OVER 40 CENTURIES AGO, A SMALL CITY ROSE IN THE HILLS SOME 35 MILES INLAND FROM THE EASTERN SHORE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

IT WAS NOT A PLACE OF RICHES, IT WAS NOT THE CAPITAL OF A POWERFUL KINGDOM, IT WAS MILITARILY AND STRATEGICALLY INSIGNIFICANT.

BUT IT WAS A PLACE UNTOLD NUMBERS OF JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS WOULD COME TO LOOK FOR GOD -- A PLACE BILLIONS MORE WOULD LOVE FROM AFAR.

IT WAS JERUSALEM, THE HOLY LAND.

THE MIGHTY EMPIRES, TOO, WOULD LAY CLAIM HERE.

OVER A HUNDRED BATTLES WOULD BE FOUGHT IN THE CITY'S NAME.

UNDERSTANDABLY, THERE'S LITTLE LEFT TO TESTIFY TO JERUSALEM'S EARLIEST YEARS TO DOCUMENT THE LIVES OF ABRAHAM, DAVID, JESUS OR MOHAMMED.

SOME OF WHAT WE KNOW COMES FROM THE STONES OF ARCHEOLOGY, OR THE HISTORICAL RECORD, BUT, OFTEN, WE HAVE ONLY THE ORAL TRADITIONS PASSED DOWN FOR MILLENNIA, OR THE TEXTS OF THREE GREAT FAITHS.

WHY HAVE SO MANY LOVED AND FOUGHT FOR JERUSALEM?

WHY HAS THIS SMALL CITY HAD SUCH AN IMPACT ON THE ARC OF HISTORY?

WHY HAVE SO MANY FOR SO LONG CALLED JERUSALEM "THE CENTER OF THE WORLD"?

THE TRADITIONAL STORY OF JERUSALEM BEGINS WITH A JOURNEY -- A JOURNEY THROUGH THIS VERY NEAR EASTERN DESERT SOME 4,000 YEARS AGO, WITH A MAN CALLED ABRAHAM.

NOW, VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT ABRAHAM, BUT HIS IMPACT ON THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IS UNPARALLELED.

TODAY, BILLIONS REVERE HIM AS A PATRIARCH -- OF JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM.

ACCORDING TO THE HEBREW BIBLE -- VIRTUALLY THE ONLY SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT ABRAHAM -- HE CAME FROM A CITY CALLED UR, WHICH WAS HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

TODAY IT'S A REGION IN IRAQ.

AS THE BIBLE EXPLAINS, GOD SPOKE TO ABRAHAM AND GAVE HIM A COMMAND -- "GO FROM YOUR COUNTRY," GOD SAID, "TO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU."

Man: THE TRADITIONS INVOLVING ABRAHAM ARE THAT ABRAHAM WAS A SEEKER, A SPIRITUAL SEEKER.

ABRAHAM WAS LOOKING FOR TRUTH.

HE WASN'T INTERESTED IN GODS OF WOOD OR STONE, WHICH WERE THE NORM OF THE DAY.

ABRAHAM WANTED TRUTH, AND HE FOUND THAT TRUTH IN THIS GREAT BIG GIANT, WONDERFUL WORLD -- SOMEONE MUST HAVE MADE IT.

AND ABRAHAM IS ASSOCIATED AS BEING THE FIRST MONOTHEIST TO REALIZE THAT THE WORLD WHICH WE LIVE IN HAS A CREATOR.

AND AS A SPIRITUAL SEEKER, HE WAS CERTAINLY UP FOR A JOURNEY.

Suarez: ABRAHAM LEFT WITH HIS FAMILY, THE BIBLE SAYS, EVENTUALLY SETTLING IN A PLACE CALLED THE LAND OF CANAAN, AMONG A PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE CANAANITES.

"CANAANITE" IS A TERM THAT WE USE RATHER LOOSELY TO DESCRIBE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT GROUPS THAT ARE IN THE AREA, MOST OF THEM ENDING IN "ITE" -- JEBUSITE, AMALEKITES, AMORITES -- THEY'RE ALL "CANAANITES," AS WE REFER TO THEM TODAY.

Weinstock: ABRAHAM WAS A MONOTHEIST BEFORE LEAVING UR, AND HAD GROWN UP IN A POLYTHEIST IDOLATROUS SOCIETY WHERE PEOPLE WOULD SEE OBJECTS AND THINGS AND SAY, "THAT IS MY GOD."

HE HAS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, GOD SPEAKS TO HIM, TRY TO EXCITE THE MASSES ABOUT MONOTHEISM -- SORT OF THE FIRST RABBI, OR MEGACHURCH PREACHER -- THAT WAS ABRAHAM.

Suarez: WHEN ABRAHAM WAS IN CANAAN, GOD SPOKE TO HIM AGAIN, THE BIBLE SAYS, OFFERING HIM A BINDING AGREEMENT KNOWN AS THE COVENANT.

"I WILL MAKE YOU EXCEEDINGLY FRUITFUL, "AND I WILL MAKE NATIONS OF YOU, AND KINGS SHALL COME FROM YOU," GOD SAID.

IN EXCHANGE, GOD COMMANDED THAT ABRAHAM CIRCUMCISE FIRST HIMSELF, THEN ALL HIS MALE DESCENDANTS.

THE COVENANT SOLIDIFIED THE BEGINNING OF WHAT WOULD BECOME ONE OF THE FIRST MAJOR MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS -- JUDAISM.

THE HEBREW BIBLE EXPLAINS THAT GOD ALSO TESTED ABRAHAM'S LOYALTY -- HE ASKED ABRAHAM TO SACRIFICE ONE OF HIS OWN SONS, ISAAC.

Weinstock: THE TEST FOR ABRAHAM WAS TO DO SOMETHING THAT WAS 180° THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT HE HAD BEEN TELLING PEOPLE.

ABRAHAM WAS THIS GREAT TRAILBLAZING MONOTHEIST WHO HAD BEEN ENCOURAGING THE MASSES TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT THERE IS ONE TRUE GOD.

ONE TRUE GOD WHO IS JUST, WHO CREATED EVERYTHING.

AND HERE HE IS, NOW HAVING TO GO ON A THREE-DAY JOURNEY WHERE HE PROBABLY WAS ENCOUNTERING MANY OF HIS NEIGHBORS, MANY OF HIS COLLEAGUES -- "ABRAHAM, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"WELL, I'M GOING TO SACRIFICE MY SON, BECAUSE GOD TOLD ME TO."

INCREDULOUS.

Suarez: THE BIBLICAL STORY OF THE SACRIFICE IS WELL KNOWN -- ABRAHAM TOOK HIS SON, ISAAC, TO A MOUNTAIN IN A PLACE CALLED THE LAND OF MORIAH, BUT JUST AS ABRAHAM WAS ABOUT TO SACRIFICE HIS SON, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD CALLED TO HIM.

"ABRAHAM, DO NOT LAY YOUR HAND ON THE BOY, "FOR NOW I KNOW THAT YOU FEAR GOD, SINCE YOU'VE NOT WITHHELD YOUR SON FROM ME."

ABRAHAM, THE BIBLE SAYS, THEN SAW A RAM CAUGHT BY ITS HORNS IN A THICKET, WHICH HE KNEW GOD HAD SENT TO BE SACRIFICED INSTEAD.

NO ONE KNOWS WHERE THIS EVENT MIGHT HAVE OCCURRED...

EXCEPT, AS THE BIBLE SAYS, A PLACE CALLED "THE LAND OF MORIAH."

BUT WHAT AND WHERE WAS THE LAND OF MORIAH?

THE BIBLE GIVES NO MORE INFORMATION.

ACCORDING TO ANCIENT JEWISH RELIGIOUS TRADITION, HOWEVER, THE PRECISE LOCATION WAS KNOWN -- A ROCKY OUTCROP ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN IN A SMALL VILLAGE OFF THE MAIN ROADS -- IT WAS JERUSALEM, AND THE MOUNTAIN WOULD COME TO BE KNOWN AS MOUNT MORIAH.

ABRAHAM LIKELY HAD NO IDEA WHAT IMPACT HIS SHORT TRIP WOULD HAVE ON THIS SMALL CITY, AND ON THE WORLD.

IN THE HEBREW BIBLE, GOD WOULD LATER SAY, "THIS IS JERUSALEM -- I HAVE SET HER AT THE CENTER OF THE NATIONS."

THE MEANING OF THE WORD "MORIAH" MEANS "FOUNDATION," SO, ACTUALLY, WHAT WE SEE IS THAT WHEN ABRAHAM CAME THERE, ALREADY THE BELIEF THAT THIS WAS A PLACE FROM WHICH THE WHOLE WORLD WAS FOUNDED WAS ALREADY EXISTING THERE.

WE BELIEVE -- WE, THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS, BELIEVE THAT ALREADY IN THE 23rd OR 24th CENTURY BEFORE CHRIST, THE PLACE WAS SANCTIFIED.

AND HENCE THE REASON WHY ABRAHAM IS CHOOSING THIS MOUNTAIN IS BECAUSE HE KNEW ABOUT ITS SANCTITY.

AT THE TIME THAT ABRAHAM COMES THROUGH, MOUNT MORIAH HAD ALREADY BEEN A HIGH PLACE -- A CANAANITE SACRED PLACE.

WHY THIS AREA WAS SACRED, WE DON'T KNOW -- WE FIND A LOT OF CANAANITE SACRED PLACES UP HIGH ON MOUNTAINS, AND THIS IS JUST ONE OF THOSE.

IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN SACRED SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL, OR AT LEAST SINCE THE CITY WAS FOUNDED.

JERUSALEM AT THE TIME OF ABRAHAM WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST A SMALL VILLAGE, A COUPLE OF HOUSES, MAYBE A FORTIFICATION WALL, MAYBE NOT, ANIMALS RUNNING AROUND.

THE TYPICAL SCENE THAT YOU SOMETIMES STILL SEE IN THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY.

Suarez: AT THE EDGE OF TOWN WAS JERUSALEM'S MOST IMPORTANT NATURAL RESOURCE -- WATER.

Cline: THE GIHON SPRING IS THE MAJOR SOURCE, AND IT'S BEEN THAT WAY FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, SO IT'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE REASONS WHY JERUSALEM WAS FIRST SETTLED.

Suarez: IN RECENT YEARS, HUGE STONES HAVE BEEN FOUND THAT DATE TO THE 18th CENTURY BEFORE THE COMMON ERA, THE SAME TIME, TRADITION HOLDS, ABRAHAM LIVED.

