa Gate, where stairs rise towards the gate, in the Damascus Gate, the stairs descend towards the gate. In 1972, right-wing activist, Jewish leader, Founder of the American Jewish Defense League and the Israeli Kach party, and future Knesset Member on the Kach list Rabbi Meir Kahane proposed that mezuzot be attached to the gate, to secure the Jewish claim to the gate. After repeated protests from Arab residents, the Israeli government refused to consider Kahane\'s proposal. Today, only three of the Old City\'s gates have mezuzot attached.[citation needed] While the proper English name of the gate is \"Damascus Gate\", in Hebrew it is called Sha\'ar Shechem, meaning \"Shechem (Nablus) Gate\". Israeli media therefore frequently refer to the gate as \'Shechem (Nablus) Gate\' in English language publications as well.[1] In either case, the name refers to a city north of Jerusalem, since the Damascus Gate is the main north-facing gate of the Old City.******* The Old City (Hebrew: העיר העתיקה‎, HaEer HaAtika, Arabic: البلدة القديمة‎, al-Balda al-Qadimah) is a 0.9 square kilometre (0.35 square mile) walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem.[3] Until the 1860s this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem. The Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. Traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four quarters, although the current designations were introduced only in the 19th century.[4] Today, the Old City is roughly divided into the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the Old City found itself located entirely on the Jordanian side of the demarcation line. The Jewish Quarter of the Old City was then largely destroyed by Jordan.[5][6] Following the Six Day War in 1967 which saw hand to hand fighting on the Temple Mount, the Old City transferred to Israeli control. In 1980, Jordan proposed the Old City to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.[7] It was added to the List in 1981.[8] In 1982, Jordan requested that it be added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger.History According to the Bible, before King David\'s conquest of Jerusalem in the 11th century BCE the city was home to the Jebusites. The Bible describes the city as heavily fortified with a strong city wall. The city ruled by King David, known as Ir David, or the City of David, is now believed to be southwest of the Old City walls, outside the Dung Gate. His son King Solomon extended the city walls and then, in about 440 BCE, in the Persian period, Nehemiah returned from Babylon and rebuilt them. In 41-44 CE, Agrippa, king of Judea, built a new city wall known as the \"Third Wall.\" Muslims occupied Jerusalem in the 7th Century (637 CE) under the second caliph, Umar Ibn al-Khattab who annexed it to the Islamic Arab Empire. He granted its inhabitants an assurance treaty. After the siege of Jerusalem, Sophronius welcomed `Umar because, according to biblical prophecies allegedly known to the church in Jerusalem, \"a poor, but just and powerful man\" will rise to be a protector and an ally to the Christians of Jerusalem. Sophronius believed that `Umar, a great warrior who led an austere life, was a fulfillment of this prophecy. In the account by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius, it is said that `Umar paid a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and sat in its courtyard. When the time for prayer arrived, however, he left the church and prayed outside the compound, in order to avoid having future generations of Muslims use his prayer there as a pretext for converting the church into a mosque. Eutychius adds that `Umar also wrote a decree which he handed to the Patriarch, in which he prohibited that Muslims gather in prayer at the site.[10] In 1099 Jerusalem was captured by the Western Christian army of the First Crusade and remained in their hands until recaptured by the Arab Muslims led by Saladin, on October 2, 1187. He summoned the Jews and permitted them to resettle in the city. In 1219 the walls of the city were razed by Mu\'azzim Sultan of Damascus; in 1229, by treaty with Egypt, Jerusalem came into the hands of Frederick II of Germany. In 1239 he began to rebuild the walls; but they were again demolished by Da\'ud, the emir of Kerak. In 1243 Jerusalem came again under the control of the Christians, and the walls were repaired. The Kharezmian Tatars took the city in 1244 and Sultan Malik al-Muattam razed the city walls, rendering it again defenseless and dealing a heavy blow to the city\'s status. The current walls of the Old City were built in 1538 by the Muslim Ottoman Empire Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The walls stretch for approximately 4.5 kilometres, (2.8 miles), and rise to a height of 5–15 metres, (16–49 feet), with a thickness of 3 metres, (10 ft).[11] Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open. Jerusalem Quarters Muslim Quarter Main article: Muslim Quarter The Muslim Quarter is the largest and most populous of the four quarters and is situated in the northEastern corner of the Old City, extending from the Lions\' Gate in the east, along the northern wall of the Temple Mount in the south, to the Damascus Gate route in the west. Its population was 22,000 in 2005. Like the other three quarters of the Old City, the Muslim quarter had a mixed population of Jews as well as Muslims and Christians until the riots of 1929.