Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
congregate in the place year after year. Other sacred sites
are not so fortunate. Some of the most contentious sites
are in Jerusalem, a city that three major world religions
regard as holy.
Abraham and the destruction of the temples and to offer
prayers. The name “Wailing Wall” evokes the sounds of
mourning over the temple's demise made by Jewish pil-
grims and recognizes the suffering of Jews over time.
For Christians, Jerusalem is sacred both because
of the sacrifi ce Abraham was willing to make of his
son at the Temple Mount and because Jesus' crucifi x-
ion took place outside of the city's walls. Jesus was then
buried near the Cross (Jews only allowed kings to be
buried inside the city walls) in a tomb Roman Emperor
Constantine marked with a basilica that is now the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Fig. 7.21). Christians
believe that from that tomb Jesus rose from the dead
on Easter. For centuries the Roman, and then the
Byzantine, Empire controlled the city and protected
their sacred site.
In the seventh century, Muslim armies took control
over the city from the Byzantine Empire. Muslims con-
structed a mosque called the Dome of the Rock adjacent to
the Western Wall to mark the site where Muslims believe
Muhammad arrived from Mecca and then ascended into
heaven (Fig. 7.20). The site Jews call Temple Mount
is called al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) by
Muslims.
Christians and Muslims fought the Crusades of the
Middle Ages over the question of who should control
the sacred land of Jerusalem. Between 1095 and 1199,
Sacred Sites of Jerusalem
The ancient city of Jerusalem is sacred to Jews,
Christians, and Muslims. Jews saw Jerusalem as sacred
before the birth of Jesus, but most Jews fl ed from the
city and surrounding area during the diaspora. For
Jews, Jerusalem remained sacred even though they did
not control it, and when the Zionist movement gained
strength, Jews set their sights on controlling the sacred
city once again. The most important sacred site for Jews
is the Western Wall (also called the Wailing Wall), at
the edge of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Fig. 7.20).
The Temple Mount was the site of the two great tem-
ples of the Jewish people. Occupying the top of a mod-
est hill where, according to the Torah (the sacred book
of Judaism that is also part of the Old Testament of
Christianity's sacred book, the Bible), Abraham almost
sacrifi ced his son Isaac. On this hill, Jews built two
temples, each of which was destroyed by invaders. The
Western Wall is all that remains of the second temple,
and Jews gather in the place to remember the story of
Figure 7.20
Jerusalem, Israel.
The Western
Wall (foreground, right), which is
sacred to Jews, stands right next
to the Dome of the Rock (back-
ground, left), which is sacred to
Muslims.
© Alexander B. Murphy.
