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Do not fill this in! === Late antiquity and the medieval period === {{further|Diocese of the East|Bilad al-Sham|Kingdom of Jerusalem}} [[File:Ruins of the Ancient Synagogue at Bar'am.jpg|thumb|3rd-century [[Kfar Bar'am synagogue]] in the Galilee<ref>Judaism in late antiquity, Jacob Neusner, Bertold Spuler, Hady R Idris, Brill, 2001, p. 155</ref>]] With the transition to [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine rule]] under [[Emperor Constantine]], [[Early Christianity]] displaced the more tolerant [[Roman Paganism]].<ref>The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey 2018</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=ืืจ |first=ืืฉื ืืื |title=ืืจืฅ-ืืฉืจืื ืืฉืืื ืืขืช ืืขืชืืงื: ืืืืืืช ืืืืงืจืื |publisher=ืื ืืฆืืง ืื-ืฆืื |year=2022 |isbn=978-965-217-444-4 |editor-link=Moshe David Herr |volume=1 |publication-place=ืืจืืฉืืื |pages=210โ212 |language=he |trans-title=Eretz Israel in Late Antiquity: Introductions and Studies |chapter=ืืืืืืื ืืืจืฅ-ืืฉืจืื ืืืื ืืืืืคืจืื ืืจืืืืช ืื ืืฆืจืืช |trans-chapter=The Jews in the Land of Israel in the Days of the Christian Roman Empire}}</ref> With the [[conversion of Constantine]] in the 4th century, the situation for the Jewish majority in Palestine "became more difficult".<ref name="Kessler20102" /> A series of laws were passed that discriminated against Jews and Judaism, and Jews were persecuted by both the church and the authorities.<ref name=":3" /> Many Jews had emigrated to flourishing [[Jewish diaspora|Diaspora]] communities,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ehrlich |first=Michael |title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634โ1800 |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 |pages=3โ4 |oclc=1302180905 |quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132โ135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref> while locally there was both Christian immigration and local conversion. By the middle of the 5th century, there was a Christian majority.<ref name="CHJ2">{{cite book |author=David Goodblatt |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-77248-8 |editor=Steven Katz |volume=IV |pages=404โ430 |chapter=The Political and Social History of the Jewish Community in the Land of Israel, c. 235โ638 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |quote=Few would disagree that, in the century and a half before our period begins, the Jewish population of Judah () suffered a serious blow from which it never recovered. The destruction of the Jewish metropolis of Jerusalem and its environs and the eventual refounding of the city... had lasting repercussions. [...] However, in other parts of Palestine the Jewish population remained strong [...] What does seem clear is a different kind of change. Immigration of Christians and the conversion of pagans, Samaritans and Jews eventually produced a Christian majority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bar |first=Doron |date=2003 |title=The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=401โ421 |doi=10.1017/s0022046903007309 |issn=0022-0469 |quote=The dominant view of the history of Palestine during the Byzantine period links the early phases of the consecration of the land during the fourth century and the substantial external financial investment that accompanied the building of churches on holy sites on the one hand with the Christianisation of the population on the other. Churches were erected primarily at the holy sites, 12 while at the same time Palestine's position and unique status as the Christian 'Holy Land' became more firmly rooted. All this, coupled with immigration and conversion, allegedly meant that the Christianisation of Palestine took place much more rapidly than that of other areas of the Roman empire, brought in its wake the annihilation of the pagan cults and meant that by the middle of the fifth century there was a clear Christian majority.}}</ref> Towards the end of the 5th century, [[Samaritan revolts]] erupted, continuing until the late 6th century and resulting in a large decrease in the Samaritan population.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kohen |first=Elli |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA26 |title=History of the Byzantine Jews: A Microcosmos in the Thousand Year Empire |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7618-3623-0 |pages=26โ31 |access-date=30 March 2023 |archive-date=19 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231219070638/https://books.google.com/books?id=r-9qJRP20MIC&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> After the [[Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem]] and the short-lived [[Jewish revolt against Heraclius]] in 614 CE, the Byzantine Empire [[ByzantineโSasanian War of 602โ628|reconsolidated control of the area]] in 628.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman Palestine |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=30 March 2023 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030111546/https://www.britannica.com/place/Palestine/Roman-Palestine |url-status=live }}</ref> In 634โ641 CE, the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|conquered the Levant]].<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":102">{{Cite journal |last1=ืืื-ืจืืืื |first1=ืืืืื |last2=Levy-Rubin |first2=Milka |date=2006 |title=The Influence of the Muslim Conquest on the Settlement Pattern of Palestine during the Early Muslim Period / ืืืืืืฉ ืืืขืฆื ืืคืช ืืืืฉืื ืฉื ืืจืฅ-ืืฉืจืื ืืชืงืืคื ืืืืกืืืืช ืืงืืืื |journal=Cathedra: For the History of Eretz Israel and Its Yishuv / ืงืชืืจื: ืืชืืืืืช ืืจืฅ ืืฉืจืื ืืืืฉืืื |issue=121 |pages=53โ78 |jstor=23407269 |issn=0334-4657}}</ref><ref name=":Ellenblum20102">{{Cite book |last=Ellenblum |first=Ronnie |title=Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-58534-0 |oclc=958547332 |quote=From the data given above it can be concluded that the Muslim population of Central Samaria, during the early Muslim period, was not an autochthonous population which had converted to Christianity. They arrived there either by way of migration or as a result of a process of sedentarization of the nomads who had filled the vacuum created by the departing Samaritans at the end of the Byzantine period [...] To sum up: in the only rural region in Palestine in which, according to all the written and archeological sources, the process of Islamization was completed already in the twelfth century, there occurred events consistent with the model propounded by Levtzion and Vryonis: the region was abandoned by its original sedentary population and the vacuum was apparently filled by nomads who, at a later stage, gradually became sedentarized}}</ref> Over the next six centuries, control of the region transferred between the [[Umayyad]], [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]], [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] [[caliphate]]s, and subsequently the [[Seljuks]] and [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] dynasties.<ref name="MosheGil2">{{cite book |last=Gil |first=Moshe |title=A History of Palestine, 634โ1099 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-59984-9}}</ref> The population drastically decreased during the following several centuries, dropping from an estimated 1 million during Roman and Byzantine periods to about 300,000 by the early Ottoman period, and there was a steady process of [[Arabization]] and [[Islamization]] brought on by non-Muslim emigration, Muslim immigration, and local conversion.<ref name=":Ellenblum20102" /><ref name=":102" /><ref name=":Broshi1979">{{Cite journal |last=Broshi |first=Magen |date=1979 |title=The Population of Western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine Period |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=236 |issue=236 |pages=1โ10 |doi=10.2307/1356664 |issn=0003-097X |jstor=1356664 |s2cid=24341643}}</ref><ref name=":42"/> The end of the 11th century brought the [[Crusades]], [[The Pope|papally]]-sanctioned incursions of Christian [[crusaders]] intent on wresting [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Holy Land]] from Muslim control and establishing [[Crusader States]].<ref>{{OED|crusades}}</ref> The Ayyubids pushed back the crusaders before Muslim rule was fully restored by the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk sultans of Egypt]] in 1291.<ref name="GudrunKramer">{{cite book |last=Kramer |first=Gudrun |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 |title=A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-691-11897-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofpalesti00krea/page/376 376]}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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