Proto-Canaanite period
45003500 BCE: First
settlement established near
Gihon Spring (earliest
archeological evidence)
c. 2000 BCE: First known
mention of the city (then
known as Rusalimum) in the
Middle Kingdom Egyptian
Execration Texts.[3][4] The
Semitic root S-L-M in the name
is thought to refer to either
"peace" (Salam or Shalom in
modern Arabic and Hebrew) or
Shalim, the god of dusk in the
Canaanite religion.
c. 1850 BCE: According to the
Book of Genesis, the Binding of
Isaac takes place on Mount
Moriah (see Chronology of the
Bible) Biblical scholars have
often interpreted the location
of the mountain to be
Jerusalem, although this is
disputed
c. 1700 BCE: Earliest
archeological evidence of stone
walls built around the city.
c.1700-1550 BCE: According
to Manetho (via Josephus'
Against Apion), the Hyksos
invade the region
Canaanite and New Kingdom
Egyptian period
c.15501400 BC: Jerusalem
becomes a vassal to Egypt as
the Egyptian New Kingdom
reunites Egypt and expands
into the Levant under Ahmose I
and Thutmose I.
c.1330 BC: Correspondence in
the Amarna letters between
Abdi-Heba, Canaanite ruler of
Jerusalem (then known as
Urusalim), and Amenhotep III,
suggesting the city was a
vassal to New Kingdom Egypt.
1178 BC: The Battle of Djahy
(Canaan) between Ramesses III
and the Sea Peoples marks the
beginning of the decline in
power of the New Kingdom in
the Levant during the Bronze
Age collapse (depicted on the
North Wall of the Medinet Habu
temple and the Papyrus Harris)
c. 1000 BC: According to the
Bible, Jerusalem is inhabited by
Jebusites and is known as
Jebus.
Independent Israel and Judah
(House of David) period
c. 1010 BCE: King David
attacks and captures Jerusalem.
Jerusalem becomes City of
David and capital of the United
Kingdom of Israel.[3] (Biblical
source only)
c. 962 BCE: King Solomon
builds the First Temple. (Biblical
source only)
c. 931930 BCE: Solomon
dies, and the Golden Age of
Israel ends. Jerusalem becomes
the capital of the (southern)
Kingdom of Judah led by
Rehoboam after the split of the
United Monarchy. (Biblical
source only)
925 BCE: Egyptian Sack of
Jerusalem Pharaoh Sheshonk
I of the Third Intermediate
Period invades Canaan
following the Battle of Bitter
Lakes. Possibly the same as
Shishak, the first Pharaoh
mentioned in the Bible who
captured and pillaged
Jerusalem (see Bubastite Portal)
853 BCE: The Battle of Qarqar
in which Jerusalem's forces
were likely involved in an
indecisive battle against
Shalmaneser III of Neo-Assyria
(Jehoshaphat of Judah was
allied to Ahab of the Israel
according to the Bible). (see
Kurkh Monoliths)
c.850 BCE: Jerusalem is
sacked by Philistines, Arabs and
Ethiopians, who looted King
Jehoram's house, and carried
off all of his family except for
his youngest son Jehoahaz.
(Biblical source only)
c.830 BCE: Hazael of Aram
Damascus conquers most of
Canaan. According to the Bible,
Jehoash of Judah gave all of
Jerusalem's treasures as a
tribute, but Hazael proceeded
to destroy "all the princes of
the people" in the city.
786 BCE: Jehoash of Israel
sacks the city, destroys the
walls and takes Amaziah of
Judah prisoner (Biblical sources
only)
c.740 BCE: Assyrian
inscriptions record military
victories of Tiglath Pileser III
over Uzziah of Judah.
Neo-Assyrian and Neo-
Babylonian Empires period
Illustration from the
Nuremberg Chronicle of the
destruction of Jerusalem under
the Babylonian rule
733 BCE: According to the
Bible, Jerusalem becomes a
vassal of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire[5] after Ahaz of Judah
appeals to Tiglath Pileser III of
the Neo-Assyrian Empire to
protect the city from Pekah of
Israel and Rezin of Aram.