[12] Today 60 Jewish families live in the Muslim Quarter,[citation needed] and a few yeshivot are located there. The main one is Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim. Christian Quarter Main article: Christian Quarter The Christian Quarter is situated in the northwestern corner of the Old City, extending from the New Gate (see below) in the north, along the western wall of the Old City as far as the Jaffa Gate, along the Jaffa Gate - Western Wall route in the south, bordering on the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, as far as the Damascus Gate in the east, where it borders on the Muslim Quarter. The quarter contains the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity\'s holiest places. Armenian Quarter Main article: Armenian Quarter The Armenian Quarter is the smallest of the four quarters of the Old City. Although the Armenian people are Christians, the Armenian Quarter is distinct from the Christian Quarter. Despite the small size and population of this quarter, the Armenians and their Patriarchate remain staunchly independent and form a vigorous presence in the Old City. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the four quarters of the city came under Jordanian control. Jordanian law required Armenians and other Christians to “give equal time to the Bible and Qur\'an” in private Christian schools, and restricted the expansion of church assets. The 1967 war is remembered by residents of the quarter as a miracle, after two unexploded bombs were found inside the Armenian monastery. Today more than 3,000 Armenians live in Jerusalem, 500 of them in the Armenian Quarter. Some are temporary residents studying at the seminary or working as church functionaries. The Patriarchate owns the land in this quarter as well as valuable property in West Jerusalem and elsewhere. In 1975, a theological seminary was established in the Armenian Quarter. After the 1967 war, the Israeli government gave compensation for repairing any churches or holy sites damaged in the fighting, regardless of who caused the damage. Jewish Quarter Main article: Jewish Quarter (Jerusalem) The Jewish Quarter (Hebrew: הרובע היהודי‎, HaRova HaYehudi, known colloquially to residents as HaRova) lies in the southEastern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Cardo in the north and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east. The quarter has had a rich history, with a nearly continual Jewish presence since the eighth century BCE. In 1948 its population of about 2,000 Jews was besieged, and forced to leave en masse.[13] The quarter was completely sacked by the Arabs, with ancient synagogues destroyed. The quarter remained under Jordanian control until its capture by Israeli paratroops in the Six-Day War of 1967. A few days later, Israeli authorities ordered the demolition of the adjacent Moroccan Quarter, expelling all of its inhabitants, in order to facilitate public access to the Western Wall. The section of the Jewish quarter destroyed prior to 1967 has since been rebuilt and settled, and has a population of 2,348 (as of 2004),[14] and many large educational institutions have taken up residence. Before being rebuilt, the quarter was carefully excavated under the supervision of Hebrew University archaeologist Nahman Avigad. The archaeological remains, on display in a series of museums and outdoor parks, to visit which tourists descend two or three stories beneath the level of the current city, collectively form one of the world\'s most accessible archaeological sites. The former Chief Rabbi is Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, and current is his son Rabbi Chizkiyahu Nebenzahl who is on the faculty of Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh situated directly across from the Kotel. Gates During the era of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, there were four gates to the Old City, one on each side. The current walls, built by Suleiman the Magnificent, have a total of eleven gates, but only seven are open. Until 1887, each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise. As indicated by the chart below, these gates have been known by a variety of names used in different historic periods and by different community groups. ****** Jerusalem, the holy city of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, has been the focus of numerous volumes of history, chronicles, biblical exegeses, and itineraries. Many of these works include maps and views of the city itself. These pictorial items increased in number continuously with the development of printing methods since the 17th century. Before the advent of print, maps of Jerusalem and other manuscripts of the city were often inscribed on vellum, or more rarely created as wall or floor mosaics. Since the first printed map of Jerusalem