Jerusalem

===Classical antiquity===
==== Second Temple period ====
{{main|Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period|}}

In 538 BCE, the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] [[List of kings of Persia|King]] [[Cyrus the Great]] invited the [[Babylonian captivity|Jews of Babylon]] to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra%201:1-4;%206:1-5&version=51; |title=Ezra 1:1–4; 6:1–5 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |access-date=11 September 2010 |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218083809/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezra%201:1-4;%206:1-5&version=NLT |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuhrt |first=Amélie |date=1983 |title=The Cyrus Cylinder and Achaemenid Imperial Policy |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030908928300802507?journalCode=jota |journal=Journal for the Study of the Old Testament |volume=8 |issue=25 |pages=83–97 |doi=10.1177/030908928300802507 |s2cid=170508879 |issn=0309-0892 |access-date=5 February 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124100957/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030908928300802507?journalCode=jota |url-status=live}}</ref> Construction of the [[Second Temple of Jerusalem|Second Temple]] was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of [[Darius I of Persia|Darius the Great]], 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Between Rome and Jerusalem: 300 Years of Roman-Judaean Relations |url=https://archive.org/details/betweenromejerus00sick |url-access=limited |last=Sicker |first=Martin |isbn=978-0-275-97140-3 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |date=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/betweenromejerus00sick/page/n14 2]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period2-3.htm |publisher=Boston University |title=Center of the Persian Satrapy of Judah (539–323) |last=Zank |first=Michael |access-date=22 January 2007 |archive-date=14 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414190206/http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period2-3.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

Sometime soon after 485 BCE Jerusalem was besieged, conquered and largely destroyed by a coalition of neighbouring states.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Morgenstern |first=Julian |author-link=Julian Morgenstern |year=1938 |title=A Chapter in the History of the High-Priesthood (Concluded) |journal=The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |volume=55 (October 1938) |pages=360–77 |jstor=3088118 |quote=there is a great mass of evidence scattered throughout biblical literature that at some time very soon after the accession of Xerxes to the Persian throne in 485 B.C. Jerusalem was besieged and captured by a coalition of hostile neighboring states, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Philistia. Its walls were torn down, its buildings razed, the Temple itself burned and destroyed, at least in part, and the great mass of the people scattered... |number=4 |doi=10.1086/amerjsemilanglit.55.4.3088118 |s2cid=147434998}}</ref> In about 445 BCE, King [[Artaxerxes I of Persia]] issued a decree allowing the city (including its walls) to be rebuilt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah%201:3;%202:1-8;&version=51; |title=Nehemiah 1:3; 2:1–8 |publisher=Biblegateway.com |access-date=11 September 2010 |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218083737/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Nehemiah%201:3;%202:1-8;&version=NLT |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=May 2017}} Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and centre of Jewish worship.

[[File:Jerusalem Modell BW 2.JPG|thumb|[[Holyland Model of Jerusalem]], depicting the city during the late [[Second Temple period]]. First created in 1966, it is continuously updated according to advancing archaeological knowledge.]]

Many Jewish tombs from the [[Second Temple period]] have been unearthed in Jerusalem. One example, discovered north of the [[Old City of Jerusalem|Old City]], contains human remains in a 1st-century CE [[ossuary]] decorated with the Aramaic inscription "Simon the Temple Builder".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/ossuary-bearing-an-aramaic-inscription-reading-simon-builder-of-the-temple-unknown/hQGSBSy2J5gGmQ |title=Ossuary bearing an Aramaic inscription reading, "Simon, builder of the Temple" – Unknown |website=Google Arts & Culture |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=10 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810204811/https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/ossuary-bearing-an-aramaic-inscription-reading-simon-builder-of-the-temple-unknown/hQGSBSy2J5gGmQ |url-status=live}}</ref> The Tomb of Abba, also located north of the Old City, bears an Aramaic inscription with [[Paleo-Hebrew]] letters reading: "I, Abba, son of the priest Eleaz(ar), son of Aaron the high (priest), Abba, the oppressed and the persecuted, who was born in Jerusalem, and went into exile into Babylonia and brought (back to Jerusalem) Mattathi(ah), son of Jud(ah), and buried him in a cave which I bought by deed."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Jerusalem-%20Burial |title=Archaeological Sites in Israel-Jerusalem- Burial Sites and Tombs of the Second Temple Period |work=GxMSDev |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731154454/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Archaeological%20Sites%20in%20Israel%20-%20Jerusalem-%20Burial |archive-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> 

