House), by the Arabic writers of the middle ages. It is possible that it may have borne this name at a much earlier period, as Cadytis[7], a great city of Syria, taken by Necho, king of Egypt, may be Jerusalem; Cadytis being only a corruption of the Aramaic Kadishtha (the Holy). Some suppose that Jerusalem has been formed by the union of Jebus and Salem, the b being changed into r, but the Hebrew form of the word does not admit of this transformation. The derivation given by Lysimachus[8] is amusing from its absurdity. He asserts that in the time of Bocchoris, king of Egypt, the Jews were expelled from that country by the order of the Sun-god, who was disgusted at the diseased and leprous condition of the race, and visited the land with a famine; that being led by Moses, they travelled over the desert; and "the difficulties of the journey being over, they came to a country inhabited; and there they abused the men, and plundered and burnt their temples; and then came into that land which is called Judea, and there they built a city and dwelt therein; and that their city was named Hierosyla, from this robbing of the temples; but that still, upon the success they had afterwards, they in time changed its denomination, that it might not be a reproach to them, and called the city Hierosolyma, and themselves Hierosolymites."

Adonizedek was king of Jerusalem at the time of the conquest under Joshua[9]. He fell in battle against the Jews, near Gibeon, and some time after the lower town was taken by them. The Jebusites[10], however, still remained in it, among the descendants of Judah and Benjamin, and were not driven from the upper town till the eighth year of David's reign, when their stronghold was taken by storm[11], and the place became the capital of his kingdom. Jerusalem attained to its highest pitch of grandeur under the government of Solomon, being the centre of commerce, civilization, and religion. After the division of the Tribes, it continued to be the capital of the kingdom of Judah. In the fifth year of Rehoboam it was taken and sacked by Shishak[12], king of Egypt. In the reign of Jehoram[13] bands of Philistines and Arabs entered the city, plundered the king's palace, and carried his wives and sons into captivity. In the reign of Amaziah[14] it was sacked by Joash king of Israel. It was unsuccessfully threatened by the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah[15]. Manasseh[16] fortified the western side of the city and Ophel, but it was laid waste by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar[17].

After a captivity of half a century, the Jews were permitted by Cyrus to rebuild it, but, owing to the opposition of their enemies, the work was not completed till the time of Nehemiah. Jerusalem was involved in the troubles caused by the fall of the Persian Empire. The city opened its gates to Alexander, who not only treated it with humanity, but also conferred upon it several privileges. After his death it was taken by Ptolemy, son of Lagus, king of Egypt. Under the Ptolemies, and for a while under the Seleucidæ, it on the whole enjoyed peace and honour, until the barbarity of the tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes renewed the sorrows of the unhappy city. The heroic sons of the house of Mattathias delivered their country from this yoke, and it remained under the princes of the Asmonean family until Palestine was conquered by the Romans. Pompeius the Great, who entered Jerusalem as a conqueror 63 B.C., respected the lives and property of the inhabitants. The temple was protected by him, only to be plundered by Crassus. The liberality of Herod the Great added much to the splendour of Jerusalem; but after his death the spirit of sedition spread more and more every day among the Jews, producing frequent revolts against the Romans, which were terminated by the destruction of the city by Titus, A.D. 71. Thus were the predictions of the prophets fulfilled.

After lying in ruins for sixty years it was rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian upon a part of its former site, and called Ælia Capitolina[18]; but the Jews were forbidden to enter it under pain of death. When Christianity triumphed in the reign of Constantine, the heathen temples were replaced by churches in honour of every memorial of the Saviour's life and death.

Chosroes II., king of the Persians, took the city by assault, A.D. 614; it was regained by the Emperor Heraclius A.D. 629, and again taken by the Khalif Omar A.D. 636. After this it was successively under the dominion of the Persian Khalifs, of the Fatimites of Egypt, and of the Seljukians, in whose time the Crusades were commenced, owing to the preaching of Peter the Hermit. The Christian army, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, entered the Holy City A.D. 1099. The Latin kingdom was brought to an end by the victories of Saladin A.D. 1187. Sultan Malek el-Kamel ceded the city to Frederick II. of Germany, but it was recovered by the Mohammedans under Jenghiz Khan, A.D. 1244. It then remained subject to the different dynasties of the Sultans of Egypt and Syria, until it was conquered by the Turks under Selim I. A.D. 1517. Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt took possession of it A.D. 1832, but the Great Powers restored it to the Porte A.D. 1840[19]. The spirit of the present Turkish government, influenced as it is by the nations of Europe, induces us to think that a happier and more peaceful future is in store