appeared in the late 15th century until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when maps began to be based on accurate surveys, more than 300 maps of Jerusalem were designed and printed. Most maps of Jerusalem were not created to fill the utilitarian purpose of modern maps. They were not drawn to help travelers find their way. Some of them do not even depict the city as it existed. They served as a medium of conveying information, a viewpoint and a concept. This role of maps is not unique to the ancient maps of Jerusalem, but is characteristic of many maps, both current and past. However, the singular status of Jerusalem as a holy city, a focus of interest and of strong religious attraction, led to the creation of numerous maps depicting that city, more often through concepts rather than from a purely geographical aspect. Maps were included in many editions of the works of Josephus, the Bible and biblical exegeses, as well as in historical chronicles which mentioned Jerusalem, usually in conjunction with the discussion of the Holy City, its temples, palaces and other sites. Christian pilgrims, inspired by the Psalm to \"worship at the place where his feet have stood\"(132:7), required maps for travel and left accounts of their own. Eusebius records how Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, visited Jerusalem shortly before her death in the 4th century. Her historic pilgrimage and the churches she sponsored encouraged many to follow her example. Indeed, intense emotional and religious ties linked European Christians to Jerusalem during the Middle Ages and later centuries. However, only a handful of Christians actually visited Jerusalem because the city was so distant and was under hostile Muslim rule. Moreover, the journey was long, expensive and dangerous. These factors encouraged the making of maps of Jerusalem as a substitute. Many impressionistic descriptions of the city were created in Christian Europe. Mostly, they were impressions of a Jerusalem that existed in the hearts and minds of European Christian mapmakers and readers, and less depictions of the terrestrial Jerusalem. Until the early 19th century, maps of Jerusalem tended to be artistic drawings of landscapes, without measurements, scale or accurate perspective. Scenes and locations from different historical periods were depicted side by side, combining the representation of real locations with the biblical concepts associated with them. Because of their popularity, many early maps of Jerusalem have survived. Byzantine period (324-638) - Images of Jerusalem appeared as decorative elements on buildings, in frescos and wall-mosaics in churches, such as the mosaics in the churches of Sta. Maria Maggiore, St. Prudenciana and St. Giovanni in Rome, and Umm al-Rasas in northern Jordan, Although these mosaics do not reflect an accurate description of the city, they bear witness to the importance assigned to Jerusalem in Byzantine Christianity. The most detailed depiction of Jerusalem from the Byzantine period is the mosaic map discovered in the Jordanian village of Madaba in the late 19th century. The map depicts the area from the Nile delta and the Mediterranean coast to the desert east of the Jordan and includes the city of Jerusalem Distinct from other maps that survived from the Byzantine period, it is considered a realistic depiction of the city of those times, and because it is reasonably detailed, conveys a clear sense of the urban layout of Jerusalem in the Byzantine era. Early Islamic period -The early Islamic era (640-1099) is characterized by the absence of maps of Jerusalem, although several Arab scholars of the 10th and 11th centuries, and even earlier, were familiar with the art and knowledge of cartography Arab scholars as a rule refrained from drawing maps of cities. Thus, the very few graphic depictions from that time were works of contemporary Christians, such as Arculf, a bishop of Gaul who traveled to the Holy Land in 670 and delineated the churches of Jerusalem. Yet during that period small schematic depictions of Jerusalem appeared on a few maps of the Holy Land, and more frequently in world maps drawn in Europe by Christian mapmakers who graphically expressed religious perception of Jerusalem as the center of the world. This perception has been portrayed in the Orbis Terrarum (known as O-T maps), where the world appears as a round disk with the oceans and rivers dividing it in a T-shaped fashion. The vertical arm of the \"T\" is the Mediterranean Sea, with Africa to the right and Europe to the left. The horizontal bar is formed by the Nile River on the right and the Don River and the Black Sea on the left. Asia is located in the upper part of the disk, with the \"Endless Sea\" at its furthermost perimeter. Jerusalem is located at its center, close to the juncture of the two branches of the sea and the rivers. This view was based on an interpretation of the verses in Ezekiel: \" I set this Jerusalem in the midst of nations, with countries round about her\" (5:5), and \"�living at the center of the earth\" (38:12). This concept had already existed in the Jewish