Note: This glossary offers brief
definitions and explanations of names and terms encountered
in the text. Where useful, the reader will be given bibliographic
references to explore the topic in greater depth.
If there are other words in the
text that you feel should be listed in this glossary, please
e-mail the instructor at jgrist@lehrhaus.org.
General Edmund Allenby (1861-1936),
commander of Britain's Egyptian Expeditionary Forces from
1917 to the end of World War I. Allenby replaced Sir Archibald
Murray, whose forces were held up at Gaza after two unsuccessful
attempts at taking the city. Allenby tricked Turkish forces
into believing he would attempt a third frontal assault
on Gaza, and advanced inland to take Beersheba by surprise.
This weakened the Turkish position in Gaza, forcing the
enemy to withdraw from the city. During the remainder of
the fall, 1917, Allenby's forces took the coastal port of
Jaffa, and finally secured Jerusalem in December. From there
he took his army of 35,000 troops through the treacherous
Megiddo Pass to strike successfully at Nazareth. By the
end of October, Allenby had forced Ottoman Turkey out of
the War, which would end on November 11.
Allenby was occasionally advised by
T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. Unconfirmed
stories claim that Allenby's daring raid through the Megiddo
Pass was actually Lawrence' suggestion. Lawrence had been
a graduate student of ancient history in Britain, and had
studied the campaigns of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tuthmosis
III who conquered Canaan 3,400 years before. Tuthmosis had
traveled through the same narrow pass to mount a successful
surprise attack on the Canaanite military coalition arrayed
against him at Megiddo. Allenby's fame was renewed in 1962
when Lawrence of Arabia was released. Allenby was
played with cynical genius by the British actor Jack Hawkins.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Ashkelon: Thirty-nine miles south of Tel Aviv and
only 10 miles north of Gaza, Ashkelon has ranked as a major
east Mediterranean port city since the Middle Bronze Age
(ca. 1900 BCE). This early city was built within massive
walls and a steep, reinforced sloped approach. Throughout
the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500-1200 BCE), Ashkelon retained
its typical Canaanite culture, although now strongly influenced
by Egypt's New Kingdom Empire. Although eclectic in its
outlook and affluent, the population practiced certain customs
found abhorrent to the Egyptians, including child sacrifice,
a ritual later associated with Phoenician/Punic culture.
With the arrival of the Sea Peoples (see below) around 1200
BCE, the influence of the arriving Aegean culture dominated
the later development of the city. It became one of the
great cities of the Pentapolis controlled by the best known
of the Sea Peoples Groups, the Philistines. The Philistines
would become Israel's worst enemy as the two cultures settled
into their respective spheres: the coastal plain for the
Sea Peoples, and the inland hills for the Israelites. Aside
from the pagan practices of the Philistines, recent excavations
have demonstrated that the Philistines were very fond of
pork, a food rejected by the Israelites even in this early
period. In the Iron Age II (ca. 900-550 BCE), the Philistines,
as the Israelites and Judeans, were threatened by the advancing
armies of the Assyrian Empire of what is now modern Iraq
and Syria. In 701, Judah, Philistia (including Ashkelon)
and Egypt formed an alliance against Assyria's King Sennacherib.