MANY ARCHEOLOGISTS BELIEVE THESE STONES ARE THE REMAINS OF ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS BUILT TO GUARD THE SPRING.

TO GUARANTEE SECURE ACCESS TO WATER, PARTICULARLY DURING TIMES OF WAR, THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM ALSO BUILT A SERIES OF TUNNELS TO THE SPRING THROUGH THE SOLID ROCK UNDER THE CITY.

Cline: THAT WAY YOU'RE NOT EXPOSED TO THE ARROWS OR THE SPEARS OF YOUR ENEMY.

AND WE SEE THIS TIME AND TIME AGAIN -- A TUNNEL DUG FROM INSIDE THE CITY TO GET TO YOUR WATER SOURCE UNDERGROUND, AND THEN YOU COVER OVER THE WATER SOURCE OUTSIDE, SO THE ENEMY DOESN'T KNOW WHERE YOUR WATER IS.

AT THE TIME, THEY'RE GOING TO BE USING BRONZE IMPLEMENTS -- YOU KNOW, BRONZE AXES AND ADZES, IT MUST HAVE BEEN AMAZING TO CUT THROUGH ACTUAL ROCK WITH BRONZE TOOLS -- THEY MUST HAVE BEEN SHARPENING THEM CONSTANTLY.

THE EARLIEST WRITTEN REFERENCES TO JERUSALEM APPEAR ON PIECES OF SMASHED EGYPTIAN POTTERY FROM ROUGHLY THE 19th CENTURY B.C.E.

SCHOLARS AREN'T SURE OF THE EXACT TRANSLITERATION, BUT JERUSALEM SEEMS TO BE CALLED "RUSHALIMUM," OR "URUSALIM."

AT THIS TIME, EGYPT RULED OVER MANY NATIONS, THOUGH THEY DID NOT CONTROL JERUSALEM.

WHEN THEY WANTED TO CONQUER A NEW NATION, THE EGYPTIANS WOULD WRITE THAT NATION'S NAME ON A BOWL OR A FIGURINE, THEN SMASH IT IN HOPES IT WOULD SMASH THE WILL OF THE ENEMY.

LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN JERUSALEM AFTER THE TIME ABRAHAM IS THOUGHT TO HAVE LIVED.

THE BIBLE EXPLAINS THAT HIS DESCENDANTS, KNOWN AS THE ISRAELITES, GREW IN NUMBER, ULTIMATELY BECOMING THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

THE PERSON WHO WOULD NEXT PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE TRADITIONAL STORY OF JERUSALEM WOULD NEVER EVEN SET FOOT THERE.

HE WAS A MAN CALLED MOSES.

HIS STORY IS TOLD IN THE BOOK OF EXODUS, HOW HE CHALLENGED THE EGYPTIAN PHARAOH, AND FREED HUGE NUMBERS OF ENSLAVED ISRAELITES.

IT WAS TO MOSES THAT GOD WOULD GIVE THE TEXTS THAT WOULD BECOME THE VERY BASIS OF JEWISH RELIGIOUS LAW -- THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE BIBLE, HE GAVE MOSES THE TWO TABLETS OF THE COVENANT -- TABLETS OF STONE, WRITTEN WITH THE FINGER OF GOD.

ACCORDING TO TRADITION, THE ISRAELITES STORED THE TABLETS IN A LARGE BOX KNOWN AS THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, AGAIN, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLICAL TRADITION, IS A -- ESSENTIALLY A BOX WITH LONG POLES.

THE ARK IS MADE OUT OF ACACIA WOOD, AND APPARENTLY WAS COVERED OVER WITH GOLD LEAF.

IT WAS QUITE THE PRECIOUS OBJECT.

IF WE LOOK AT BOXES WITH POLES FROM THAT TIME PERIOD, FROM BOTH WHAT WE CALL THE LATE BRONZE AGE AND THE EARLY IRON AGE, END OF THE SECOND MILLENNIUM, BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM B.C.E., WE CAN SEE SUCH BOXES FOUND IN A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT SITUATIONS, INCLUDING ONE IN THE TOMB OF KING TUT.

BUT THE BOX IN KING TUT'S IS EMPTY, AND, MOREOVER, IT'S A COUPLE HUNDRED YEARS TOO EARLY TO BE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

Weinstock: LESS IMPORTANT THAN WHAT EXACTLY WAS IN IT, IN TERMS OF, WAS IT A SCROLL, WAS IT A BOOK, WHAT COLOR WAS IT, WAS THE FACT THAT THE ARK CONTAINED THE ESSENCE OF JUDAISM, THE LAW WHICH GOD HAD GIVEN TO HIS PEOPLE.

Suarez: THE ISRAELITES WOULD SPEND 40 YEARS WITH MOSES, THE BIBLE TELLS US, WANDERING IN THE DESERT.

THEIR CAPITAL, AS A PEOPLE, WAS WHEREVER THE ARK OF THE COVENANT WAS.

Weinstock: THE JEWISH PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JERUSALEM AT THE TIME IN THE DESERT -- THEY'RE TOLD THAT THERE WILL BE "A PLACE THAT YOU WILL GO TO."

IT'S SORT OF THE SECRET THAT, ACCORDING TO TRADITION, MOSES KNOWS, AND THAT'S WHY HE WANTS TO GO SO BADLY -- HE KNOWS THAT THIS PLACE IS GOING TO BE THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH -- IT'S GOING TO CHANGE HUMANITY.

Suarez: GOD NEVER ALLOWED MOSES TO REACH CANAAN OR JERUSALEM.

CITING A MOMENT OF LAPSED FAITH IN MOSES'S LIFE, GOD SAID, "I WILL GIVE IT TO YOUR DESCENDANTS -- "I HAVE LET YOU SEE IT WITH YOUR EYES, BUT YOU SHALL NOT CROSS OVER THERE."

GOD KEPT HIS WORD -- AS THE BOOK OF EXODUS EXPLAINS, MOSES AND HIS FOLLOWERS STOPPED IN WHAT IS TODAY JORDAN, ON A MOUNTAIN KNOWN AS NEBO.

FROM THERE, MOSES COULD LOOK OUT ON THE LAND OF CANAAN, PERHAPS, TOO, HE COULD SEE THE HOLY CITY HE NO DOUBT LONGED FOR, BUT COULD NEVER VISIT -- JERUSALEM.

Weinstock: MOSES WAS IN ON THE SECRET THAT THIS WAS THE CHOSEN CITY, AND HE KNEW WHAT HE COULDN'T GET TO, AND THAT MADE HIM VERY SAD.

Suarez: IN HIS OLD AGE, MOSES DIED, AND AS MANY TRADITIONS HOLD, HE WAS BURIED ON MOUNT NEBO.

BUT AS THE BIBLE SAYS, NO ONE KNOWS HIS TOMB.

AFTER THE EXODUS, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE WERE LIVING THROUGHOUT THE LAND OF CANAAN AS 12 DIFFERENT TRIBES.

AS THE BOOK OF SAMUEL TELLS US, A NEW ERA FOR JERUSALEM WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN, WITH THE ARRIVAL OF KING DAVID.

DAVID, THE HARP-PLAYING SHEPHERD BOY BEST KNOWN FOR KILLING THE GIANT GOLIATH, HAD RISEN TO BECOME KING OF ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE 12 ISRAELITE TRIBES.

AS THE BOOK OF SAMUEL DESCRIBES, DAVID WAS A MAN OF VALOR, A MAN OF WAR, PRUDENT IN SPEECH, A MAN OF GOOD PRESENCE, AND THE LORD IS WITH HIM.

Weinstock: DAVID WAS A MAN OF MISSION, A MAN WHO HAD BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD AS THE ANOINTED ONE, SORT OF THE SCRAWNY RUNT OF THE LITTER WHO HAD LEAPED OVER HIS BROTHERS TO BECOME KING OF ISRAEL.

Suarez: WITH AN AMBITION TO UNITE THE TRIBES INTO A SINGLE NATION, DAVID AND HIS ARMY SET OUT TO CREATE A CAPITAL CITY.

WHILE NO DEFINITIVE EVIDENCE OF KING DAVID OR HIS EXPLOITS EXISTS, SCHOLARS HAVE PLACED THE CONTEXT OF HIS STORY -- VIRTUALLY ALL OF WHICH COMES FROM THE BIBLE -- IN ROUGHLY THE 11th OR 10th CENTURIES B.C.E.

IN HIS ASPIRATIONS TO UNITE ALL THE TRIBES, HE DID A VERY CLEVER MANEUVER AND MOVED HIS CAPITAL TO JERUSALEM.

WHAT DID HE GAIN BY THAT?

FIRST OF ALL, HE CAPTURED A NON-JEWISH CITY -- A JEBUSITE CITY.

SO THAT IT WOULD BE NEUTRAL, IT WOULD BELONG TO EVERYBODY -- IT WOULDN'T BELONG TO THIS TRIBE OR THAT TRIBE.

SECOND OF ALL, IT WAS MORE CENTRALLY LOCATED.

THE JEBUSITE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS A SMALL BUT WELL-FORTIFIED PLACE, DEFENDED BY A SURROUNDING WALL.

NOW, SOME ARCHEOLOGISTS BELIEVE THIS WALL WAS THE ONE THAT PROTECTED THE JEBUSITE CITY.

Levine: HE PROBABLY HAD A RAGTAG GROUP OF PEOPLE, MAYBE NUMBERING IN THE HUNDREDS, AT MOST, AND PROBABLY LESS -- WHAT WEAPONS THEY HAD USED IS HARD TO TELL.

BUT CERTAINLY, IN TERMS OF BUILDING SOMETHING COHERENT, THAT WAS SOMETHING HE DID AFTER THE CONQUEST OF JERUSALEM.

Suarez: AFTER CAPTURING JERUSALEM, THE BIBLE TELLS US, DAVID THEN BROUGHT THE HOLIEST OBJECT OF HIS PEOPLE INTO THE CITY -- THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

GOD, IN EFFECT, HAD ENTERED HIS NEW HOME.

Levine: HE QUICKLY MADE HIS POLITICAL CAPITAL ALSO THE RELIGIOUS CAPITAL, AND THAT IS THE DESTINY OF JERUSALEM -- CERTAINLY IN JEWISH HISTORY -- COMBINING THE POLITICAL AND THE RELIGIOUS.

Suarez: PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING DAVID IS SAID TO HAVE DONE IN JERUSALEM WAS TO BUY A PIECE OF LAND WHERE HE COULD BUILD AN ALTAR TO GOD.