tradition in Midrash Tanhuma (Kedoshim 10), which holds that the land of Israel is situated in the center of the world, Jerusalem in the center of the Israel, the Temple in the center of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies in the center of the Temple. However, this concept bore no graphic expression in Judaism. This O-T map type was common for hundreds of years and disseminated all over Christian Europe during the middle Ages. In the 13th and the 14th centuries these maps reached an apex of their artistic development, when large maps, richly detailed and highly decorative, were based upon this O-T form. Crusader period - A dozen maps of Jerusalem have survived from the crusader period (1099-1187) as well as from the 13th and 14th centuries. Each map is identified by the place where it was found. Many of the maps are round and depict Jerusalem as a circle, with the major thoroughfares dividing it in a cruciform pattern, making the O-T map pattern described above very obvious. Some of the round maps are extremely schematic, while others are more detailed and vary in artistic quality. They all contain reiterative elements: the perimeter of the circle portrays the city wall with towers protruding from it, and five visible gates: St. Stephen\'s Gate, David Gate, Zion Gate, the Golden Gate and Valley of Jehosaphat Gate. Other sites in the city are also discernable, such as the inner gates, major roads, the citadel, the Temple Mount, and major churches within and without the city wall, among them, the Holy Sepulchre. Two rectangular maps of Crusader Jerusalem are extant: The Montpellier map and the Cambrai manuscript. The Montpellier map depicts the city walls as a square and contains few elements that appear in the rounded maps.The map is extremely schematic, lacks details and provides very little information about the look of the city, probably because the mapmaker was not familiar with it. On the other hand, the map of Cambrai depicts the city in a diamond-shaped rhomboid form and provides some detailed and realistic information on some urban features of Jerusalem, such as the city gates, the main churches and roads. The many details of the map suggest that the author of the Cambrai map was most familiar with the city and probably relied upon personal observations in his attempt to create a realistic portrait of the city. Later Medieval Maps - Only four maps of the city were found: 1. The map of Marino Sanudo, a 14th century campaigner for a new crusade. 2. An anonymous mapmaker drew the map which was added to a 13th century Florentine manuscript of Burchard\'s of Mount Zion description of the Holy Land. 3. Sebald Rieter, drew the third map (currently in the State Library in Munich), in the second half of the 15th century. 4. The fourth map is the one included in the Latin version of the Ptolemaic book of \"Geography\" that was written in 1472, by Hogo Comminelli and illustrated by Petrus Massarius in two separate manuscripts:a Parisian manuscript and a Roman manuscript. The maps from the crusader and late medieval periods contain some realistic information that might be a result of direct observation, while others- some drawn in Europe and some in Jerusalem- are imaginary and based on the Scriptures. Some of the maps are oriented toward the East, as was customary in those days, while many face West, drawn from the vantage point of the Mount of Olives. Some of the maps emphasize the Christian faith, omitting the Islamic rule over Jerusalem, while others portray mosques, crescents, etc. Because of their popularity, many early maps of Jerusalem have survived. Early printed maps This period was marked by the advent of the printing press, the expansion of education and the proliferation of printed Bibles that resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of books about the Holy Land. Maps of Jerusalem are included in general map collections, atlases, or in books containing plans of cities all over the world, such as the atlases of Braun and Hogenberg, Zaltieri and Ballino. Most of these maps were not drawn in Jerusalem and none of them were printed there. Other maps are displayed as insets around the margins of large maps of the Holy Land. More than 300 maps of Jerusalem were created between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 19th century. The majority of these maps depict Jerusalem from the east and were oriented to the west, Most of them, were drawn from a diagonal bird\'s-eye perspective or presented the cityscape as panoramas. A considerable number of the maps of Jerusalem in the 16th and the 17th centuries were created in Italy and the Low Countries, while many maps printed in France and England date mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries. The maps could be divided into two main categories: historical-imaginary and realistic maps. The historical -imaginary maps are showing \"Biblical Jerusalem\" or \"Old Jerusalem,\" and those depicting the city in a realistic manner entitled \"New Jerusalem\" or \"Jerusalem in Our Time.