The [[Tomb of Benei Hezir]] located in [[Kidron Valley]] is decorated by monumental [[Doric columns]] and Hebrew inscription, identifying it as the burial site of [[Second Temple]] priests. The [[Tombs of the Sanhedrin]], an underground complex of 63 rock-cut tombs, is located in a public park in the northern Jerusalem neighbourhood of [[Sanhedria]]. These tombs, probably reserved for members of the [[Sanhedrin]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Har-El |first=Menashe |title=Golden Jerusalem |publisher=Gefen Publishing House |location=Jerusalem |year=2004 |isbn=978-965-229-254-4 |url={{Google books |id=9Z2cFY9iGqgC |page=107 |plainurl=yes}} |access-date=18 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |id=7MK_spizMQwC |page=79 |plainurl=yes}} |title=Jerusalem, Part 1: 1–704 |editor1=Hannah M. Cotton |editor2=Leah Di Segni |editor3=Werner Eck |editor4=Benjamin Isaac |editor5=Alla Kushnir-Stein |editor6=Haggai Misgav |editor7=Jonathan Price |editor8=Israel Roll |editor9=Ada Yardeni |page=79 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2010 |access-date=18 September 2013}}</ref> and inscribed by ancient Hebrew and Aramaic writings, are dated to between 100 BCE and 100 CE.

When [[Alexander the Great]] conquered the [[Achaemenid Empire]], Jerusalem and [[Judea]] came under Macedonian control, eventually falling to the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] under [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy I]]. In 198 BCE, [[Ptolemy V Epiphanes]] lost Jerusalem and Judea to the [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucids]] under [[Antiochus III the Great|Antiochus III]]. The [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] attempt to recast Jerusalem as a [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenized]] [[polis|city-state]] came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful [[Maccabees|Maccabean revolt]] of [[Mattathias]] and his five sons against [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]], and their establishment of the [[Hasmonean]] Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem as its capital.

[[File:Half Shekel.jpg|right|thumb|[[First Jewish Revolt coinage|A coin issued by the Jewish rebels]] in 68 CE. [[Obverse]]: "[[Shekel]], Israel. Year 3". [[Obverse and reverse|Reverse]]: "Jerusalem the Holy", in the [[Paleo-Hebrew alphabet]]]]
[[File:Roberts Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|''The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans'' (David Roberts, 1850)]]

In 63 BCE, [[Pompey the Great]] intervened in a struggle for the Hasmonean throne and captured Jerusalem, extending the influence of the [[Roman Republic]] over Judea.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiffman |first=Lawrence H. |title=From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism |publisher=Ktav Publishing House |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-88125-371-9 |pages=60–79}}</ref> Following a short invasion by [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], backing the rival Hasmonean rulers, Judea became a scene of struggle between pro-Roman and pro-Parthian forces, eventually leading to the emergence of an [[Edom]]ite named Herod. As [[Roman Empire|Rome]] became stronger, it installed [[Herod the Great|Herod]] as a [[Vassal state|client king]] of the Jews. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and [[Herod's Temple|expanded the Temple Mount]], buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.<ref name="wwbible" /><ref name="HarEl68">{{Cite book |last=Har-El |first=Menashe |title=This Is Jerusalem |publisher=Canaan Publishing House |pages=[https://archive.org/details/thisisjerusalem0000hare/page/68 68–95] |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-86628-002-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/templemount.html |title=The Temple Mount |last=Zank |first=Michael |publisher=Boston University |access-date=22 January 2007 |archive-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021200443/http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Michael_Zank/Jerusalem/templemount.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Shortly after Herod's death, in 6 CE Judea came under direct Roman rule as the [[Iudaea Province]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Historical Jesus: the life of a Mediterranean Jewish peasant |url=https://archive.org/details/historicaljesusl00cros |url-access=limited |last=Crossan |first=John Dominic |author-link=John Dominic Crossan |isbn=978-0-06-061629-8 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=San Francisco |date=26 February 1993 |edition=Reprinted |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaljesusl00cros/page/92 92] |quote=from 4 BCE until 6 CE, when Rome, after exiling [[Herod Archelaus]] to Gaul, assumed direct prefectural control of his territories}}</ref> although the Herodian dynasty through [[Agrippa II]] remained client kings of neighbouring territories until 96 CE.

