From Nehemiah to Alexander's conquest of the East. Jerusalem enjoyed a century of quiet pros perity under Persian rule. Whether the con queror visited the city is doubtful. For a hun dred years after Alexander. Jerusalem was sub jeet to Egypt, and though Ptolemy I. is said to have worked sonic devastation (Josephus. Ant., xii. 11 this century was one of prosperity. The high priest Simon TT. (c. 220-200 n.e.) was an able ruler and did much to improve the city (see Ecelus. 1. 1-41. In ri.c. 197 Jerusalem passed to the control of the GrTeo-Syrian King than of Antioch. The growth of a liberal Hellen /stie party in Jerusalem and the opposition it stirred up led to troublous times. At the acces sion of Antiochus IA% Epiphanes. n.e. 175. a member of the pro-Greek party, was high priest and a gymnasium was erected in .fernsalem. These measures enraged the con servative element, and so bitter Was the opposi tion that Antiochus IV. in lax. 168 determined to put an end to the Jewish faith. Great mas sacres took place in Jerusalem, the walls Were broken down, a strong fortress, built on the site of the old City of David, was fined With a Syrian garrison, and finally, in December. Iliti, the tem ple was defiled. the altar polluted by sacrifice of swine and by the erection thereon of an altar or statue) to Jupiter. This Wits the 'abomina tion of desolation' (cf. Dan. xi. 31; 1. .1\laec. i.; II. Mace. iii.-vii.; and Josephus. XII. v. 1-4). After the first victories of Judas Altieca hams and his brothers, the temple was purified. worship restored (B.C. 165), and the temple hill strongly fortified. In me. 1-12 the Syrian garri son evaeuated the fortress of the City of David, south of the temple (I. Mace. xiii. 4953). The Jews, under the leadership of Simon Maccabams, now restored and greatly strengthened the old walls (I. Mace. xiv. 37). One great change was wrought by Simon in the general appearance of the city. The hill on which the old City of David had stood was leveled and greatly reduced in height so as to make the temple hill eommand the whole eastern part of the city. The result was that the ravine between the two eastern hills was DOW entirely filled up, and its existence was soon entirely forgotten. (Josephus, Wa rs, V. iv. 1, according to the correct interpretation.) Under the As11101101111ti Jerusalem entered on an unprecedented et-a of prosperity. It was now the
great. pilgrim shrine of the .Jewish world. A palace was built on the hills west of the temple mount. the Tyropmon Valley being bridged to permit of access to the temple. The liira northwest of the temple was also greatly strengthened. The capture of the city by Porn pey. u.c. 03. entailed no serious disaster. The acme of prosperity was attained under 'Herod the Great (n.c. 37). Besides a emnldete struction of the temple on a scale truly mag nificent, involving the expenditure of vast sums of money, he built the Xystns. an open place stir rounded by a gallery beneath the palace of the .Asmoncans, his own great palace on the north western part of the western hill. with its three massive towers Phasael, Ilippicus. and Mari:mine, the large reservoir Amygdalon north of the pal ace, a hippodmme probably south of the temple mount, and a theatre somewhere in the south part of the city. In addition to these great works many minor improvements were irmile, such as paving, draining. leveling, and the gen eral strengthening of the fortifications. Other improvements were undertaken after Herod's day, such as the palaces built by the royal family of Adiabene on the southern extension of the temple hill (Josephus. IVarg, IV. ix. II: V. vi. 1; VI. vi. 3). the enlargement of the Asmonean palace by Agrippa 11. A.D. 62 (Joseplrus. Ant.. XX., viii. 11) and the third wall, begun by Agrippa I. (a.n. 41-441, completed shortly before the siege by the Romans. rendered necessary by the growth of the city to the northwest and north. Such was the Jerusalem of New Testament times.
According to Josephus the different quarters of the city were known as (1) the upper city, i.e. the high southwest hill; (2) the temple area (3) the lower city or Akra, the portion of the eastern hill south of the temple hill; (4) the 'new city.' or Bezetha, i.e. the quarter north of the temple hill ; and (3) the 'northern' quarter, i.e. north of the old (first) wall and west of the temple. cf. Josephus. Wars, V. iv. 1.
This with its beautiful palaces and more beautiful temple was laid in ruins in the terrible and capture by the Romans under Titus. A.D. 70 (cf. Josephus, Wars, Books V., VI., aml i. 1). Only a few remnants of the western fortifications were left standing. With this catastrophe the history of ancient Jerusalem came to its close.