\" Both the historical-imaginary genre of maps and the realistic genre of maps contained geographic information blended with Christian ideological messages that were conveyed through artistic illustrations.n The historical-imaginary category are best illustrated by maps of: Reisner (1563); Adrichom (1584); Villalpando (1604), and the two imaginary maps drawn by Laicksteen (1556). These a foremetioned examples were the sources of many imaginary maps of Jerusalem which were drawn in the decades to come. The realistic genre is best illustrated by the maps of von Breydenbach (1486), De Angelis (1578) and Quaresmius (1639), which were also a source of inspiration and copying for many years after their publication. Other realistic maps that were a genuine source for copying are the maps of Merian (1645) and Borculus (1538). Toward the end of the 16th century a more linear-scientific appearance of maps began to emerge. The new genre, marginal as it was at first, did not emerge in a vacuum, but was closely linked to the general development of science, travel and modern cartography. The new genre is characterised by the diminishing use of pictorial elements replaced by symbols such as letters and numbers to mark buildings and the addition of site and landscape details in a legend on the map\'s margins. It is also characterised by the use of vertical bird\'s-eye perspective and by the development of shading and delineating techniques for the depiction of topographic relief. In most of the cases the Eastern orientation was replaced by a northern one. The maps of Zuallardo (1586), des Hayes (1624), Doubdan (1657), Nolin (1700), Pococke (1743) and D\'anville (1747) exemplify all of the modifications described above. The most significant change in the history of the Jerusalem Map was the introduction of surveying at the beginning of the 19th century. Maps from that point in time reflected the use of precise measurements of distances, heights, directions and the application of trigonometric calculations as a basis for mapmaking ********** Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‎ (audio) (help·info), Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (audio) (help·info), al-Quds)[ii] is the capital[iii] of Israel and its largest city[2] in both population and area,[3] with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of 125.1 square kilometres (48.3 sq mi) if disputed East Jerusalem is included.[1][4][iv] Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, modern Jerusalem has grown beyond the boundaries of the Old City. The city has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.[5] Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE,[6] contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites, and is considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[7] Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),[8] the Old City is home to sites of key religious importance, among them the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque. The old walled city, a World Heritage site, has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today — the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters — were introduced in the early 19th century.[9] The Old City was nominated for inclusion on the List of World Heritage Sites in danger by Jordan in 1982.[10] In the course of its history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[11] Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel\'s annexation of East Jerusalem has been repeatedly condemned by the United Nations and related bodies,[12][13] and Arab Palestinians foresee East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.[14][15] In the wake of United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 (passed in 1980), most foreign embassies moved out of Jerusalem, although some countries, such as the United States, still own land in the city and pledge to return their embassies once political agreements warrant the move.[16] The Semitic root of the name was sometimes thought to be \"s-l-m\"[citation needed] meaning peace, harmony or completeness. A city called Rušalimum or Urušalimum appears in ancient Egyptian records as one of the first reference to Jerusalem.[17] These Egyptian forms are thought to derive from the local name attested in the Amarna letters, eg in EA 287 (where it takes several forms) Urusalim.[18][19] The form Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) first appears in the book of Joshua. This form has the appearance of a portmanteau of yerusha (heritage) and the original name Shalem and is not a simple phonetic evolution of the form in the Amarna letters.Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.[20] Typically the ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual thus leading to the suggestion that the name refers to the fact that the city sits on two hills.[21][22] However the pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint. The Greeks added the prefix hiero (\"holy\") and called it Hierosolyma. To the Arabs, Jerusalem is al-Quds (\"The Holy\"). \"Zion\" initially referred to part of the city, but later came to signify the city as a whole. Under King David, it was known as Ir David (the City of David).