Although both Egypt and Judah survived the onslaught, the
Assyrians overthrew Ashkelon's King Sidqa and set up a pro-Assyrian
puppet. In 604 BCE,Ashkelon suffered a catastrophic destruction
at the hands of the man who would destroy Jerusalem nearly
20 years later: Nebuchadnezzar. This marked the end of Philistine
Ashkelon. Although the city would revive in later generations,
the characteristic Philistine-Canaanite culture disappeared.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Byblos: A Phoenician port city located 20 miles north
of Beirut in what is now Lebanon. Byblos is the name the
city went by in the Classical (Greco-Roman) Period, but
in the Biblical world, the city was known as Gebal,
which is preserved in its modern Arabic name, Jebail. An
important port town since the Fourth Millenium BCE, Byblos
developed a close cultural, commercial and political relationship
with Old Kingdom Egypt (ca. 2300 BCE). Taken over by the
local Hyksos, it became a highly fortified city-state. Egyptian
influence was partially restored around 1500 BCE, but Byblos
faced centuries of local conflict with other Canaanite cities,
until the arrival of the Sea Peoples (see below) around
1200 BCE. The city continued to thrive as a port center
as the distinct Phoencian culture emerged while the tribal
confederation of Israel began to define itself in the hill
country to the east and south. Byblos, along with Tyre,
Sidon and other Phoenician port cities, developed an affluent
and sophisticated culture. Solomon hired the craftsmen of
Tyre and other cities, including Byblos, to work on the
construction of the First Temple. As the centuries passed,
Byblos would be eclipsed by its Phoenician neighbor Tyre,
but would continue as a significant site, most recently
as a great Crusader fortress of the 12th century
CE.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Hazor: One of the great commercial and military centers
of the Canaanite and Israelite eras, the ruins of Hazor
are located 9 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Hazor emerged
as a major city in the Middle Bronze II period (ca. 1900-1550
BCE), and developed on two levels: a steep-sided upper city,
and a nearby broad and relatively spacious lower city. In
the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BCE), Hazor, like Megiddo
and Beth Shean to the south, were cities strongly influenced
and sometimes controlled by the New Kingdom Empire of Egypt.
Hazor enters the Biblical world in the book of Joshua, when
its king, Jabin, is overthrown by Joshua's forces, perhaps
sometime just before 1200 BCE. Hazor is also linked to the
battles of Deborah and Barak in Judges chapters 4-5. King
Solomon built impressive gateways at Hazor, Megiddo and
Gezer, all of which have been uncovered by archaeologists
in the last 90 years. I Kings 9 tells the story of Solomon's
rebuilding of these cities. Hazor's life as a major Biblical
city ended with its destruction by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser
III in 732 BCE, as part of the final destruction of the
northern kingdom of Israel. See Yigael Yadin, Hazor:
The Rediscovery of a Great Citadel of the Bible (New
York: Random House, 1975).
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Jericho: Possibly the oldest walled city on planet
Earth, Jericho began its life as a village or shrine center
perhaps as early as 9,000 BCE, with the first walled town
taking shape 1,000 years later. Located 6 miles north of
the Dead Sea and near sweet water springs, Jericho was blessed
in those early days with a tropical climate, some arable
land, and important local resources: dates, bitumen for
sealing baskets and early boats, sulphur, and, of course,
salt. Not only was Jericho the first walled city, it also
boasted a circular tower at least 25 feet high, the ultimate
forerunner of ancient and medieval turret towers. Though
occupied on and off for millenia, Jericho enters the Biblical
Period during the Middle Bronze II, the age of the Patriarchs
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (ca. 1900-1550 BCE). Although not
mentioned in the Genesis narratives of the Patriarchs, Jericho
was a great walled city at this time. Contradictory archaeological
evidence suggests that Jericho was destroyed perhaps around
1400 BCE, significantly earlier than the generally accepted
date range for the arrival of the Israelites in the area
(ca. 1250 BCE). If this is the case, the walls of Jericho
came tumbling down long before the Israelites arrived. Currently
there is no agreed certainty about the dating of the events
associated with the Israelites' arrival in the area, or
exactly what caused the walls to fall (perhaps an earthquake).
Jericho never revived as a major city, but the area around
Jericho did develop over time. Palace complexes were built
in the area by Hasmonean kings and Herod the Great in the
First century BCE. The early Islamic ruler Hisham also built
a magnificent palace complex there with impressive mosaics.
If Jericho interests you, try out this new book: Robert
Ruby, Jericho: Dreams, Ruins, Phantoms (New York:
Henry Holt and Co., 1995).
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Justinian: Byzantine Roman Emperor, 527-565 CE. Promulgator
of one of history's great law codes which governed the Byzantine
world until 1453, Justinian was also a colorful and controversial
character, not only in his absolute control of both civil
and relgious affairs of his Christian empire, but
in his choice of the actress Theodora as his empress. As
a builder, Justinian had no parallel in the early Middle
Ages. His greatest achievement, the Church of Hagia Sophia
in Istanbul, ranks as one of the greatest religious structures
of all time. In Jerusalem, Justinian built the largest church
the city ever saw: the Nea Church dedicated to Mary, the
mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Located on the southern slope
of the western hill of Jerusalem, the complex was so enormous,
Justinian's architects had to build enormous vaults to sustain
the platform on which the church, its monastery and a hospice
were built. The Nea Church never captured the imagination
of the Christian population, and was not rebuilt when an
earthquake badly damaged it in 746 CE.
