Paul was a Jew from Tarsus (modern Turkey). He embarked on three journeys to spread his ideas about the end of the world. His views were shaped by the Jewish scriptures which anticipated a time of divine judgment on all evil. At this time the world would be destroyed, but then recreated and restored. A divinely appointed leader, known as the “anointed one” (i.e., Messiah/Christ), was the figure to usher in the new world. Paul believed that Jesus, a Jew from Nazareth (Israel), was in fact this Messiah and that adherence to Jesus would secure passage through the time of judgment and into the era of restoration. Paul traveled the eastern Mediterranean and argued that Jesus was the key to salvation at the end of the world for both Jews and non-Jews. Many years later, these teachings became the basis of a new religion, called Christianity.
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre - aedicule of the Anastasis
This photograph shows a small aedicule, a chapel built over the rock cut empty tomb believed to belong to Jesus. It stands at the center of the rotunda, the round architectural structure that was built there by the Crusaders and right underneath the great dome of the church. This part of the church is also called the 'Anastasis,' which means 'raising up' in Greek, and was named as such for the belief in Jesus' resurrection from the tomb.
This map was found to be part of the mosaic floor of a 6th century CE church in Madaba, Jordan (east of the Dead Sea), and includes this map of Byzantine Jerusalem. A broad, column-lined street runs from the north gate south through the center of the city (called a cardo, it is a common feature of Graeco-Roman cities). At the northern end of this street (the left of the picture) there is a monumental column in a public plaza. It is interesting that the modern Arab name for the Damascus Gate is Bab el-'Amud ("Gate of the Column"). At the center of the map you can see the church of the Holy Sepulchre with its yellowish dome. The Inscription at the top left of the map reads 'The Holy City of Jerusalem' (in Greek).
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre - plan
This plan shows the original layout of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the time of Constantine and his mother Helen. The complex is made of 3 separate units: at the bottom of the plan, a basilica ending with an apse and Golgotha incorporated into its layout. Between Golgotha and the Anastasis (which is the traditional location of the tomb of Jesus) is a portico.
This close-up of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is looking northwest, shows the two domes of the church: the Anastasis (the larger dome, on the left) and the dome over the basilica (the smaller dome, on the right). The entrance to the church, and the courtyard in front of it, are at the base of the Crusader tower that is on the far left of the picture.
This monastery in the Judaean Desert, initially called the Great Laura and later Mar Saba (after its founder, Sabas of Cappadocia), was built in 483 CE. It is the result of Byzantine-era hermetic monasticism: in 457 CE, at the age of 18, Mar Saba went into the Judaean Desert to practice a laura-type monastic dedication. Twenty years later struck out on his own to live in a cave near this site; he was soon joined by other hermits. 5 years later they built the first phase of this cliff-type laura. Successive additions enlarged it.
Wadi Qelt: Choziba Monastery (St. George's)
This photograph shows the cliff-side monastery called Choziba or St. George's Monastery, which is in the Wadi Qelt, approximately 3 miles west of Jericho, in the Judaean Desert. The monastery was established in the early fifth century, during the early phase of monastery activity in the region. It is still active and inhabited by Greek Orthodox monks.
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Tomb of Jesus
This photograph shows the interior of the Aedicule of the Anastasis, where Christians as early as the 4th century CE believed that Jesus' body was laid before his resurrection.
Jerusalem: Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Chapel of St. Helena
This photograph is taken from the Armenian chapel dedicated to Queen Helena (the mother of Constantine who was entrusted by her son to oversee the building of the church in the 4th century CE). The steps in the background are the 29 steps that lead to the main hall of the church, called the Catholicon.
Jerusalem: Gold Ring Depicting the Holy Sepulchre
This photograph shows a gold ring that depicts the Aedicule of the Anastasis at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was found in a 6th-century building south of the Temple Mount and shows the Anastasis as a free-standing structure (which was how it would have been found prior to the 12th century CE). It might represent one of the many souvenirs that Christian pilgrims bought in Jerusalem.
This map shows the provinces of Roman control around the Mediterranean. The red circle is around Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, and the arrow points to the city of Constantinople, which is where Constantine moved the capital of the Empire in 330 CE. The new city placed the capital on the seam between Europe and Asia.
This map represents the common scholarly opinion about what the layout of Jerusalem looked like after the Second Temple period. The Jewish Temple has been destroyed and, as many scholars believe, a new temple to the Roman god Jupiter has been erected in its place on the temple platform. It also shows the proposed site for the camp of the Tenth Roman Legion (in the southwest corner of the city). The marks on the map represent the views of Prof. Eliav regarding the eastern border of the city (the black line) and the city center (the yellow box).
In the background of this aerial photograph of the Old City of Jerusalem we see the hills of the Judaean desert, as well as Transjordan in the distance. In the near distance, just beyond the city, is the Mount of Olives and Mt. Scopus. In the center of the photograph is the current Old City with its Ottoman walls. The yellow square designates the Christian Quarter with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at its center (that is what the arrow is pointing to). The Red oval is around the Temple Mount complex, at the center of which is the Dome of the Rock.
Jerualem: Christian Quarter and Dome of the Rock
This close-up aerial photo of the Old City of Jerusalem depicts the complex of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (at the bottom left, with the two grey domes). In the middle background is the Temple Mount and the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock. The Mount of Olives and the Arab village of Et Tur (the smaller of the two towers on the hilltop) is in the distance. The large dome within the complex of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the Anastasis ('raising up'), and underneath it is the traditional location of Jesus' tomb. The smaller dome is over the main altar in the church's basilica and the place that many Christians believed was the 'navel of the earth'. The long rectangular roofed structure beyond them that looks a bit like the peaked roof a barn or a warehouse is the Chapel of St. Helena. To the right of the Anastasis Dome is a square, bulky tower from the period of the Crusades; to its right is the thin and tall minaret tower of the Mosque of Omar; just behind it is the whitish tall, square and pointed bell tower of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, a relatively new church build by the German Kaiser in 1893.