[23]Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,[5][24] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early Bronze Age, c. 3000-2800 BCE.[24][25] The Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE), which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen[24] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE) may be the earliest mention of the city.[26][27] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem[28] as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to Jewish tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. In the biblical account, when first mentioned, Jerusalem is ruled by Melchizedek, an ally of Abraham (identified with Shem in legend). Later, in the time of Joshua, Jerusalem was in territory allocated to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18:28) but it continued to be under the independent control of the Jebusites until it was conquered by David and made into the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel (c. 1000s BCE).[29][30][v] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.[31]According to Hebrew scripture, King David reigned until 970 BCE. He was succeeded by his son Solomon,[32] who built the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah. Solomon\'s Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.[33] For over 450 years, until the Babylonian conquest in 587 BCE, Jerusalem was the political capital of firstly the united Kingdom of Israel and then the Kingdom of Judah and the Temple was the religious center of the Israelites.[34] This period is known in history as the First Temple Period.[35] Upon Solomon\'s death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.[35When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon\'s Temple.[35] In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple [36]. Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.[37][38] Later, in ~445 BCE, King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city and the walls to be rebuilt[39]. Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.[40]As Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.[32][41][42] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province[43] and Herod\'s descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt, beginning in 132 CE. The Romans succeeded in suppressing the revolt in 135 CE. Emperor Hadrian romanized the city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina.[44], and banned the Jews from entering it. Hadrian renamed the entire Iudaea Province Syria Palaestina after the biblical Philistines in an attempt to de-Judaize the country.[45][46] Enforcement of the ban on Jews entering Aelia Capitolina continued until the 4th century CE.In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000[45][47] From the days of Constantine until the 7th century, Jews were banned from Jerusalem.[48]Roman-Persian warsWithin the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Roman to Persian rule and returned to Roman dominion once more. Following Sassanid Khosrau II\'s early seventh century push into Byzantine, advancing through Syria, Sassanid Generals Shahrbaraz and Shahin attacked the Byzantine-controlled city of Jerusalem (Persian: Dej Houdkh).[49]In the Siege of Jerusalem (614), after 21 days of relentless siege warfare, Jerusalem was captured and the Persian victory resulted in the territorial annexation of Jerusalem. After the Sassanid army entered Jerusalem, the holy \"True Cross\" was stolen and sent back to the Sassanian capital as a battle-captured holy relic. Persians massacred up to 90,000 Christians.[50] The conquered city and the Holy Cross would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered them in 629.[49]Arab ruleJerusalem is considered Islam\'s third holiest city after Mecca and Medina. Among Muslims of an earlier era, it was referred to as al-Bayt al-Muqaddas; later, it became known as al-Quds al-Sharif. In 638, the Islamic Caliphate extended its dominion to Jerusalem.[51] With the Arab conquest, Jews were allowed back into the city.[52] The Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab signed a treaty with Monophysite Christian Patriarch Sophronius, assuring him that Jerusalem\'s Christian holy places and population would be protected under Muslim rule.[53] Umar was led to the Foundation Stone on the Temple Mount, which he cleared of refuse in preparation for building a mosque. According to the Gaullic bishop Arculf, who lived in Jerusalem from 679-688, the Mosque of Umar was a rectangular wooden structure built over ruins which could accommodated 3,000 worshipers.[54] The Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik commissioned the construction of the Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century.[55] The 10th century historian al-Muqaddasi writes that Abd al-Malik built the shrine in order to compete in grandeur of Jerusalem\'s monumental churches.