Justinian's attitude toward the Jews
was hostile in the extreme. Jews could not hold official
positions in the imperial administration, nor were they
allowed to use Hebrew in their own synagogues. The Jewish
faith to Justinian was simply something that had to be exterminated.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Khnumhotep: High ranking noble of the Beni Hassan
district of Middle Egypt, ca. 2000 BCE. Many nobles and
local governors of Egypt's many nomes or provinces exercised
strong influence not only on local affairs but on the Pharaohs
of the Early Middle Kingdom. It is no surprise the Khnumhotep
would have the power and resources to command or invite
a group of Semitic workers and entertainers to his part
of Egypt. This era marks the beginning of the high point
of the Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, founded by Amenemhet
I. This king not only re-organized a country which had fallen
into a long period of anarchy, but began the process by
which the power of local nomarchs would be partially curbed.
Egyptian expeditions, both commercial and military, made
their way into Canaan during this period, especially to
great coastal cities like Byblos. Although contact was not
as constant or complex as it would be in the later New Kingdom
period (ca. 1550-1080 BCE), Egypt and Canaan were clearly
getting to know each other in what most scholars call the
Age of the Patriarchs in Canaan.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Lachish: a major Biblical city located roughly 35
miles southwest of Jerusalem, Lachish's life as a city spanned
over three millenia, from roughly 3500-150 BCE. It comes
into its own in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1200 BCE)
as a walled commercial and military center covering nearly
20 acres with an eclectic culture that included both typical
Canaanite features, and even what appears to be an Egyptian-style
chapel. Lachish enters the Biblical narrative in Joshua
10, where the Israelite tribes conquer and destroy the city.
Archaeology has confirmed that Lachish was destroyed not
long after 1150 BCE, but whether Israelites or Sea Peoples
(see below) were responsible remains uncertain.
Lachish remains an abandoned ruin
for roughly 200 years, being restored as a major fortress
town by the kings of Judah soon after the death of Solomon
(ca. 925 BCE) to serve as a defensive center against military
incursions from Philistia and Egypt. During this period,
Lachish was second only to Jerusalem as a major city in
the southern kingdom of Judah. In 701 BCE, Lachish lived
perhaps its most dramatic moment, one which has been preserved
in both words and pictures: from the Bible and from the
siege reliefs of the Assyrian King Sennacherib from his
Nineveh palace. The reliefs, now on display at the British
Museum, show Assyrian siege engines wheeled up against the
walls of the city as its defenders frantically attempt to
stem the Assyrian onslaught. Other reliefs reveal poignant
moments of survivors of the siege being taken off into slavery,
while other reliefs graphically depict Assyrian impalement
of Lachish defenders who were captured alive. While Lachish
did fall as part of Sennacherib's march to Jerusalem, the
capital itself was spared.
For a while, Lachish remained an abandoned
ruin until the reign of the Judean king Josiah, who undertook
significant military, political and religious reforms in
the kingdom. Lachish once again faced overwhelming force
when the armies of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar besieged
the city in 587/586 BCE on their way for the final attack
of Jerusalem. Once again Lachish fell, and soon afterward,
Jerusalem and its Temple. Lachish would rise again from
its ashes one more time to become an administrative and
religious center during the Persian occupation of Israel
(ca. 539-332 BCE).
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Melchizedek: Legendary and mythic priest king of
a town named Salem, perhaps Jerusalem. In Genesis 14, Abraham
returns from his victory over a coalition of five kings
and meets Melchizedek at or near Salem/Jerusalem. Abraham
tithes Melchizedek and Melchizedek blesses Abraham. This
appears to model a typical treaty relationship between a
local lord and vassal. Abraham appears to recognize both
the temporal and religious authority of Melchizedek in the
area. If Jerusalem was a walled city by this time (ca. 2000-1700
BCE), it might be the case that Melchizedek could command
authority over local wandering bedouin chieftains like Abraham.
