The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

Volume 4, The Medieval World.

Episode 35 The Siege of Jerusalem. Oh, Not a lot is certain about the origins of the city of Jerusalem.

There would have certainly have been human activity in the Levant

for as far back as human history demonstrates a migration out of Africa.

But a reference to a city in this region may have been as far back as the middle kingdom

of Egyptian history around 4,000 years ago,

although we cannot be absolutely certain that the city was actually Jerusalem itself. Excavations certainly suggest that Jerusalem is likely to be this old.

So the suspicion is quite high. We can feel a lot more confidence of its existence during the new kingdom

period, not least of all because the Egyptians expanded their influence to include the lands of modern Israel.

And this is felt to be the period in which Jerusalem's first biblical mentions date from.

According to the Bible, the city was conquered by King David of the Israelites,

bringing the connection between Jerusalem and Israel into reality.

The city would become the capital city of the United Kingdom of Israel

and David's son Solomon would build the first temple there in honor of the God of the Judeans,

Yahweh. It would remain the capital of the kingdom of Judea after the fragmentation of the United Kingdom.

This would lead the city vulnerable to attacks from many different peoples

including the Egyptians, Assyrians, Philostines and Aromians among others.

At their maximum expansion the Assyrians took control of the Levant, including the lands of Judah and the city of Jerusalem.

The Bible describes Jerusalem as a city with a voice and with dignity. But the reality was that the

Assyrians were likely too powerful for the city and it was just one of many of

the Assyrian conquests in the Middle East during their

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