BUT THIS WAS NOT JUST ANY PIECE OF LAND...

IT WAS THE PLACE THAT, ACCORDING TO JEWISH TRADITION, ABRAHAM HAD GONE TO SACRIFICE HIS SON -- THE ROCKY OUTCROP ATOP MOUNT MORIAH.

MADE OF LIMESTONE, ENSHRINED, AND STILL PRESERVED AFTER SOME 4,000 YEARS, THE MASSIVE PIECE OF ROCK MEASURES MORE THAN 50 FEET IN DIAMETER.

Weinstock: THERE'S AN ELEMENT OF FAITH, THAT WE BELIEVE THIS IS THE SAME PLACE.

THE FACT IT WAS CALLED "MORIAH" SEEMED TO INDICATE THE SAME LOCATION.

AND WE FEEL THAT IT WAS SELECTED BY GOD.

"THIS IS THE PLACE THAT I WILL SHOW YOU, "THIS IS THE PLACE THAT I WILL CHOOSE, "THIS IS THE PLACE THAT WILL PROVIDE A LESSON, A MESSAGE, A MEANING FOR HUMANITY."

DAVID THEN WENT A STEP FURTHER AND PREPARED MATERIALS AND PLANS FOR THE BUILDING OF A TEMPLE, A PERMANENT SHRINE FOR THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, A HOUSE OF GOD.

Weinstock: GOD TELLS DAVID, YOU CAN MAKE THE PREPARATIONS, AND YOU CAN LAY THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PLANNING OF THE TEMPLE, BUT YOU CAN'T BUILD IT -- "YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS," GOD SAID.

DAVID HAD SPENT MUCH OF HIS LIFE IN STRUGGLE, FIGHTING, WARRING AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

AND THE TEMPLE WAS TO BE A PLACE OF PEACE -- A SANCTUARY OF PEACE.

SO DAVID WAS NOT ALLOWED TO BUILD THE TEMPLE, BUT THE LASTING IMPACT OF HIS REIGN CREATED A DYNASTY OUT OF WHICH GREW THE CONCEPT OF A JEWISH MESSIAH -- A MAN, IT WAS BELIEVED, WHO WOULD ONE DAY REDEEM THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

Weinstock: MESSIANIC ERA IS DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF ISAIAH IN THE BIBLE -- A MESSIAH WILL COME, A DESCENDANT OF KING DAVID, WHO WILL LEAD THE WORLD TO A PERIOD OF PEACE, A PERIOD OF PROSPERITY.

THE HEBREW BIBLE, AS EXPANDED BY LATER TRADITIONS IN JUDAISM, ALSO REFERS TO A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD WHEN THE MESSIAH COMES.

IN SOME INTERPRETATIONS, HE WILL COME TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES IN JERUSALEM, AND ALL WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD.

Man: ACTUALLY, THE JEWISH CEMETERY OF MOUNT OF OLIVES IS THE OLDEST KNOWN CEMETERY, WHICH STILL EXISTS TO THIS VERY DAY.

THE BELIEF IS THAT WHEN THE MESSIAH COME, THEY WILL BE THE FIRST TO BE RESURRECTED.

SO EVERYONE WANTS TO SECURE THIS ABILITY TO BE RESURRECTED.

Suarez: AFTER THE RESURRECTION, THE RIGHTEOUS, MANY BELIEVE, WILL GO TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN, BUT SINNERS WILL BE PUNISHED IN A PLACE CALLED GEHENOM, ITS ENTRANCE SAID TO BE IN THIS VALLEY, RIGHT HERE IN JERUSALEM.

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, IT WAS KING DAVID'S HEIR, SOLOMON, WHO BEGAN CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN THE VERY SAME PLACE DAVID BUILT THE ALTAR TO GOD -- THE PLACE ABRAHAM WAS SAID TO HAVE NEARLY SACRIFICED ISAAC, ATOP MOUNT MORIAH.

THOUGH NO ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE EXISTS OF THIS TEMPLE BUILDING, SCHOLARS BELIEVE A TEMPLE WAS BUILT IN ROUGHLY THE 10th CENTURY B.C.E., ON THIS LOCATION.

IT MAKES A GREAT DEAL OF SENSE THAT SOLOMON PROBABLY CHOSE A "HOLY" SITE, IN QUOTATION MARKS, IN JERUSALEM, FOR THE TEMPLE, AND THAT PROBABLY WAS SOMETHING THAT HAD EXISTED BEFOREHAND.

Suarez: NO ONE IS SURE WHAT THE TEMPLE REALLY LOOKED LIKE, BUT COUNTLESS ARTISTS HAVE DONE THEIR BEST TO REPRESENT IT.

IN THE BIBLE, IT'S DESCRIBED AS BEING AT LEAST 90 FEET LONG, 30 FEET WIDE, AND 45 FEET HIGH.

MOST OF THE BUILDING IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN COVERED WITH CEDAR, WHILE THE HOLY CHAMBERS INSIDE WERE COVERED WITH GOLD.

Cline: TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT SOLOMON'S TEMPLE WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE IS ONE OF THE GREAT MYSTERIES THAT WE'RE STILL TRYING TO SOLVE.

THE CLOSEST WE CAN COME IS A SITE UP IN WHAT IS TODAY SYRIA, CALLED AIN DARA.

IT HAS A TEMPLE THAT DATES TO THE 10th OR 9th CENTURIES B.C., THAT PROBABLY LOOKS A LOT LIKE SOLOMON'S.

IT'S A VERY LONG TEMPLE.

YOU WOULD HAVE ENTERED ON ONE OF THE SHORT SIDES AND WALKED THE LENGTH OF THE TEMPLE.

Suarez: IN THE INNERMOST ROOM OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM, THE BIBLE SAYS KING SOLOMON PLACED THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

THE HOLY OF HOLIES WAS THE INNER SANCTUM -- SANCTUM SANCTORUM, OF THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.

IT WAS THE PLACE THAT, ACCORDING TO TRADITION, WAS THE RESTING PLACE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

IT WAS A PLACE THAT, IF JERUSALEM IS A HOLY CITY, AND THE TEMPLE IS A HOLY SANCTUARY, THE HOLY OF HOLIES IS THE PLACE WHERE YOU HAVE THE GREATEST CONCENTRATION OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE ON EARTH.

Suarez: IN THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT, ONLY THE HIGH PRIEST WAS ALLOWED IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES, BUT OTHER PARTS OF THE TEMPLE AREA WERE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

THOUGH SOLOMON'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT FOR JERUSALEM WAS THE TEMPLE, HE'S DESCRIBED IN THE BIBLE AS A VERY BUSY MONARCH.

SOLOMON, A KING IN ALL OF HIS SPLENDOR, HAD HUNDREDS OF WIVES AND CONCUBINES.

BUT PROBABLY HIS MOST FAMOUS FEMALE VISITOR WAS THE QUEEN OF SHEBA, WHO CAME FROM THE SOUTH TO SEE THIS RENOWNED AND FAMOUS JEWISH KING.

TRADITION HOLDS THAT SHE LEFT, PREGNANT WITH SOLOMON'S SON, WHO WOULD BECOME THE PATRIARCH OF THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE, THE GREAT EMPEROR MENELIK I, WHO WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR BRINGING MONOTHEISM TO THE ETHIOPIANS.

Suarez: BY THE 8th CENTURY B.C.E., A NEW EMPIRE THAT HAD EMERGED IN THE NEAR EAST -- THE ASSYRIANS -- SET OUT TO CONQUER JERUSALEM.

THE ASSYRIANS WERE MASTERS OF WAR.

IN THEIR TIME, THEIR ARMY WAS SAID TO BE THE LARGEST EVER KNOWN IN THE REGION.

THEIR WEAPONRY, MUCH OF IT IRON, WAS UNPARALLELED -- FROM SWORDS AND ARMOR, TO CHARIOTS, BOWS, AND ARROWS.

ANTICIPATING AN ASSYRIAN ATTACK, AND TO PROTECT JERUSALEM, THE JUDEAN KING HEZEKIAH BUILT A MASSIVE DEFENSE WALL, OVER 20 FEET THICK.

THIS SECTION IN JERUSALEM, COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS "THE BROAD WALL," IS THE LARGEST KNOWN PORTION OF THE WALL THAT REMAINS.

BUT HEZEKIAH'S MOST FAMOUS CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IS THIS WATER TUNNEL.

IT WAS BUILT TO ENSURE ACCESS TO FRESH WATER INSIDE THE CITY, EVEN DURING TIMES OF SIEGE AND WAR.

NOW, IMAGINE, 1,600 FEET LONG, CUT FROM SOLID ROCK BY HAND TOOLS.

IT'S LONGER THAN FIVE FOOTBALL FIELDS.

IT'S ONLY ONCE YOU'RE DOWN INSIDE THE TUNNEL THAT YOU REALIZE WHAT A REMARKABLE THING IT IS THAT THIS IS MAN-MADE.

THERE'S A SIGN OUTSIDE THAT SAYS, DON'T COME DOWN HERE IF YOU'RE CLAUSTROPHOBIC, AND, AT POINTS, IT'S A PRETTY TIGHT FIT EVEN FOR A SHORT GUY.

AND THE WATER, WHICH COMES STRAIGHT OUT OF THE ROCK, IS COLD.

HEZEKIAH'S TUNNEL, AS FAR AS WE CAN TELL, IS A MIRACLE OF ENGINEERING.

IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE THE EARLIER CANAANITE TUNNELS THAT WE'VE GOT 1,000 YEARS EARLIER.

BUT NOW IN HEZEKIAH'S TIME, WE'RE IN THE IRON AGE AND HE MAY WELL HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS NEW METAL -- THIS IRON.

IT PROBABLY MADE DIGGING THE TUNNEL JUST A LITTLE BIT EASIER.

THE TUNNEL WAS COMPLETED BY PEOPLE WORKING FROM OPPOSITE ENDS -- THEIR PLAN WAS TO MEET IN THE MIDDLE.

AN INSCRIPTION LATER FOUND ON THE WALL IMMORTALIZED THE ACHIEVEMENT.

"A MAN'S VOICE WAS HEARD, "THE HEWERS WORKED EACH AGAINST THE OTHER, "AXE AGAINST AXE, UNTIL, FINALLY, THE WATER FLOWED FROM THE SPRING."