It is interesting to note that centuries later, in the book
of Joshua, the king of Jerusalem is Adonizedek. Although
the spelling of his name varies in other texts, it is tempting
to see in the -zedek portion of the name a dynastic
title associated with the kings of Jerusalem dating back
at least to Melchizedek. Melchizedek took on legendary proportions
as a model king even in the later Biblical period, as witnessed
by this passage from Psalm 110: “The Lord has sworn and
will not repent; you are a priest forever after the manner
of Melchizedek. The Lord at your right hand crushes kings
in the day of His wrath.” By the era of the Dead Sea Scrolls
(ca. 100 BCE), Melchizedek had transcended his earthly bounds
and was now recognized as a divine judge.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Tranquil Dwellings): The first
Jewish ‘suburb' built outside the walls of the Old City
of Jerusalem (ca. 1860), inspired and funded by Sir Moses
Montefiore, a banker and philanthropist from Britain. A
series of simple row apartments with magnificent views of
the Old City walls, Mishkenot Sha'ananim marked the beginning
of the growth of many west Jerusalem suburbs for different
European and Arab communities. A windmill built by Montefiore
during this period stands to this day at the entrance to
the next expansion of the this neighborhood, Yemin Moshe.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Saladin (1138-1193): Perhaps the most charasmatic
and successful Muslim ruler of the Middle Ages, Saladin
advanced to the title of Vizier of Egypt in 1169, and gained
control of Syria in 1174. In 1187 he raced through what
is now Israel, conquering Tiberias and Jerusalem among other
cities. His siege and conquest of Jerusalem reflects his
character as a leader and as a person. Sorely tempted to
slaughter the Christian Crusaders of Jerusalem in the same
way the Crusaders had butchered the Muslims and Jews of
the city in 1099, Saladin chose the nobler path, in part
because the defending Crusaders threatened to destroy the
Muslim Dome of the Rock if the Muslim forces carried out
their threat of mass destruction. In the end, a peaceful
surrender of the city was arranged. The wealthier Christians
who were taken prisoner easily redeemed themselves with
nominal payments. Saladin also arranged for freedom for
many Christians who could not afford to pay a ransom. Saladin's
magnanimous treatment of the Christians was long remembered,
and he developed a reputation in Europe over the centuries
as a civilized conqueror, albeit heathen. Saladin was also
generous in his treatment of the Jewish community in his
realm. In 1190, he called on Jews to settle once again within
the walls of Jerusalem, since they had been banned from
the city during the Crusader occupation. The illustrious
Maimonides, one of medieval Judaism's greatest thinkers,
was court physician to Saladin.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Sea Peoples: Marauders of the eastern Mediterranean
who settled along the coast of Canaan, among other places.
The catylst for their advance to Canaan was the collapse
of the great maritime city-states of the Mycenaean Greek
world beginning around 1200 BCE. While Mediterranean pirates
had always been a problem to international trade, the disintegration
of the Greek city-states (due in part to population growth
pitted against drought (?) caused food shortages) led to
massive migrations of Aegean populations from Greece and
farther north into the eastern Mediterranean region. The
result was a catastrophic collapse or crippling of the great
empires of the last 500 years. Along with Mycenaean Greece,
the Hittite Empire of Anatolia collapsed. The Syrian trade
center of Ugarit was burned to the ground, and the empire
of Egypt nearly crumbled.
There were many groups associated
with the Sea Peoples, but the best known are the Philistines.
After a confederation of Sea Peoples forces failed to take
over the Egyptian Delta, Pharaoh Ramses III settled them
in Egyptian garrisons, with the Philistines being located
in and around the south Canaan Egyptian administrative city
of Gaza. Thus theEgyptians helped to create what would become
Israel's greatest enemy until the time of David: Philistia.
This new state was at first nothing more than an Egyptian
buffer zone administered by captured Aegean mercenaries.
