traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. Franciscan and Russian monasteries surmount sites connected with the Baptist's birth and life.
Jerusalem.—Jerusalem's unique history can only be touched upon here in outline. We have seen (Part I., § 3) that Urusalim appears among the cities of Palestine in the fifteenth century B.C.; and as Jebus the city was captured by David from the Jebusites about 1000 B.C. Enlarged by Solomon and embellished with the First Temple, it became, after the division of the kingdom, the capital of Judaea. In the reign of Rehoboam the city surrendered to the Egyptian King Shishak, who despoiled Temple and Palace of much of their ornaments.
King Hezekiah endowed his capital with a water-supply and, at the approach of Sennacherib, repaired the fortifications. Jehoiakin surrendered it to Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the Temple and carried away to Babylon the king, together with thousands of the principal inhabitants. The attempt of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, to revolt led to the destruction of the city in 587 and to the second deportation of its inhabitants. After the return of the Jews from the Captivity in 538 the Second Temple was built by Nehemiah.
The Maccabean period has been referred to in Part I.; then came Herod the Great, a mighty builder, who aspired to renew in Jerusalem the glories of King Solomon. He built the Third Temple, erected a sumptuous royal palace protected by the towers Hippicus, Phasaël and Mariamne, and endowed his capital with municipal buildings, theatre and a circus for gymnastic games.
The subsequent vicissitudes of Jerusalem are so entirely bound up with the general history of Palestine (of which a sketch is given in Part I.) that it is needless to recall them here. The next outstanding date after the city's capture by Titus in 70 A.D. is its surrender to ʾOmar in 637. The Arabs treated the inhabitants with clemency, and permitted them to remain in the city on payment of the kharaj (poll-tax). The Khalif Harun al-Rashid is said actually to