[54] Over the next four hundred years, Jerusalem\'s prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[56]Crusader, Ayyuoffer, and Mamluk periodIn 1099, Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders, who massacred most of its Muslim inhabitants and the remnants of the Jewish inhabitants; the Crusaders later expelled the native Christian population and created the Kingdom of Jerusalem. By early June 1099 Jerusalem’s population had declined from 70,000 to less than 30,000.[57] According to Benjamin of Tudela, Two hundred Jews were in the city in 1173. In 1187, the city was wrested from the Crusaders by Saladin who permitted Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.[58] In 1244, Jerusalem was sacked by the Kharezmian Tartars, who decimated the city\'s Christian population and drove out the Jews.[59] The Khwarezmian Tatars were driven out by the Egyptians in 1247. From 1250-1517, Jerusalem was ruled by the Mamluks, during this period of time many clashes occurred between the Mamluks on one side and the crusaders and the Mongols on the other side. The area also suffered from many earthquakes and black plague.In 1517, Jerusalem and environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who generally remained in control until 1917.[58] Jerusalem enjoyed a period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent - including the rebuilding of magnificent walls around the Old City. Throughout much of Ottoman rule, Jerusalem remained a provincial, if religiously important center, and did not straddle the main trade route between Damascus and Cairo.[60] However, the Muslim Turks brought many innovations: modern postal systems run by the various consulates; the use of the wheel for modes of transportation; stagecoach and carriage, the wheelbarrow and the cart; and the oil-lantern, among the first signs of modernization in the city.[61] In the mid 19th century, the Ottomans constructed the first paved road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and by 1892 the railroad had reached the city.[61]With the annexation of Jerusalem by Muhammad Ali of Egypt in 1831, foreign missions and consulates began to establish a foothold in the city. In 1836, Ibrahim Pasha allowed Jerusalem\'s Jewish residents to restore four major synagogues, among them the Hurva.[62] In the 1834 Arab revolt in Palestine, Qasim al-Ahmad led his forces from Nablus and attacked Jerusalem, aided by the Abu Ghosh clan, entered the city on May 31, 1834. The Christians and Jews of Jerusalem were subjected to attacks. Ibrahim\'s Egyptian army routed Qasim\'s forces in Jerusalem the following month.[63]Ottoman rule was reinstated in 1840, but many Egyptian Muslims remained in Jerusalem and Jews from Algiers and North Africa began to settle in the city in growing numbers.[62] In the 1840s and 1850s, the international powers began a tug-of-war in Palestine as they sought to extend their protection over the country\'s religious minorities, a struggle carried out mainly through consular representatives in Jerusalem.[64] According to the Prussian consul, the population in 1845 was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 Europeans.[62] The volume of Christian pilgrims increased under the Ottomans, doubling the city\'s population around Easter time.[65]In the 1860s, new neighborhoods began to develop outside the Old City walls to house pilgrims and relieve the intense overcrowding and poor sanitation inside the city. The Russian Compound and Mishkenot Sha\'ananim were founded in 1860.[66] In 1867 an American Missionary reports an estimated population of Jerusalem of \'above\' 15,000. With 4,000 to 5,000 Jews and 6,000 Muslims. Every year there were 5,000 to 6,000 Russian Christian Pilgrims.[67]British Mandate and 1948 WarIn 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city,[68] and in 1922, the League of Nations at the Conference of Lausanne entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate for Palestine.From 1922 to 1948 the total population of the city rose from 52,000 to 165,000 with two thirds of Jews and one-third of Arabs (Muslims and Christians).[69] The situation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine was not quiet. At Jerusalem, in particular riots occurred in 1920 and in 1929. Under the British, new garden suburbs were built in the western and northern parts of the city[70][71] and institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University were founded.[72]As the British Mandate for Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan recommended \"the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations.\"[73] The international regime (which also included the city of Bethlehem) was to remain in force for a period of ten years, whereupon a referendum was to be held in which the residents were to decide the future regime of their city. However, this plan was not implemented, as the 1948 war erupted, while the British withdrew from Palestine and Israel declared its independence.[74]The war led to displacement of Arab and Jewish populations in the city. The 1,500 residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City were expelled and a few hundred taken prisoner when the Arab Legion captured the quarter on 28 May.