EVEN WITH HEZEKIAH'S FORTIFICATIONS IN PLACE, THE ASSYRIANS, LED BY THEIR KING, SENNACHERIB, ATTACKED JERUSALEM AS EXPECTED IN THE YEAR 701 B.C.E.

THOUGH THEY HAD CONQUERED 46 OTHER CITIES ALONG THE WAY, JERUSALEM DID NOT FALL.

Cline: WHEN SENNACHERIB ATTACKS, HE DOESN'T ACTUALLY CAPTURE THE CITY.

WE'RE NOT SURE WHAT HAPPENED.

WE HAVE TWO TRADITIONS THAT ARE TOLD TO US, BOTH IN THE BIBLE.

ONE SAYS THAT HE WAS ESSENTIALLY BRIBED.

HE WAS PAID OFF.

ANOTHER SAYS THAT 185,000 ASSYRIAN TROOPS -- HIS MEN -- WERE KILLED IN A SINGLE NIGHT BY GOD, AND HE RETREATED AFTER THAT.

SO TAKE YOUR PICK -- EITHER DIVINE INTERVENTION, OR HUMAN BRIBERY.

ONE OF THE TWO WORKED.

Suarez: BY THE MID-7th CENTURY B.C.E., JERUSALEM WAS FLOURISHING, ECONOMICALLY, BUT THE CITY'S GOOD FORTUNE DID NOT LAST WITH THE RISE OF THE BABYLONIANS.

EXPANDING QUICKLY ACROSS THE NEAR EAST, THE BABYLONIANS ABSORBED JERUSALEM INTO THEIR EMPIRE.

THE NEW BABYLONIAN OVERLORDS, LED BY THE FAMED KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR, IMPOSED SEVERE TAXES AND TOOK LANDS.

A SERIES OF REBELLIONS AGAINST BABYLONIAN RULE BEGAN IN JERUSALEM.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR DOESN'T LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE REBEL AGAINST HIM, SO HE COMES IN, PUTS DOWN THE FIRST REBELLION, PUTS DOWN THE SECOND REBELLION.

THE THIRD REBELLION, HE TORCHES THE CITY AND DESTROYS THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON.

Suarez: IT WAS 586 B.C.E.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, JERUSALEM -- AND THE TEMPLE -- WERE UTTERLY DESTROYED.

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM DESCRIBED BEAUTIFULLY IN THE BIBLE -- HUNGER -- PEOPLE ARE DYING OF HUNGER DURING THE SIEGE.

THE BOOK OF KINGS TELLS US THAT PEOPLE USED TO EAT ANY AVAILABLE FOOD.

WE HAVE FOUND TOILETS -- ONE OF THEM, WE FOUND OUT THAT INDEED THE CONTENT WAS ALL KIND OF SHRUBS AND BONES OF VARIOUS ANIMALS WHICH WERE EATEN SIMPLY, BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING TO EAT IN THE CITY.

Suarez: AFTER THE BABYLONIAN VICTORY, THE BIBLE EXPLAINS, THE BABYLONIAN KING, NEBUCHADNEZZAR, CARRIED OFF THE JUDEAN KING, THE ROYAL FAMILY, THE CRAFTSMEN, THE UPPER CLASSES, AND COUNTLESS OTHERS, AND TOOK THEM ALL TO BABYLON.

IT WOULD COME TO BE CALLED THE BABYLONIAN EXILE, AND IT'S REMEMBERED IN PSALM 137, CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL IN THE BIBLE.

"BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON, "WE SAT AND WEPT WHEN WE REMEMBERED ZION.

"IF I FORGET YOU, OH, JERUSALEM, "MAY MY RIGHT HAND FORGET ITS SKILL, "MAY MY TONGUE CLING TO THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH, "IF I DO NOT REMEMBER YOU, IF I DO NOT CONSIDER JERUSALEM MY HIGHEST JOY."

ONE QUESTION THAT'S PUZZLED SCHOLARS, RABBIS, PRIESTS, AND EVEN TREASURE HUNTERS, IS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARK OF THE COVENANT WHEN THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED?

Pfann: VARIOUS SUGGESTIONS HAVE BEEN MADE OF WHERE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT COULD BE.

SOME THINK THE PROPHET JEREMIAH TOOK IT AND HID IT AND BROUGHT IT WITH HIM TO EGYPT.

ANOTHER IS THAT THE ETHIOPIANS HAVE IT IN THEIR SANCTUARY IN ETHIOPIA.

Bahat: BUT HERE COMES ANOTHER STORY, WHICH TELLS US THAT ONE DAY A PRIEST, WHO WAS SERVING IN THE TEMPLE, WALKED ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND DISCOVERED A SLAB OF STONE WHICH WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS.

SO IMMEDIATELY HE KNEW THAT UNDERNEATH LIES THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

HE COULDN'T LIFT THE STONE HIMSELF, SO HE WENT AND ASKED TWO OF HIS FRIENDS TO COME AND LIFT TOGETHER THE STONE.

BUT THE MOMENT THEY STARTED TO WALK TOWARDS THE PLACE, HE FELL AND DIED, AND THEN PEOPLE KNEW THAT ONE SHOULD NOT LOOK FOR THE ARK OF THE COVENANT -- SO WE DON'T DO IT.

WHERE DO I THINK THE ARK IS?

IT'S IN A GOVERNMENT DEPOSITORY SOMEWHERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AFTER INDIANA JONES FOUND IT.

THE LEAST ROMANTIC ANSWER IS PROBABLY THE ANSWER MOST LIKELY TO BE TRUE -- NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND HIS MEN PROBABLY TOOK THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, TOGETHER WITH THE SILVER AND GOLD VESSELS OF THE TEMPLE, AS PLUNDER FROM THEIR VICTORY.

BROUGHT IT TO BABYLON, PUT IT IN A MUSEUM, MELTED IT DOWN FOR GOLD.

WHATEVER HAPPENED, IT'S LIKELY THAT WE WON'T BE SEEING THE ARK OF THE COVENANT ANYTIME SOON.

FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED, THE JEWS GOT A TREMENDOUS BREAK.

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, CYRUS TOOK OVER, AND HE CAME WITH AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT POLICY -- NOT THE STICK, BUT THE CARROT.

LET PEOPLE GO BACK, LET THEM REBUILD THEIR HOMES, THEIR INSTITUTIONS, THEIR TEMPLES, RECONSTITUTE THEIR LAWS, AND THAT WAY TO WIN THE LOYALTY OF THE VARIOUS PEOPLES THAT WERE CONQUERED.

HE ALSO GAVE THEM THE MEANS -- HE HELPED BUILD THE TEMPLE, HE HELPED PAY FOR EXPENSES OF THE TEMPLE.

Suarez: BY THE FIRST CENTURY B.C.E., THE JEWISH KINGDOM HAD BEEN REESTABLISHED.

THE TEMPLE HAD BEEN REBUILT, AND THE KINGDOM WAS ONCE AGAIN RULED FROM JERUSALEM.

BUT NOT ALL WAS STABLE, AS TWO JEWISH LEADERS VIED FOR CONTROL.

TO SOLVE THEIR DISPUTE, THE JEWS APPEALED TO THE SUPERPOWER OF THE TIME, THE ROMAN EMPIRE, FOR HELP.

Cline: THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA -- IF YOU'RE HAVING A DISPUTE, NEVER CALL IN THE ROMANS.

BECAUSE WHEN THEY COME IN, THEY COME TO STAY, AND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS.

THE ROMANS MAKE THIS WHOLE AREA A PART OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

THEY INSTALL A PUPPET KING TO RULE OVER JERUSALEM AND THE REGION.

THIS IS HEROD THE GREAT -- HIS FAMILY CONVERTED TO JUDAISM.

PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT HE DID WAS TO RENOVATE THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.

IT'S ABOUT 500 YEARS OLD AND LOOKING PRETTY SHABBY.

HE WANTS TO MAKE IT THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD.

AND IT BECOMES AN ABSOLUTE MARVEL.

IT'S THE LENGTH OF, SAY, FIVE FOOTBALL FIELDS BY THREE FOOTBALL FIELDS, IT'S SHEATHED IN WHITE MARBLE, IT'S ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, ACCORDING TO THE DESCRIPTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY EYEWITNESSES.

Weinstock: THERE'S A STATEMENT IN THE TALMUD THAT ONE WHO DID NOT SEE HEROD'S TEMPLE IN ITS GLORY HAS NEVER GLIMPSED BEAUTY IN HIS LIFE.

THIS IS A ROW OF SHOPS, REMARKABLY INTACT AFTER 2,000 YEARS, RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHERE THE TEMPLE ONCE STOOD.

NOW, IT'S GENERALLY AGREED THAT THE TEMPLE WAS ORGANIZED INTO AREAS KNOWN AS "COURTS," WITH THE INNERMOST THE HOLY OF HOLIES.

THE FIRST WAS THE COURT OF THE GENTILES, WHERE ANYONE WAS ALLOWED TO ENTER.

THE NEXT WAS FOR JEWS ONLY -- OUTSIDE, THERE WAS AN INSCRIPTION CARVED IN THE STONE IN GREEK WHICH READ, "NO FOREIGNER IS TO ENTER.

"WHOEVER IS CAUGHT WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO BLAME FOR HIS SUBSEQUENT DEATH."

Pfann: IN ANTIQUITY, JERUSALEM WAS UNIQUE AS A TEMPLE CITY, A CITY IN WHICH THE TEMPLE WAS THE FOCAL POINT OF ALL THE ACTIVITY, AND WHICH LED TO ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL GROWTH.

JEWS FROM THE LAND OF ISRAEL WOULD COME HERE ON PILGRIMAGE SOMETIMES UP TO THREE TIMES A YEAR, AND JEWS FROM THE DIASPORA, THE INTERNATIONAL JEWS, ALSO HAD A GOAL TO COME ON PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM.

BUT IT WASN'T INTERESTING ONLY FOR THE JEWS -- IT WAS ALSO INTERESTING TO THE GENTILES, WHO OFTEN MADE THE DANGEROUS AND ARDUOUS TRIP TO JERUSALEM IN ORDER TO SEE THE MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE BUILT BY HEROD THE GREAT.

Levine: THE TEMPLE MOUNT BECAME A HUGE PRECINCT, LIKE A FORUM AT ROME.

IT HOUSED ALL THE MAJOR JEWISH INSTITUTIONS OF THAT TIME.

THE HIGH COURTS WERE THERE, ALL THE VARIOUS SECTS, THERE WAS A MAJOR MARKET THERE.