Tiglath Pileser III subsequently
conquers most of the Levant. At
around this time, the Siege of
Gezer, 20 miles west of
Jerusalem, is recorded on a
stone relief at the Assyrian
royal palace in Nimrud
c. 712 BC: The Siloam Tunnel
is built in order to keep water
from the Gihon Spring inside
the city. According to the Bible
the tunnel was built by King
Hezekiah in preparation for a
siege by the Assyrians, along
with an expansion of
Jerusalem's fortifications
across the Tyropoeon Valley to
enclose the hill today known as
Mount Zion.[6]
712 BCE: Assyrian Siege of
Jerusalem Jerusalem pays
further tribute to the Neo-
Assyrian Empire after the Neo-
Assyrian King Sennacherib laid
siege to the city.
c.670 BCE: Manasseh, the
ruler of Jerusalem, is brought in
chains to the Assyrian king,
presumably for suspected
disloyalty.[7] (Biblical source
only)
c.627 BCE: The death of
Ashurbanipal and the
successful revolt of
Nabopolassar replaces the Neo-
Assyrian Empire with the Neo-
Babylonian Empire
609 BCE: Jerusalem becomes
part of the Empire of the
Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt
after Josiah of Judah is killed by
the army of Pharaoh Necho II
at the Battle of Megiddo.
Josiah's son Jehoahaz of Judah
is deposed by the Egyptians
and replaced as ruler of
Jerusalem by his brother
Jehoiakim.
605 BCE: Jerusalem switches
its tributary allegiance back to
the Neo-Babylonians after
Necho II is defeated by
Nebuchadnezzar II at the Battle
of Carchemish.
599597 BCE: first Babylonian
siege Nebuchadnezzar II
crushed a rebellion in the
Kingdom of Judah and other
cities in the Levant which had
been sparked by the Neo-
Babylonians failed invasion of
Egypt in 601. Jehoiachin of
Jerusalem deported to Babylon
(Biblical sources only)
5876 BCE: second
Babylonian siege
Nebuchadnezzar II fought
Pharaoh Apries's attempt to
invade Judah. Jerusalem mostly
destroyed including the First
Temple, and the city's
prominent citizens exiled to
Babylon (see Nebuchadnezzar
Chronicle)
582 BCE: Gedaliah the
Babylonian governor of Judah
assassinated, provoking
refugees to Egypt and a third
deportation (Biblical sources
only)
Persian (Achaemenid) Empire
period
539 BCE: Jerusalem becomes
part of the Eber-Nari satrapy of
the Achaemenid Empire after
King Cyrus the Great conquers
the Neo-Babylonian Empire by
defeating Nabonidus at the
Battle of Opis
Cyrus the Great issues the
Edict of Cyrus allowing
Babylonian Jews to return
from the Babylonian captivity
and rebuild the Temple
(Biblical sources only, see
Cyrus (Bible) and The Return
to Zion)[8]
The first wave of
Babylonian returnees is
Sheshbazzar's Aliyah (Biblical
sources only)
The second wave of
Babylonian returnees is
Zerubbabel's Aliyah (Biblical
sources only)
The return of Babylonian
Jews increases the schism
with the Samaritans, who
had remained in the region
during the Assyrian and
Babylonian deportations.
516 BCE: The Second Temple
is built on the 6th year of
Darius the Great (Biblical
sources only)
458 BCE: The third wave of
Babylonian returnees is Ezra's
Aliyah (Biblical sources only)
445 BCE: The fourth and final
wave of Babylonian returnees
is Nehemiah's Aliyah. Nehemiah
is the appointed governor of
Judah, and rebuilds the Old City
walls (Biblical sources only)
410 BCE: The Great Assembly
is established in Jerusalem.
350 BCE: Jerusalem revolts
against Artaxerxes III, along
with other cities of the Levant
and Cyprus. Artaxerxes III,
retakes the city and burns it
down in the process.