[75][76] Residents of many Arab villages and neighborhoods west of the Old City left with the approach of the war, but thousands remained and were driven out or killed, as at Lifta or Deir Yassin.[77][78][79]Division and reunificationThe no-man\'s land between East and West Jerusalem came into being in November 1948: Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli forces in Jerusalem, met with his Jordanian counterpart Abdullah a-Tal in a deserted house in Jerusalem’s Musrara neighborhood and marked out their respective positions: Israel’s position in red and Jordan\'s in green. This rough map, which was not meant as a an official one, became the final ceasefire line in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which divided the city and left Mount Scopus as an Israeli exclave.[80] Barbed wire and concrete barriers ran down the center of the city and military skirmishes frequently threatened the ceasefire. After the establishment of the State of Israel, Jerusalem was declared its capital. Jordan formally annexed East Jerusalem in 1950, subjecting it to Jordanian law.[74][81] Only the United Kingdom and Pakistan formally recognized such annexation, which, in regard to Jerusalem, was on a de facto basis.[82] Also, it is dubious if Pakistan recognized Jordan\'s annexation.[83][84]Jordan assumed control of the holy places in the Old City. Contrary to the terms of the agreement, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed very limited access to Christian holy sites.[85][86] During this period, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque underwent major renovations.[87]During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured East Jerusalem and asserted sovereignty over the entire city. Jewish and Christian access to holy sites was restored, while the Temple Mount remained under the jurisdiction of an Islamic waqf. The Moroccan Quarter, which was located adjacent to the Western Wall, was vacated and razed[88] to make way for a plaza for those visiting the wall.[89] Since the war, Israel has expanded the city\'s boundaries and established a ring of Jewish neighbourhoods on vacant land east of the Green Line.However, the takeover of East Jerusalem was met with international criticism. Following the passing of Israel\'s Jerusalem Law, which declared Jerusalem, \"complete and united\", the capital of Israel,[90] the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that declared the law \"a violation of international law\" and requested all member states to withdraw all remaining embassies from the city.[91]The status of the city, and especially its holy places, remains a core issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jewish settlers have taken over historic sites and built on land confiscated from Arabs[92] in order to expand the Jewish presence in East Jerusalem,[93] while prominent Islamic leaders have insisted that Jews have no historical connection to Jerusalem.[94] Palestinian Arabs envision East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state,[95][96] and the city\'s borders have been the subject of bilateral talks GeographyJerusalem is situated on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 m (2,500 ft).[97] The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis). The Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.[98] The Kidron Valley runs to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or Hell.[99] The Tyropoeon valley commenced in the northwest near the Damascus Gate, ran south-southEasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley is hidden by debris that has accumulated over the centuries.[98]In biblical times, Jerusalem was surrounded by forests of almond, olive and pine trees. Over centuries of warfare and neglect, these forests were destroyed. Farmers in the Jerusalem region thus built stone terraces along the slopes to hold back the soil, a feature still very much in evidence in the Jerusalem landscape.[100]Water supply has always been a major problem in Jerusalem, as attested to by the intricate network of ancient aqueducts, tunnels, pools and cisterns found in the city.[101]Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)[102] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)[103] away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma\'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv\'at Ze\'ev to the north. ****** The Flag of Jerusalem is based on the Flag of Israel. It features two horizontal blue stripes reminiscent of the tallit, or Jewish prayer shawl. In the center are Jerusalem\'s coat of arms, which consists of a shield with the lion of Judah superimposed on a stylized background representing the kotel, flanked on either side with olive branches. The word יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (i.e. Yerushalayim, Hebrew for \"Jerusalem\") appears above the shield. A vertical variant is sometimes used during ceremonial functions. The Flag was adopted in 1949 following a contest held by the municipal government of Jerusalem, which was established by Israel (in the western part of the city). It became the Flag of a united Jerusalem following the Six Day War in 1967.