Within a century (ca. 1100 BCE), the Egyptians had withdrawn,
and Philistia emerged as a small but powerful state with
the heritage of a sophisticated military organization descended
from Mycenaean Greek warriors. The best known of these Philstine
warriors is none other than Goliath, the over-armed giant
whom David brought down with a stone from his sling. David
later became a Philstine vassal king after King Saul of
Israel expelled him. In this period, David probably learned
much about Sea Peoples/Philistine military techniques that
would lead to his triumph over the Philistines and the other
enemies of Israel later in his life. David's success against
the Philistines secured the survival of Israel and guaranteed
that the Philistines were never expand inland beyond their
coastal base. Although they would give their name to the
land (Palestine), they would only occasionally occupy more
than the coastal area we now know as the Gaza Strip.
Other Sea Peoples groups include the
mysterious Danuna, perhaps related to the Danaoi
known from Homer's Iliad. Recent studies of the Danuna
and their settlement in Canaan suggest there may be some
link between them and the Israelite tribe of Dan. Dan's
most famous son, Samson, is pictured in the narratives of
the book of Judges as a fun-loving, brawling, riddle-posing
character more typical of Greek mythology than Biblical
literature. Could it be that one of the 12 tribes of Israel
had Greeks among its founding fathers?
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Sennacherib: Ruler of the Assyrian Empire, 705-681
BCE. With the sudden death of his father, Sargon II, Sennacherib
faced the typical Assryian dilemma: the subject states of
his empire hated Assyria so intensely that they welcomed
the death of the old king as a new opportunity to rebel
from Assyrian domination. Sennacherib barely had time to
warm his throne before he went on a two year campaign (704-702)
to suppress rebellion in Babylon and Elam in the south of
the empire. During this time, more distant states had rebelled
as well, including the vassal states of Judah, and some
of the Philistine city-states. Encouraged by the re-emerging
power of Egypt, King Hezekiah of Judah saw an opportunity
to reject an Assyrian hegemony which had lasted for two
generations.
When Sennacherib had finally secured
the southern reaches of the empire, he moved west in 701
BCE. Taking out Phoenician and south Syrian opposition,
he moved on Judah and Philistia. Although Egypt sent an
army under the future Pharaoh Taharqa, available evidence
indicates that they did little more than blunt the Assyrian
advance toward Egypt. The remainder of the campaign from
the Biblical perspective can be found in the main text and
sidebars of this course. What's especially interesting about
Sennacherib is that he left us his own version of the campaign
against Jerusalem in 701 BCE. The following passage is excerpted
from Sennacherib's own annals of the war:
As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did
not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong
cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages
in their vicinity, and conquered (them) by means of well-stamped
(earth)-ramps, and battering-rams brought (thus) near (to
the walls)(combined with) the attack by foot soldiers, (using)
mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out of them
200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses,
mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting,
and considered (them) booty. (Hezekiah) himself I made a
prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird
in a cage. I surrounded him with earth work in order to
molest those who were leaving his city's gate. His towns
which I plundered, I took away from his country and gave
them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, Padi, king of Ekron, and
Sillibel, king of Gaza. Thus I reduced his country, but
I still increased the tribute and the kutru presents
due to me (as his) overlord which I imposed later on him
beyond the former tribute, to be delivered annually. Hezekiah
himself, whom the terror-inspiring splendor of my lordship
had overwhelmed and whose irregular and elite troops which
he had brought into Jerusalem, his royal residence, in order
to strengthen it, had deserted him, did send me, later,
to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with 30 talents of
gold, 800 talents of silver, precious stones, antimony,
large cuts of red stone, couches inlaid with ivory, nimedu
chairs inlaid with ivory, elephant-hides, ebony wood,
boxwood and all kinds of valuable treasures, his own daughters,
concubines, male and female musicians. In order to deliver
the tribute and to do obeisance as a slave he sent his (personal)
messenger.
[Source: James Pritchard (ed.)
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament,
3d ed., 1969, p. 288.]
In exploring this text and the Biblical
sources for the campaign, it's clear that Sennacherib destroyed
and/or captured nearly everything but Jerusalem. The fact
that he describes Jerusalem as a cage in which he locked
Hezekiah is a braggart's way of admitting Sennacherib did
not conquer Jerusalem. On the other hand, the II Kings Biblical
account of the campaign adds the interesting detail that
Hezekiah sued for peace after the destruction of Lachish,
and paid Sennacherib a heavy tribute. This is one of those
rare instances in ancient history where we get all sides
of the story: Sennacherib's, Hezekiah's, and God's (via
Isaiah, of course).