WHENEVER THERE WERE SOCIAL GATHERINGS, WHETHER IT BE PROTEST OR A SPEECH THAT HEROD WANTED TO GIVE, IT WAS INVARIABLY ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT.

THIS WAS THE HEART OF NOT ONLY JERUSALEM, OF JUDEA -- OF JEWISH JUDEA.

Pfann: WE SHOULD PICTURE A PLACE THAT WAS EXTREMELY BUSY, DAILY SACRIFICE WAS CARRIED OUT THERE.

SOME WOULD INVOLVE THE SACRIFICE OF ANIMALS, AND OTHERS WOULD INVOLVE THE OFFERING OF GRAINS, OR THE POURING OUT OF WINE.

TO BE A PRIEST AT THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM WAS HARD WORK, AND YOU REALLY HAD TO DO THIS JOB ONLY IN THE PRIME OF LIFE.

AND WE CAN IMAGINE THE SMOKE OF FIRES AND A LOT OF WATER INVOLVED IN CLEANSING BLOOD.

IT WAS A VERY, VERY BUSY AND ACTIVE AND VITAL PLACE.

Suarez: ANOTHER MAJOR UNDERTAKING OF KING HEROD THE GREAT WAS THE BUILDING OF NEW WALLS AROUND JERUSALEM -- THEY MADE THE CITY LARGER IN SIZE AND APPEARANCE.

THESE MASSIVE STONES DATE FROM HEROD'S PERIOD.

YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THEM BY THE RIDGE OF SEVERAL INCHES AROUND EACH ONE.

IT WAS ALSO NEAR THE FIRST CENTURY THAT SOME OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE JEWISH TOMBS AND MONUMENTS OF THE PERIOD WERE BUILT IN THE CITY, MANY OF WHICH WERE CONSTRUCTED NEAR THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, FOR ITS ASSOCIATION WITH THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH.

THE TOMB FOR HEROD THE GREAT, WHO DIED IN THE YEAR 4 B.C.E., WAS RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THIS MASSIVE FORTRESS NOT FAR FROM JERUSALEM.

HEROD BUILT THE FORTRESS ON THE SITE OF ONE OF HIS MILITARY VICTORIES.

NAMING IT AFTER HIMSELF, HE CALLED IT "HERODIUM."

MOST OF THE ACTUAL MAUSOLEUM IS LONG GONE.

ONLY THESE STONES, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN ITS FOUNDATION, REMAIN.

Pfann: THE CONTEXT OF JUDAISM IN THE FIRST CENTURY WAS DIVERSE AND PLURALISTIC WITHIN THE BROADER FRAMEWORK OF JUDAISM.

WE KNOW OF ALL KINDS OF JEWS -- PHARISEES, SADDUCEES, ESSENES.

AND THERE WAS A GREAT DEBATE AND DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE AND IN THOUGHT.

UNDERLYING THAT, OF COURSE, WAS THE GLUE THAT HELD ALL OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES TOGETHER, THEIR IDENTITY AS CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM, CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT.

Suarez: IT WAS AT THIS TIME, IN THE EARLY FIRST CENTURY OF THE COMMON ERA, THAT A NEW MINISTRY IS BELIEVED TO HAVE EMERGED UNDER A JEWISH MAN NAMED JOHN, WHO WOULD COME TO BE KNOWN AS JOHN THE BAPTIST.

ACCORDING TO THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, WHERE THIS STORY IS TOLD, HE WAS A FIERY PREACHER WHO LIVED IN THE WILDERNESS, WORE CAMELS' HAIR CLOTHING, ATE GRASSHOPPERS AND WILD HONEY.

JOHN BECAME KNOWN FOR HIS NEW APPROACH TO THE JEWISH PURIFICATION ACT OF RITUAL IMMERSION IN WATER.

JOHN FELT THESE BAPTISMS SHOULD NOT ONLY CLEANSE BUT SYMBOLIZE REPENTANCE AND A CHANGED LIFE.

JOHN'S PREACHING, WE LEARN FROM THE BIBLE, ATTRACTED MANY FOLLOWERS, WHOM HE BAPTIZED IN THE RIVER JORDAN.

SOME 2,000 YEARS LATER, PILGRIMS STILL COME HERE FOR THE SAME EXPERIENCE.

BURIED IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH, RAISED IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION.

[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ] Suarez: AS A PREACHER, JOHN WAS VERY OUTSPOKEN ABOUT HIS MORAL VIEWS.

IN ONE STORY IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, HE'S SAID TO HAVE ACCUSED ONE OF KING HEROD'S SONS OF ADULTERY.

IT WAS A MOVE THAT COST HIM HIS HEAD.

IN JERUSALEM, POOLS WERE COMMONLY USED FOR RITUAL IMMERSION.

I'M STANDING AT THE EDGE OF WHAT WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE SILOAM POOL -- IT'S ONLY BEEN ABOUT A THIRD EXCAVATED.

IT'S MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES IN THE GOSPELS, AND ITS WATER IS REPUTED TO HAVE BEEN THE PUREST IN THE CITY.

GIVEN THE GENEROUS SPRING WATER IN THIS AREA, IT WAS AN EASY MATTER TO DIVERT THE FLOW AND HAVE THE WATER CASCADE DOWN THESE STEPS TO FILL THE POOL.

ONCE SOMEONE WAS RITUALLY CLEANSED, THEY COULD PROCEED DOWN A NEARBY ROAD TO THE TEMPLE.

IT WAS DURING THIS TIME THAT A CHARISMATIC JEWISH CARPENTER NAMED JESUS IS BELIEVED TO HAVE EMERGED.

Pfann: WE LEARN ABOUT JESUS FROM THE GOSPELS -- MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN -- WHICH ARE THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE, THE NEW TESTAMENT.

JESUS WAS BORN IN BETHLEHEM, A TOWN NOT FAR FROM JERUSALEM.

TODAY THERE'S A CHURCH, BUILT IN THE FOURTH CENTURY, TO MARK THAT SPOT.

AND THERE'S A STAR IN THE FLOOR AT THE TRADITIONAL PLACE WHERE JESUS WAS BORN.

BETHLEHEM WAS THE CITY OF DAVID.

AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS THE BIRTHPLACE OF JESUS, HE DIDN'T GROW UP THERE.

HE GREW UP IN NAZARETH, A TOWN TO THE NORTH, WHERE HE LEARNED THE TRADE OF BUILDING FROM HIS FATHER, JOSEPH, AND LIVED A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE AS A YOUNG BOY.

Suarez: LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE EARLY YEARS OF JESUS' LIFE.

THE GOSPELS SAY HE WAS BAPTIZED AS AN ADULT BY JOHN, WHO WAS PROBABLY HIS COUSIN, AND THAT HE BEGAN A CAREER OF PREACHING AND HEALING IN THE GALILEE AND AROUND JUDEA.

HE WAS ALSO SAID TO BE PERFORMING MIRACLES -- CHANGING WATER IN TO WINE AT CANA, RAISING A MAN FROM THE DEAD, AND USING WATER FROM THIS POOL TO CURE A MAN'S BLINDNESS.

HE ALSO PREACHED COMPASSION AND FORGIVENESS, REACHING OUT TO THE POOR, THE SCORNED, AND THE SICK.

HIS FOLLOWING QUICKLY GREW.

Pfann: IF YOU WALKED AROUND JERUSALEM IN THE FIRST CENTURY, WHAT WOULD YOU SEE?

WELL, AT THE TEMPLE MOUNT, YOU WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY NOT SEE A BUNCH OF MESSIAHS ON SOAPBOXES.

ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU WOULD SEE GROUPS OF RABBIS AND THEIR STUDENTS, TEACHERS OF THE LAW AND SCRIBES, DISCUSSING THE VERY ISSUE OF WHO THE MESSIAH MIGHT BE, HOW MANY MESSIAHS MIGHT THERE BE, WHEN WOULD HE COME, HOW WOULD WE RECOGNIZE HIS COMING, AND WOULD INDEPENDENCE BE RESTORED TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE?

Suarez: FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE EXPLAINS, WITNESSING HIS LIFE AND HIS MESSAGE MADE IT INCREASINGLY CLEAR TO THEM THAT JESUS WAS THE MESSIAH JUDAISM HAD BEEN WAITING FOR, THE MAN PROMISED BY THE BIBLICAL PROPHET ISAIAH.

GOD'S REPRESENTATIVE ON EARTH.

I'M WALKING ON THE SLOPES OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, IN A PLACE CALLED THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.

IT WAS THROUGH HERE THAT JESUS WOULD HAVE RIDDEN INTO THE CITY ON THE BACK OF A DONKEY WHEN HE WAS 33 YEARS OLD.

HE HAD TO COME HERE TO JERUSALEM TO DELIVER HIS MESSAGE OF A NEW ORDER IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH, AND THE WAY MANY PEOPLE READ THE HEBREW BIBLE, HE HAD TO COME OVER THE MOUNT OF OLIVES TO DO IT.

JESUS HAD TO COME TO JERUSALEM TO CONFRONT THE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS POWERS OF HIS DAY OR RISK HAVING HIS IDEAS DISAPPEAR, LIKE THOSE OF SO MANY PREACHERS AND WOULD-BE PROPHETS OF HIS ERA.

HE HAD TO COME TO JERUSALEM, EVEN AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE.

HE RODE ON A DONKEY AND WAS SURROUNDED BY DOZENS OF FOLLOWERS, WHO THREW GARMENTS DOWN ON THE GROUND AND WAVED PALM BRANCHES AND PROCLAIMED HIM THE SON OF DAVID -- A VERY POLITICAL TITLE.

BUT IN HIS CHOICE OF A DONKEY, JESUS WAS VERY SPECIFIC BECAUSE HE UNDERSTOOD, FROM THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH, FROM ONE OF THE PROPHETIC BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, THAT THIS WAS A SYMBOL OF HUMILITY AND NOT A SYMBOL OF WAR.

JESUS WASN'T COMING IN AS A POLITICAL KING, HE WAS COMING IN AS A RELIGIOUS REFORMER.

THE NEXT THING HE DID WAS HE WENT UP TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT, AND THERE HE DID SOMETHING DRAMATIC AND SEEMINGLY VIOLENT.

HE TURNED OVER THE TABLES OF THE MONEY-CHANGERS, HE SET THE ANIMALS FREE WHO HAD BEEN PUT IN CAGES, SET APART FOR SACRIFICE.