Roman rule over Jerusalem and Judea was challenged in the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73 CE), which ended with a Roman victory. Early on, the city was devastated by a [[Zealot Temple Siege|brutal civil war]] between several Jewish factions fighting for control of the city. In 70 CE, the Romans [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Weksler-Bdolah |first=Shlomit |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1170143447 |title=Aelia Capitolina – Jerusalem in the Roman period: in light of archaeological research |date=16 December 2019 |isbn=978-90-04-41707-6 |pages=3 |publisher=BRILL |oclc=1170143447 |quote=Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, a new era began in the city's history. The Herodian city was destroyed and a military camp of the Tenth Roman Legion established on part of the ruins. In around 130 CE, the Roman emperor Hadrian founded a new city in place of Herodian Jerusalem next to the military camp. He honored the city with the status of a colony and named it Aelia Capitolina. |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326024152/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1170143447 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1016414322 |title=Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-029127-8 |pages=25 |oclc=1016414322 |quote=The capitulation of the rest of Jerusalem was rapid. Those parts of the lower city already under Roman control were deliberately set on fire. The erection of new towers to break down the walls of the upper city was completed on 7 Elul (in mid-August), and the troops forced their way in. By 8 Elul the whole city was in Roman hands—and in ruins. In recompense for the ferocious fighting they had been required to endure, the soldiers were given free rein to loot and kill, until eventually Titus ordered that the city be razed to the ground, "leaving only the loftiest of the towers, Phasael, Hippicus and Mariamme, and the portion of the wall enclosing the city on the west: the latter as an encampment for the garrison that was to remain, and the towers to indicate to posterity the nature of the city and of the strong defences which had yet yielded to Roman prowess. All the rest of the wall encompassing the city was so completely levelled to the ground as to leave future visitors to the spot no ground for believing that it had ever been inhabited."}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Ben-Ami |first1=Doron |last2=Tchekhanovets |first2=Yana |date=2011 |title=The Lower City of Jerusalem on the Eve of Its Destruction, 70 CE: A View From Hanyon Givati |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=364 |pages=61–85 |doi=10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |s2cid=164199980 |issn=0003-097X |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326055131/https://dx.doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.364.0061 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=R. |first=Jones, Kenneth |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/787865898 |title=Jewish reactions to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 : Apocalypses and related Pseudepigrapha |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-21027-1 |oclc=787865898 |quote=Scholarly attention has focused primarily on the texts of Josephus to recapture Jewish opinion in the years after the failure and suppression of the first revolt which ended, excepting the reduction of a few fortresses, with the burning of the temple and razing of Jerusalem. |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327021328/https://search.worldcat.org/title/787865898 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zissu |first=Boaz |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/988856967 |title=Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries: The Interbellum 70‒132 CE |date=2018 |others=Joshua Schwartz, Peter J. Tomson |isbn=978-90-04-34986-5 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=19 |chapter=Interbellum Judea 70-132 CE: An Archaeological Perspective |oclc=988856967 |access-date=18 March 2022 |archive-date=21 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521160814/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/988856967 |url-status=live}}</ref> The contemporary Jewish historian [[Josephus]] wrote that the city "was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation."<ref>Josephus, Jewish War, 7:1:1</ref> Of the 600,000 (Tacitus) or 1,000,000 (Josephus) Jews of Jerusalem, all of them either died of starvation, were killed or were sold into slavery.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sebag Montefiore |first1=Simon |title=Jerusalem : The Biography |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-307-28050-3 |edition=First Vintage books |location=New York |page=11}}</ref> Roman rule was again challenged during the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], beginning in 132 CE and suppressed by the Romans in 135 CE. More recent research indicates that the Romans had founded Aelia Capitolina before the outbreak of the revolt, and found no evidence for Bar Kokhba ever managing to hold the city.<ref name="EncJud">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bar Kokhba |page=162 |editor-last1=Berenbaum |editor-first1=Michael |editor-last2=Skolnik |editor-first2=Fred |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Judaica |publisher=Thomson Gale |series=Quoting from [[Shimon Gibson|Gibson, Shimon]]. ''Encyclopaedia Hebraica'' (2 ed.) |volume=3 |edition=2 |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-02-865931-2}}</ref>

Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period, when the city covered {{cvt|2|km2|sqmi|spell=in|abbr=off|frac=4}} and had a population of 200,000.<ref name="ERPplaces" /><ref name="HarEl68" />

==== Late Antiquity ====
{{main|Aelia Capitolina||l2 = }}

Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor [[Hadrian]] combined [[Iudaea Province]] with neighbouring provinces under the new name of ''[[Syria Palaestina]]'', replacing the name of Judea.<ref>Elizabeth Speller, {{Google books |id=3c8kB3m0r8kC |page=218 |title=Following Hadrian: A Second-Century Journey Through the Roman Empire}}, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 218</ref> The city was renamed [[Aelia Capitolina]],<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/people&p.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310053409/http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/people%26p.htm |archive-date=10 March 2008 |title=Palestine: People and Places |access-date=18 April 2007 |last=Lehmann |first=Clayton Miles |encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces |publisher=The University of South Dakota |url-status=dead}}</ref> and rebuilt it in the style of a typical Roman town. Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year, during the holiday of [[Tisha B'Av]]. Taken together, these measures,<ref name="Schäfer2003">{{cite book |author=Peter Schäfer |title=The Bar Kokhba war reconsidered: new perspectives on the second Jewish revolt against Rome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TA-Fg4wBnUC&pg=PA36 |access-date=4 December 2011 |year=2003 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-148076-8 |pages=36– |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218083810/https://books.google.com/books?id=1TA-Fg4wBnUC&pg=PA36 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ERPplaces>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310053428/http://www.usd.edu/erp/Palestine/history.htm |archive-date=10 March 2008 |title=Palestine: History |access-date=18 April 2007 |date=22 February 2007 |last=Lehmann |first=Clayton Miles |encyclopedia=The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces |publisher=The University of South Dakota}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |chapter=Judaism to Mishnah: 135–220 C.E |title=Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of their Origins and Early Development |editor=Hershel Shanks |year=1996 |location=Washington, DC |page=196 |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society}}</ref> which also affected Jewish Christians,<ref>Emily Jane Hunt, {{Google books |id=Dn5ERgK0djMC |page=7 |title=Christianity in the second century: the case of Tatian}}, Psychology Press, 2003, p. 7</ref> essentially "secularized" the city.<ref>E. Mary Smallwood {{Google books |id=nw0VAAAAIAAJ |page=460 |title=The Jews under Roman rule: from Pompey to Diocletian : a study in political relations}} Brill, 1981, p. 460.</ref> Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that the rebuilt city was now inhabited by veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire.<ref>Klein, E. (2010), "The Origins of the Rural Settlers in Judean Mountains and Foothills during the Late Roman Period", In: E. Baruch., A. Levy-Reifer and A. Faust (eds.), New Studies on Jerusalem, Vol. 16. Ramat-Gan, p. 325-327 (Hebrew). "Following the failure of the revolt, the process of the Roman administration's takeover of the city's lands and its surroundings was completed [...] The historical sources confirm that Hadrian gave the city the status of a colony of the citizens of Rome, a title that was awarded almost exclusively to cities where veterans and their families lived. [...] The totality of the data allows us to conclude that a significant component of the population of Ilia Capitolina is the veterans of the Roman army and settlers from the west of the empire."</ref>

