ABSTRACT

Few cities around the world transcend their physical boundaries the way Jerusalem does. As the spiritual capital of monotheism, Jerusalem has ancient roots and legacies that have imposed themselves on its inhabitants throughout the centuries. In modern times, and aside from all the religious complexities, Jerusalem has become enmeshed in the Palestinian and Israeli national identities and political aspirations, which have involved and dragged into the fray other actors from around the world.

Consisting of 35 chapters from leading specialists, the Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem provides a broad spectrum of studies related to the city and its history. Beginning with a historical overview starting from the end of the Bronze age, the chapters go on to look at a range of topics including:

  • religious symbolism and pilgrimage
  • religious and social relations
  • social and economic history
  • architecture and archaeology
  • maps
  • eschatology
  • politics

By bringing together contributions from leading scholars of different disciplines, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the various layers that make up this unique and special city. It will appeal to students and scholars of Middle East Studies, religion and cultural history, and anyone with an interest in learning more about Jerusalem.

part I|110 pages

Historical perspectives

chapter 1|14 pages

Jerusalem from its beginnings to the end of the Late Bronze Age

ByEyal Meiron

chapter 2|10 pages

Jerusalem in the First Temple Period

ByKyle H. Keimer

chapter 3|9 pages

From the Babylonian exile through the Hasmonean period

ByJoshua Schwartz

chapter 4|13 pages

Herodian Jerusalem

ByOrit Peleg-Barkat

chapter 5|17 pages

Aelia Capitolina 1

ByShlomit Weksler-Bdolah

chapter 6|14 pages

Byzantine Jerusalem

ByUte Verstegen

chapter 7|13 pages

Jerusalem in early Islam

The making of the Muslims’ Holy City 1
BySuleiman A. Mourad

chapter 8|12 pages

The Crusader period

ByAdrian J. Boas

chapter 9|8 pages

Jerusalem in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods

ByZayde Antrim

part II|56 pages

Historical perspectives

chapter 10|9 pages

Ottoman Jerusalem, 1517–1918

ByYuval Ben-Bassat, Johann Buessow

chapter 11|11 pages

Jerusalem in the transition from empire to mandate 1

ByAbigail Jacobson

chapter 12|13 pages

British Jerusalem

ByThomas Abowd

chapter 13|10 pages

Nationalizing Jerusalem

The Holy City under Jordanian rule
ByKimberly Katz

chapter 14|11 pages

Israeli Jerusalem

Seven decades since 1948
ByYitzhak Reiter

part III|82 pages

Monuments, art, literature and urban space

chapter 15|16 pages

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

ByMegan Boomer, Robert G. Ousterhout

chapter 16|13 pages

The Dome of the Rock

ByAlain Fouad George

chapter 18|9 pages

The Western Wall or Kotel 1

ByDotan Goren

chapter 19|15 pages

Moments of transformation in the urban order of Jerusalem

ByWendy Pullan

chapter 20|13 pages

Jerusalem in Palestinian poetry

ByAtef Alshaer

part IV|112 pages

Ritual, representation and meaning

chapter 21|11 pages

Jerusalem as ritual space

ByJeremy D. Smoak

chapter 22|9 pages

Death and burial in Iron Age Jerusalem

A view from the Silwan necropolis
ByMatthew J. Suriano

chapter 23|7 pages

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Antiquity

ByDaniel R. Schwartz

chapter 24|14 pages

The heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Jerusalem

ByOliver Larry Yarbrough

chapter 25|11 pages

Christian religious symbolism and pilgrimage

ByRebecca Stephens Falcasantos

chapter 26|8 pages

Jerusalem temples to Jerusalem rocks before the coming of Islam

ByNaomi Koltun-Fromm

chapter 27|16 pages

Jerusalem in maps 1

ByRehav Rubin

chapter 28|10 pages

The Holy City and Medieval Europe

ByGiuseppe Perta

chapter 29|16 pages

Acquiring Jerusalem

ByAnnabel Jane Wharton

chapter 30|10 pages

Jerusalem and eschatology

ByOra Limor

part V|54 pages

Contestation

chapter 31|14 pages

One hundred and fifty years of archaeology and controversy in Jerusalem

ByRaphael Greenberg

chapter 32|10 pages

Between the nations

The Sepulchre in intercommunal and international dynamics
ByGeorgios Tsourous

chapter 33|9 pages

Intercommunal relations during the British mandate

ByLaura Robson

chapter 34|12 pages

The Armenians of Jerusalem in the modern period

The rise and decline of a community
ByBedross Der Matossian

chapter 35|7 pages

Jerusalem in the peace process

ByMenachem Klein