AND IN DOING THIS, WE ASSUME THAT HE WAS ENACTING A PROPHETIC STATEMENT THAT HE KNEW THAT IN HIMSELF A NEW ORDER WAS BEGINNING WITHIN JUDAISM, AND THAT HE WAS USHERING IN A NEW AGE.

ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE BEGAN TO FOLLOW JESUS' TEACHINGS.

HOW MANY IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE, BUT IT WAS TOO MANY FOR THE AUTHORITIES, WHO BEGAN TO SEE HIM AS A THREAT TO THE STATUS QUO.

THEY ARRANGED TO HAVE JESUS ARRESTED.

IT WAS THE WEEK BEFORE PASSOVER, AND WE CAN IMAGINE THAT JERUSALEM WAS FULL OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO HAD COME ON PILGRIMAGE.

JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS WERE INCLUDED IN THAT LARGE, LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE.

BECAUSE THEY WERE FROM OUT OF TOWN, THEY NEEDED TO RENT A ROOM IN WHICH TO HOLD THE BEGINNING MEAL OF PASSOVER, OR PASSOVER SEDER.

JESUS HAD ARRANGED FOR SUCH A ROOM, AND HE MET THERE TOGETHER WITH HIS 12, THE INNER CORE OF DISCIPLES.

HE TOOK THIS OPPORTUNITY AT THIS MEAL TO PREPARE HIS DISCIPLES FOR THE TRAUMA THAT LAY AHEAD.

HE KNEW THAT THE EVENTS THAT WOULD UNFOLD WOULD INCLUDE HIS ARREST AND HIS EXECUTION, AND HE KNEW THAT FOR HIS DISCIPLES AND HIS FOLLOWERS, THIS WOULD BE A MOMENT OF GREAT DARKNESS AND A MOMENT OF GREAT DESPAIR.

Suarez: THIS ROOM IN JERUSALEM, BUILT OVER A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER JESUS LIVED, REPRESENTS THE UPPER ROOM, WHERE HIS LAST PASSOVER MEAL IS SAID TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE.

[ CHORUS SINGING ] JUDAS -- ONE OF THE 12 WHO KNOWS THE INTIMATE SECRETS OF WHAT'S GOING ON HERE -- WHERE JESUS WILL BE, WHERE HE WILL BE HAVING DINNER, WHERE HE WILL GO AFTER THAT -- WELL, HE GOES TO THE TEMPLE AUTHORITIES AND AGREES TO TURN JESUS OVER TO THEM.

AND FOR THAT FAVOR, HE IS GIVEN 30 PIECES OF SILVER.

Suarez: AFTER THE LAST SUPPER, JESUS -- STILL A WANTED MAN -- CAME HERE WITH HIS DISCIPLES, TO THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE TO PRAY.

ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS, HE KNEW HIS ARREST WAS IMMINENT.

Pfann: HE HAD A DECISION TO FACE.

HE COULD LEAVE.

HE COULD GO BACK ACROSS THE MOUNT OF OLIVES INTO THE JUDEAN WILDERNESS AND DISAPPEAR INTO THE DESERT AND NEVER FACE THE CROSS.

OR HE COULD STAY, BE ARRESTED, AND LET THE EVENTS UNFOLD BEFORE HIM.

Suarez: THIS CHURCH, KNOWN AS THE BASILICA OF THE AGONY, WAS BUILT OVER THE PLACE IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE WHERE JESUS IS BELIEVED TO HAVE KNELT FOR HIS FINAL PRAYER BEFORE HIS ARREST.

INSIDE THE CHURCH, WHICH EVOKES THE FEEL OF A GARDEN AT NIGHT, THE PRAYER SITE ITSELF -- AN OUTCROPPING OF BEDROCK ACTUALLY CARVED FROM THE MOUNTAIN -- IS ENSHRINED.

JUDAS KEPT HIS END OF THE DEAL.

WHEN THE AUTHORITIES ARRIVED AT THE GARDEN, THE GOSPELS TELL US, HE GAVE THE SIGNAL THAT WOULD IDENTIFY JESUS AS THE MAN TO BE ARRESTED -- A KISS.

JESUS'S BETRAYAL -- THE JUDAS KISS -- HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF COUNTLESS PAINTINGS THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

Massie: DOES JUDAS THINK THAT IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN THAT HE WOULD -- THAT JESUS WOULD BE KILLED?

I DON'T THINK SO, BECAUSE I THINK JUDAS ULTIMATELY RECOILS FROM WHAT HE HAS DONE, RETURNS THE MONEY, AND, UNFORTUNATELY, DESPAIRS AND GOES OUT AND HE HANGS HIMSELF.

Suarez: THIS FIELD IN JERUSALEM KNOWN AS AKELDAMA, "THE FIELD OF BLOOD," IS TRADITIONALLY BELIEVED TO BE THE SITE OF JUDAS'S SUICIDE.

JESUS IS ARRESTED AT NIGHT.

SINCE IT'S NIGHT, THERE ARE NO COURTS OPEN.

HE'S BROUGHT TO THE HOME OF CAIAPHAS, THE HIGH PRIEST, AND THEY HOLD JESUS UNTIL THE MORNING WHEN A FORMAL PUBLIC TRIAL CAN BE HELD.

THIS TRIAL IS HELD BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN, WHICH IS A LARGE BODY OF ABOUT 70 PRIESTS, SADDUCEES, AND PHARISEES, WHO HAVE AUTHORITY TO HEAR CRIMINAL CASES.

Suarez: THERE WAS STILL ONE FINAL STAGE OF THE TRIAL.

JESUS WAS BROUGHT BEFORE THE ROMAN EMPIRE'S PREFECT, OR GOVERNOR OF JUDEA, PONTIUS PILATE.

AS THE GOSPELS EXPLAIN, JESUS WAS ACCUSED OF CLAIMING TO BE THE KING OF THE JEWS.

FOR THIS, HE WAS CHARGED WITH TREASON AGAINST ROME.

IT WAS A CHALLENGE TO CAESAR HIMSELF.

PILATE SENTENCED JESUS TO DIE BY CRUCIFIXION.

BUT, FIRST, AS WAS CUSTOMARY, THE CONVICTED WAS BRUTALLY BEATEN.

AS THE EVENT IS DESCRIBED IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, AFTER TWISTING THORNS INTO A CROWN, THEY PUT IT ON HIS HEAD.

THEY SPAT ON HIM AND STRUCK HIM.

THEN, THEY LED HIM AWAY TO CRUCIFY HIM.

A ROMAN EXECUTION WAS BY CRUCIFIXION.

IT WAS STANDARD ROMAN EXECUTION.

THE EXECUTION COULD NOT TAKE PLACE INSIDE THE CITY ACCORDING TO JEWISH LAW.

IT HAD TO TAKE PLACE OUTSIDE THE CITY.

AND THAT WAS MORE OR LESS THE CUSTOMARY THING.

SO THEY WENT TO WHAT MUST HAVE BEEN A WELL-KNOWN PLACE, BECAUSE IT HAD A NAME, IT WAS CALLED GOLGOTHA, OR "THE PLACE OF THE SKULL."

AND HE WAS CRUCIFIED THERE.

THERE'S NO INDICATION WHERE IT WAS FROM THE GOSPELS.

ALL WE KNOW IS IT WAS OUTSIDE THE CITY WALLS.

Suarez: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW SAYS THAT WHEN JESUS HAD DIED, HIS BODY WAS HURRIEDLY BURIED IN A TOMB IN A NEARBY GARDEN AND A ROCK WAS ROLLED IN FRONT OF THE DOOR TO SEAL IT.

THREE DAYS LATER, SOME OF JESUS'S FOLLOWERS CAME TO THE TOMB AND FOUND SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED.

AS THE GOSPELS RECOUNT, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN AND SAID, "DO NOT BE AFRAID.

"I KNOW THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR JESUS, "WHO WAS CRUCIFIED.

"HE'S NOT HERE.

HE IS RISEN."

Massie: WHAT HAPPENS IS, IN THIS RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD -- THIS IS A QUINTESSENTIAL BELIEF OF ALL OF CHRISTENDOM, NOT JUST CATHOLICISM -- THAT IN THIS RESURRECTION, THE FAITHFUL MAN IS REWARDED.

JUST AS HE ROSE, SO WILL WE.

THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL, THIS IS THEIR LOT.

[ BELLS RINGING ] Suarez: THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS WOULD COME TO BE CELEBRATED BY CHRISTIANS AS THE HOLIEST DAY OF THE YEAR -- EASTER.

THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE SAYS THE RESURRECTED JESUS SPENT 40 DAYS IN AND AROUND JERUSALEM, APPEARING ON DIFFERENT OCCASIONS TO HIS FOLLOWERS.

Massie: THE COMMUNITY IS WRITING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION AND TELLING THEM, "DO YOU SEE THIS?

THIS WAS OUR EXPERIENCE."

AND, FOR THEM, IT'S A CONVINCING EVENT THAT MAKES JESUS MESSIAH.

Suarez: THE FIFTH BOOK IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, OPENS AS THE RESURRECTED JESUS ASCENDS TO HEAVEN FROM ATOP THE MOUNT OF OLIVES IN JERUSALEM.

BUILT TO MEMORIALIZE THE ASCENSION IS THIS SMALL STRUCTURE.

BY TRADITION, THIS STONE BEARS THE FOOTPRINT OF JESUS AND MARKS THE LAST TIME HE STOOD ON EARTH BEFORE ASCENDING TO HEAVEN.

AS JESUS' NEWLY CONFIDENT FOLLOWERS SET OUT FROM JERUSALEM TO PREACH THE MESSAGE OF THEIR RISEN LORD, THEY NOW BEGAN TO EMPHASIZE A NEW ELEMENT -- NOT ONLY WAS JESUS THE MESSIAH, HE WAS THE ACTUAL SON OF GOD.

Massie: THE DISCIPLES GO INTO JERUSALEM, IN THE TEMPLE PRECINCTS, AND THEY PROCLAIM THEIR FAITH IN JESUS AS MESSIAH.

AND AS THE CONTINUUM OF THE PROPHETS, THE CONTINUUM OF ISRAEL, NOT AS A SPLIT FROM ISRAEL.

THAT'S A VERY IMPORTANT CONCEPT FOR CHRISTIANS.

IT'S NOT SOMETHING TOTALLY NEW, IT'S A CONTINUATION OF THE REVELATION OF GOD THROUGH MOSES AND THE PROPHETS TO THE PERSON OF JESUS.

WITH THAT ENERGY, THE APOSTLES GO AND PROCLAIM THIS JESUS TO THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.