The ban against Jews was maintained until the 7th century,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period3-2.htm |last=Zank |first=Michael |publisher=Boston University |title=Byzantian Jerusalem |access-date=1 February 2007 |archive-date=4 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104004345/http://www.bu.edu/mzank/Jerusalem/p/period3-2.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> though Christians would soon be granted an exemption: during the 4th century, the [[Roman emperor]] [[Constantine I]] ordered the construction of Christian holy sites in the city, including the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]. Burial remains from the Byzantine period are exclusively Christian, suggesting that the population of Jerusalem in Byzantine times probably consisted only of Christians.<ref>Gideon Avni, {{Google books |id=ZLucAgAAQBAJ |page=144 |title=The Byzantine-Islamic Transition in Palestine: An Archaeological Approach}}, Oxford University Press 2014 p. 144.</ref>

[[File:Madaba map.jpg|thumb|right|The Byzantine [[Madaba Map]] showing the city, dating to the 5th century AD, it is the oldest surviving [[Cartography of Jerusalem|depiction of Jerusalem]].]]

In the 5th century, the eastern continuation of the [[Roman Empire]], ruled from the recently renamed [[Constantinople]], maintained control of the city. Within the span of a few decades, Jerusalem shifted from Byzantine to [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] rule, then back to Roman-Byzantine dominion. Following [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] [[Khosrau II]]'s early 7th century push through Syria, his generals [[Shahrbaraz]] and [[Shahin Vahmanzadegan|Shahin]] attacked Jerusalem ({{lang-fa|Dej Houdkh}}) aided by the Jews of [[Palaestina Prima]], who had risen up against the Byzantines.<ref name=Strategos>{{Cite book |last=Conybeare |first=Frederick C. |author-link=Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare |title=The Capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 AD |series=English Historical Review 25 |year=1910 |pages=502–17}}</ref>

In the [[Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem|Siege of Jerusalem of 614]], after 21 days of relentless [[siege|siege warfare]], Jerusalem was captured. Byzantine chronicles relate that the Sassanids and Jews slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the city, many at the [[Mamilla Pool]],<ref>[http://tourism.gov.il/Tourism_Euk/Articles/Attractions/Hidden+Treasures+in+Jerusalem.htm Hidden Treasures in Jerusalem] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106095244/http://tourism.gov.il/Tourism_Euk/Articles/Attractions/Hidden+Treasures+in+Jerusalem.htm |date=6 January 2017 }}, the Jerusalem Tourism Authority</ref><ref>Jerusalem blessed, Jerusalem cursed: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy City from David's time to our own. By Thomas A. Idinopulos, I.R. Dee, 1991, p. 152</ref> and destroyed their monuments and churches, including the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]. This episode has been the subject of much debate between historians.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96507514 |last=Horowitz |first=Elliot |publisher=Jewish Social Studies |title=Modern Historians and the Persian Conquest of Jerusalem in 614 |access-date=20 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526181012/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=96507514 |archive-date=26 May 2008}}</ref> The conquered city would remain in Sassanid hands for some fifteen years until the Byzantine emperor [[Heraclius]] reconquered it in 629.<ref>Rodney Aist, ''The Christian Topography of Early Islamic Jerusalem'', Brepols Publishers, 2009 p. 56: 'Persian control of Jerusalem lasted from 614 to 629'.</ref>