page_title: Old City (Jerusalem)
section_title: Late Roman, Byzantine, and Early Muslim periods
hierarchical_section_title: Old City (Jerusalem) / History / Late Roman, Byzantine, and Early Muslim periods
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Roman Gate beneath the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem
context_page_description: The Old City is a 0.9-square-kilometer walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem.
  The history of the Old City has been documented in significant detail, notably in old maps of Jerusalem over the last 1,500 years. This area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem until the late 19th century; neighbouring villages such as Silwan, and new Jewish neighborhood such Mishkenot Sha'ananim, later became part of the municipal boundaries.
  The Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1981.
  Traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four uneven quarters, although the current designations were introduced only in the 19th century. Today, the Old City is roughly divided into the Muslim, Christian, Armenian and Jewish Quarters. The Old City's monumental defensive walls and city gates were built in 1535–1542 by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
context_section_description: The northern part of the city was rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian around 130, under the name Aelia Capitolina. In the Byzantine period Jerusalem was extended southwards and again enclosed by city walls.
  Muslims occupied Byzantine Jerusalem in the 7th century (637 CE) under the second caliph, `Umar Ibn al-Khattab who annexed it to the Islamic Arab Empire. He granted its inhabitants an assurance treaty. After the siege of Jerusalem, Sophronius welcomed `Umar, allegedly because, according to biblical prophecies known to the Church in Jerusalem, "a poor, but just and powerful man" would rise to be a protector and ally to the Christians of Jerusalem. Sophronius believed that `Umar, a great warrior who led an austere life, was a fulfillment of this prophecy. In the account by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius, it is said that `Umar paid a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and sat in its courtyard. When the time for prayer arrived, however, he left the church and prayed outside the compound, in order to avoid having future generations of Muslims use his prayer there as a pretext for converting the church into a mosque. Eutychius adds that `Umar also wrote a decree which he handed to the Patriarch, in which he prohibited Muslims gathering in prayer at the site.
caption: Old Roman era gate beneath the Damascus Gate
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