AND IT'S GOING TO BE FROM JERUSALEM THAT THEY ARE GOING TO GO TO THE REST OF THE COUNTRY AND BEYOND, PROCLAIMING THAT MESSAGE.

THE PREACHERS OF THE NEW FAITH CONTINUED TO INSIST, AS JESUS HAD, THAT AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE, THE WORLD WOULD END.

THEN, JESUS, AS MESSIAH, WOULD RETURN IN A SECOND COMING TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES IN JERUSALEM, AND A NEW ERA WOULD BEGIN.

Man: CHRIST IS COMING BACK ON THE THRONE SURROUNDED BY ANGELS, ARCHANGELS, POWERS, AND DOMINIONS, AND ON A THRONE, AND THERE, HE WILL START JUDGING PEOPLE AND SEND THEM TO HELL OR TO PARADISE.

Suarez: AS THE JESUS MOVEMENT PASSED OUTWARD FROM JERUSALEM, THE CITY RETURNED TO ITS NORMAL STATE AS A JEWISH CITY UNDER ROMAN RULE.

Cline: JERUSALEM WOULD HAVE BEEN A THRIVING CITY WITH UPPER-CLASS, MIDDLE-CLASS, LOWER-CLASS, EVERYTHING YOU WOULD HAVE EXPECTED.

IT IS THE CENTER OF THE REGION, IT'S THE CAPITAL OF THE AREA, IT WAS A BUSTLING AND IMPORTANT CITY.

THE POPULATION WOULD HAVE BEEN MOSTLY JEWISH, BUT YOU'RE GOING TO GET A MIXED CROWD OF DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES, AND, IN SOME CASES, DIFFERENT RELIGIONS.

Suarez: IN THE YEAR 39 C.E., JERUSALEM WENT THROUGH A NEW UPHEAVAL.

THE ROMAN EMPEROR CALIGULA, KNOWN FOR HIS MEGALOMANIA AND CRUELTY, DECLARED HIMSELF A GOD AND ORDERED STATUES OF HIMSELF TO BE BUILT AT THE HOLY SITES IN JERUSALEM.

WHEN THE JEWS UNDERSTANDABLY REFUSED, HE THREW ONE HIS MOST FAMOUS TEMPER TANTRUMS AND THREATENED TO DESTROY THE JEWISH TEMPLE.

"SO YOU ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE GODS," HE SAID, "THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE MY DIVINITY."

CALIGULA DIED TWO YEARS LATER, MURDERED BY HIS OWN GUARDS, AND THE TEMPLE WAS SPARED.

BUT ROME'S OPPRESSION OF THE JEWS CONTINUED, WITH MASSIVE TAX INCREASES AND THE INSISTENCE THAT ONLY ROME COULD CHOOSE JERUSALEM'S HIGH PRIESTS -- AN IRONIC TWIST, AS THE ROMANS CONSIDERED JUDAISM TO BE A NONSENSICAL SUPERSTITION.

THE ROMANS WENT FURTHER, AND, IN 66 C.E., THEY ROBBED THE TEMPLE OF SOME OF ITS MONEY.

ENRAGED, THE JEWS REVOLTED.

BUT, UNWILLING TO TOLERATE ANY DISSENT, THE ROMANS SENT 60,000 SOLDIERS TO CRUSH THE JEWISH REVOLT.

THE WAR ESCALATED, AND, BEFORE IT WAS OVER, ROMAN SOLDIERS DESTROYED THE TEMPLE.

Cline: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITY AND OF THE TEMPLE IN THE YEAR 70 IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.

WE'RE GIVEN THE DESCRIPTION BY A NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT WERE EITHER EYEWITNESSES OR LIVED JUST AFTERWARD.

THE WHOLE CITY IS DEMOLISHED, MUCH OF THE POPULATION IS EITHER KILLED OUTRIGHT OR TAKEN INTO SLAVERY.

THERE'S SO MUCH GOLD CAPTURED THAT THE PRICE OF GOLD THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE ROMAN EMPIRE DROPS.

THERE'S SO MANY SLAVES TAKEN THAT THE PRICE OF SLAVES THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE DROPS.

AND THE ENTIRE TEMPLE IS DESTROYED.

Suarez: ONE HISTORIAN DESCRIBED THE EVENT -- FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, A JEW WHO FOUGHT AGAINST ROME IN THE REBELLION AND LATER BECAME A ROMAN CITIZEN.

HE WRITES, "ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT "THAT THE HILL ITSELF ON WHICH THE TEMPLE STOOD "WAS SEETHING HOT, AS FULL OF FIRE "ON EVERY PART OF IT, "THAT THE BLOOD WAS LARGER IN QUANTITY THAN THE FIRE, "AND THOSE THAT WERE KILLED MORE IN NUMBER THAN THOSE THAT KILLED THEM."

ON THIS WALL IS ALL THAT REMAINS OF A GREAT ARCH KNOWN AS ROBINSON'S ARCH.

IT ONCE SUPPORTED A HUGE WALKWAY THAT WAS DESTROYED WITH THE TEMPLE.

THESE MASSIVE STONES WERE PART OF THE RETAINING WALL OF THE SECOND TEMPLE.

THEY WERE HURLED DOWN TO THE PAVEMENT BELOW BY ROMAN SOLDIERS.

WITH THEIR TEMPLE GONE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE NOW HAD TO RETHINK THE ROLE AND MEANING OF JERUSALEM.

Levine: WHEN THE TEMPLE IS DESTROYED, THE JEWS REFUSE TO GIVE UP THAT MEMORY.

AND THAT MEMORY WAS TRANSLATED INTO PRAYER, THAT MEMORY WAS TRANSLATED INTO HOLIDAY OBSERVANCES, THAT MEMORY WAS TRANSLATED INTO RELIGIOUS POEMS, AND THAT MEMORY WAS CARRIED WITH THEM FOR 2,000 YEARS.

SO WHEN THERE'S A WEDDING, YOU BREAK A GLASS IN MEMORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.

WHEN YOU BUILD A HOME, YOU LEAVE A LITTLE PIECE UNFINISHED.

ZEKHER LE-HURBAN -- MEMORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

Suarez: TO THIS DAY, OBSERVANT JEWS RECITE A PRAYER THREE TIMES A DAY CALLED THE AMIDAH, IN WHICH THEY ASK GOD TO REBUILD JERUSALEM SPEEDILY AND RESTORE THE THRONE OF KING DAVID.

AND TWICE EACH YEAR, THEY INTONE THE PRAYER, THE WISH, TO BE NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM, ONCE AT THE CLOSE OF THE PASSOVER MEAL, AND AGAIN ON THE JEWISH DAY OF ATONEMENT, YOM KIPPUR.

THE TEMPLE WAS GONE, BUT SECTIONS OF THE WALL THAT SUPPORTED THE TEMPLE MOUNT STILL REMAINED.

Peters: IT BEGAN TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY JEWS THAT THE PRESENCE OF GOD NOW RESIDES IN THIS KIND OF SPECIAL WAY BEHIND THE WESTERN WALL OF THE TEMPLE PLATFORM IN JERUSALEM.

[ CHANTING ] Weinstock: WHY DO PEOPLE SWAY AND WAIL AND CRY AND PRAY AT THE WESTERN WALL?

BECAUSE THEY FEEL GOD'S CLOSENESS THERE.

THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE THE ANTENNA IS TALLEST AND THE RECEPTION IS CLEAREST.

YOU SEE A WALL IN A HOLY CITY WHICH HAS THE POWER TO TURN VERY SERIOUS RATIONAL PEOPLE AND HAVE THEM BREAK OUT INTO TEARS AND CRY LIKE CHILDREN, WASHED OVER WITH A SENSE OF EMOTION.

Suarez: EVEN WITH THE TEMPLE DESTROYED, THE ROMANS DIDN'T LET UP IN THEIR EFFORTS TO DEFEAT THE JEWS.

Peters: IT LASTED FOR FOUR YEARS, AND IT CLIMAXED IN THIS BLOODY SIEGE IN JERUSALEM.

BUT THE WAR WASN'T OVER.

THERE WERE STILL HOLD-OUTS AT ONE OF THESE FORTRESSES THAT HAD BEEN BUILT IN THE DESERT.

Suarez: IT WAS RIGHT HERE.

THE FORTRESS WAS MASADA, WHERE OVER 900 JEWS FROM JERUSALEM HELD OUT.

THEY WERE KNOWN AS THE ZEALOTS.

MASADA WAS OVER 1,000 FEET HIGH, HAD WALLS 13 FEET THICK, NUMEROUS TOWERS AND BARRACKS.

Peters: HERE'S WHERE THE ROMAN EXAMPLE COMES IN.

THE ROMANS COULD HAVE PUT A PLATOON DOWN AT THE BASE OF MASADA AND JUST SIMPLY STARVED THEM OUT, RIGHT?

I MEAN, IT WAS THE EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD.

THE ROMANS DIDN'T DO THAT.

WHAT THE ROMANS DID WAS THEY BUILT A CAUSEWAY UP TO MASADA.

THEY CHOSE THE MOST DIFFICULT AND YET THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND THE MOST BONE-CRUSHING WAY OF DOING THIS -- BUILT A CAUSEWAY TO THE TOP OF THE MESA AND ROLLED THEIR HEAVY SIEGE MACHINERY UP JUST TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE.

Man: FOR ME, THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION WAS, WHY DID THE ROMANS BOTHER?

AFTER THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IS CONQUERED, ALL THE STRONGHOLDS, WHY DID THE ROMANS BOTHER TO GO AND SEND A LEGION, RATHER THAN BE CAPTURED BY THE ROMANS.

WHETHER THAT TALE ACTUALLY HAPPENED IS A MATTER OF GREAT DEBATE BY HISTORIANS TODAY, BUT IT CERTAINLY MAKES FOR A VERY DRAMATIC END TO THE JEWISH REBELLION.

Suarez: THE JEWISH REVOLT WAS DEFEATED IN THE YEAR 73 C.E., AND THE ROMAN OCCUPATION OF JERUSALEM CONTINUED.

THE CITY WAS IN RUINS, BUT IT'S WRITTEN THAT EMPEROR TITUS KEPT THREE TOWERS INTACT SO OUTSIDERS WOULD KNOW THAT JERUSALEM COULD NOT STOP THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

THIS TOWER IN JERUSALEM IS THE LAST OF THE THREE.

SOME 60 YEARS LATER, THE ROMAN EMPEROR HADRIAN DECIDED TO CREATE WHAT HE CONSIDERED TO BE A NEW AND IMPROVED JERUSALEM.