The Biblical postscript to Sennacherib's
campaign is quite true. He was indeed assassinated by his
sons, a not uncommon method of succession in Assyria. But
Sennacherib was killed fully 20 years after the Jerusalem
siege, whereas the Biblical account suggests that he was
knocked off almost as soon as he got off his horse from
the campaign.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Shechem: Located 40 miles north of Jerusalem, Shechem
figures as a major Biblical city from the age of the Patriarchs
(ca. 1900 BCE) all the way to the Hasmonean period (ca.
100 BCE). Abraham visited Shechem when he migrated from
Haran in Syria, but it is in the story cycle of his grandson
Jacob where Shechem plays a major role. Here, Jacob's daughter
Dinah was raped by a prince of the town. Although the prince
of Shechem offered to marry Dinah and even agreed to join
Jacob's clan through the covenant of circumcision, Jacob's
sons took matters into their own hands and wiped out the
city (Genesis 34). Archaeological work at Shechem indicates
that the city was a large and powerful commercial and military
center between 1900-1300 BCE. The book of Judges recounts
the story of Abimelech (chap. 9) who gained the support
of Shechem in his bid to become the first king of the Israelite
tribes. When the city revolted, he destroyed it. Shechem
was the site of the coronation of Solomon's son, Rehoboam,
but it soon broke away from Jerusalem's control when Solomon's
empire collapsed, becoming part of the northern Jewish kingdom
of Israel under Jeroboam I. For a while, the city served
as the capital of the breakaway kingdom, but ultimately
Samaria was established as the permanent center of the new
state.Shechem was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722, as
part of the final conquest of Israel by the Assyrians. For
nearly 400 years, the city lay in ruins, until it was rebuilt
by an offshoot of the Jewish faith and people known as the
Samaritans. They built their own capital and temple there,
which for some time rivaled Jerusalem in importance. Finally,
the Hasmonean kingdom established by the Maccabees and centered
in Jerusalem invaded the north and ended the Shechem-Jerusalem
rivalry by destroying the city and its temple on Mt. Gerizim
in 107 BCE. A postscript: in 1995, Israeli archaeologists
discovered what they believe to be the Samaritan temple
on Mt. Gerizim. Since the Samaritan temple was modeled on
the Temple in Jerusalem, archaeologists may soon have new
insights about the building and the cult of the Jerusalem
temple as well as that of the Samaritans.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Stibium: a compound based on
antimony used in ancient cosmetics.
Suleiman: Ottoman Turkish sultan from 1520-1566.
A gifted ruler on almost every count, Suleiman drew his
name from the wise Israelite king Solomon, and the Jewish
community of his empire recognized as a worthy bearer of
the name. Early in his reign, Suleiman distinguished himself
for significant reforms in the legal system of the empire,
and then further enhanced his reputation by taking his armies
into southeastern Europe, all the way to the gates of Vienna.
Aside from his impressive work in Jerusalem, Suleiman showed
great tolerance and respect for the Jewish communities within
his realm. Like Saladin, Suleiman had a talented Jew, Moses
Hamon, as his court physician and unofficial advisor. One
of his highest ranking foreign affairs advisors was Don
Joseph Nasi, who convinced Suleiman to press Pope Paul IV
to release marrano Jews who were held prisoner by the Italian
Inquisition.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
Yemin Moshe: (see also Mishkenot
Sha'ananim, above). An early Jewish suburb of western
Jerusalem, founded next to the original Jewish settlement
outside the Old City, Mishkenot Sha'ananim. The brainchild
of Yosef Rivlin and David Yellin and funded by Sir Moses
Montefiore, Yemin Moshe was envisioned as an artists colony.
In fact, the first buildings were used as the site of a
weaving factory, then a hospital. The problem was that the
area was easy prey for local marauders. Rivlin himself courageously
moved into one of the houses as his permanent residence.
His relatives inside the Old City were so afraid for his
safety that they ran out the main gate when it opened each
morning to see if Rivlin was still alive!. Today Yemin Moshe
is one of the most picturesque and treasured of Jerusalem's
many neighborhoods.
To return to the main document,
click on the back arrow button on your web browser.