PERHAPS OBLIVIOUS TO JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN FEELINGS -- OR PERHAPS, IN SPITE OF THEM -- HADRIAN WENT ON A TEMPLE-BUILDING FRENZY IN JERUSALEM, INCLUDING A TEMPLE TO ROMAN GODS ON THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF JESUS' CRUCIFIXION ITSELF -- GOLGOTHA.

AS ONE EYEWITNESS WROTE OF THE EVENTS YEARS LATER, "THEY PREPARED ON THIS FOUNDATION "A TRULY DREADFUL SEPULCHER OF SOULS TO THE IMPURE SPIRIT WHOM THEY CALL VENUS."

MANY FELT A WARNING LINE FROM THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH IN THE HEBREW BIBLE HAD COME TRUE -- THAT "ZION SHALL BE PLOWED LIKE A FIELD."

THINGS GOT WORSE FOR THE JEWS.

THE ROMANS BANNED SEVERAL JEWISH RELIGIOUS RITUALS, INCLUDING CIRCUMCISION, THE CENTERPIECE OF THE COVENANT.

IN 132 C.E., LED BY A MAN NAMED SIMON BAR KOKHBA, THE JEWS AGAIN REVOLTED AGAINST THE ROMANS, BUT, AGAIN, THE JEWS LOST.

THE SECOND REVOLT AGAINST ROME, KNOWN AS THE BAR KOKHBA REVOLT, WAS ACTUALLY FAR MORE DEVASTATING IN ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

THEY WERE FORBIDDEN TO LIVE IN JERUSALEM.

THE CITY LOST ITS JEWISH CHARACTER, AND SHRINES TO VARIOUS PAGAN GODS WERE ERECTED THROUGHOUT THE CITY.

THE EXPULSION OF SO MANY JEWS FROM JERUSALEM CONTINUED WHAT HAD ALREADY BEGUN UNDER THE ASSYRIANS AND BABYLONIANS -- THE DISPERSION OF JEWS OUTSIDE OF JUDEA AND, EVENTUALLY, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

IT WOULD COME TO BE KNOWN AS THE JEWISH DIASPORA.

BUT WHILE JEWS WERE BARRED FROM JERUSALEM, CHRISTIANS WERE BEGINNING TO VISIT THE CITY.

A DRAWING OF A SHIP WITH THE LATIN PHRASE DOMINE IVIMUS, MEANING "LORD, WE WENT," WAS DISCOVERED IN JERUSALEM IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF JESUS' TOMB.

MANY BELIEVE IT WAS DRAWN BY CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS FROM THE SECOND CENTURY C.E.

IF SO, IT'S THE OLDEST REMNANT OF CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE TO THE CITY.

THE FOURTH CENTURY MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA FOR THE ROMAN EMPIRE, CHRISTIANITY, JERUSALEM, AND MUCH OF THE WORLD.

[ CHANTING ] IN ROUGHLY 301 C.E., ARMENIA BECAME THE FIRST NATION TO DECLARE CHRISTIANITY ITS OFFICIAL STATE RELIGION, AS DID MANY OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS.

FOR DECADES, CHRISTIANITY HAD BEEN A PERSECUTED RELIGION IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

BUT IN 313, THE EMPEROR FLAVIUS VALERIUS AURELIUS CONSTANTINUS -- BETTER KNOWN AS "CONSTANTINE THE GREAT" -- ANNOUNCED THE OFFICIAL TOLERANCE AND IMPERIAL FAVOR OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE EMPIRE.

Peters: ONE OF HIS PROJECTS WAS TO GO AND IDENTIFY THE PLACES CONNECTED WITH JESUS IN JERUSALEM.

HE INSTRUCTED THE BISHOP OF JERUSALEM TO IDENTIFY THE HOLY PLACES AND TO ENSHRINE THEM.

SO, WHAT THE BISHOP DID WAS SIMPLY TO ASK THE LOCAL POPULATION WHERE, IN THEIR OPINION, JESUS HAD BEEN EXECUTED AND WHERE HE WAS BURIED, AND THEY POINTED HIM TO A PLACE LOCATED NOW IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY.

THE GOSPELS SAY THAT JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED OUTSIDE THE CITY WALLS, BUT THE PLACE THEY SHOWED HIM WAS INSIDE THE CITY BECAUSE THE CITY WALLS HAD MOVED IN THE COURSE OF THE 300-ODD YEARS.

WHEN THE EXCAVATIONS TOOK PLACE, THEY DISCOVERED THREE CROSSES AND THE INDICTMENT.

ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS, THE INDICTMENT OF JESUS SAID, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS."

THE QUESTION WAS, WHICH OF THESE CROSSES WAS THE ONE OF JESUS?

HELENA, THE MOTHER OF CONSTANTINE, ORDERED THAT THE CROSSES BE APPLIED TO THE BODY OF A VERY ILL PERSON, AND ONE OF THE CROSSES WORKED TO CURE THE ILLNESS, AND THEREBY HELENA COULD DECLARE WITH ALL CERTITUDE THAT THIS WAS INDEED THE TRUE CROSS.

NOW, WHAT THEY REALLY DISCOVERED, I HAVE NO IDEA.

BUT THAT IS WHERE FAITH TOOK OVER, BECAUSE THEN SHE AND THE CHURCH DECIDED, "THIS IS THE TOMB OF CHRIST, AND THIS IS THE CROSS ON WHICH CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED, PERIOD."

AND THERE WAS NO COMMITTEE OF SCHOLARS TO CHECK IT OUT IN DETAIL OR ANYTHING OF THAT NATURE.

IT WAS A DECISION OF PIETY AND A POLITICAL DECISION.

THERE WAS NECESSITY TO FIND A CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY WHERE THE PIETY AND SPIRITUALITY OF CHRISTIANS COULD BE CHANNELED.

Suarez: CONSTANTINE ORDERED THE ENSHRINEMENT OF JESUS' TOMB, OR SEPULCHRE, AND THE NEARBY GOLGOTHA.

THESE TWO STRUCTURES, ALONG WITH A MASSIVE BASILICA, WOULD COME TO BE CALLED "THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE."

I'M STANDING IN THE COURTYARD THAT MARKS THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

AFTER MORE THAN 1,600 YEARS, THE CHURCH IS SURROUNDED BY OTHER BUILDINGS, MAKING ITS EXTERIOR DIFFICULT TO SEE.

THE COMPLETION OF THIS BUILDING IN THE FOURTH CENTURY MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A NEW, CHRISTIAN JERUSALEM.

FOR THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, THERE'S NO QUESTION THIS PLACE WAS THE OMPHALOS -- A GREEK WORD MEANING "NAVEL" -- THE CENTER OF THE WORLD.

[ CHANTING ] THIS IS THE STONE OF UNCTION.

IT'S ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS VISITORS CONFRONT WHEN THEY COME OUT OF THE COURTYARD AND IN THROUGH THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH.

IT'S ON THIS SPOT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE JESUS' BODY WAS LAID WHEN IT WAS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS TO BE WASHED, WRAPPED, AND PREPARED FOR BURIAL.

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT MONUMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

THIS IS GOLGOTHA, WHAT MANY ENGLISH-SPEAKING CHRISTIANS MIGHT CALL CALVARY.

IT WAS ATOP THIS ROCK, NOW ENCASED IN GLASS, MARBLE, AND ICONOGRAPHY, THAT MANY CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THE CROSS WAS RAISED.

RIGHT HERE, JESUS OF NAZARETH HUNG IN AGONY AND DIED.

[ CHORUS CHANTING ] [ BELLS RINGING, CHANTING CONTINUES ] ALL DAY LONG, VISITORS CLUSTER OUTSIDE THE SMALL DOORWAY FOR A GLIMPSE INSIDE AT WHAT MUST BE REGARDED AS ONE OF THE ORIGIN POINTS, ONE OF THE BIRTH PLACES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, FOR MANY CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THIS IS THE SITE OF THE TOMB OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, FROM WHICH, THEY BELIEVE, HE ROSE AGAIN TO LIFE.

INSIDE THE DOORWAY ARE TWO ROOMS.

THE FIRST IS THE CHAPEL OF THE ANGEL.

THE SECOND IS THE SITE OF THE TOMB ITSELF, WHERE PEOPLE COME TO KNEEL AND PRAY.

[ BELLS RINGING ] ALSO IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, JUST A FEW YARDS FROM GOLGOTHA AND THE TOMB, IS THIS SMALL MARBLE STRUCTURE KNOWN AS "THE COMPASS" WHICH SYMBOLICALLY MARKS THE CENTER OF THE WORLD.

FOR CENTURIES, UNTOLD NUMBERS OF MAPS FROM CHRISTIAN EUROPE WOULD ACTUALLY SHOW JERUSALEM AT THE WORLD'S CENTER.

[ BELLS RINGING ] WITH THE 4th-CENTURY CONSTRUCTION OF THIS NEW CHURCH, JERUSALEM QUICKLY BECAME A CENTER OF INTENSE CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY.

MONKS AND PILGRIMS BEGAN COMING IN EVER-INCREASING NUMBERS, MANY TO STAY.

THE ELITE OF CHURCH AND STATE AND PART OF THE POPULACE SPOKE GREEK.

THE REST OF THE LOCALS SPOKE THEIR NATIVE SYRIAC.

THE PILGRIMS AND THEIR NEW COMMUNITIES SPOKE THE LANGUAGES OF THEIR HOMELANDS -- COPTIC, ARABIC, ARMENIAN, LATIN, AND OTHER LANGUAGES.

THERE MAY HAVE BEEN JEWS THERE, TOO, BUT THEY WERE FEW.

THE CURRENT RULER SAW LITTLE REASON TO REVERSE THE POLICY BANNING JEWS SET IN EARLIER YEARS BY THE ROMANS.

[ CHANTING ] FOR CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS, THE SITES ASSOCIATED WITH JESUS WERE NOT JUST PHYSICAL LOCATIONS.

THEY WERE HOLY GROUND THAT ACTUALLY BROUGHT ONE CLOSER TO GOD OR TO HEAVEN.

AND THEIR SPIRITUAL MEANINGS WERE EXPANDED.

PILGRIMS WHO CAME TO GOLGOTHA WERE TOLD IT WAS NOT ONLY THE PLACE OF JESUS' CRUCIFIXION BUT THAT GOD ALSO CREATED ADAM, THE FIRST MAN, ON THIS SITE.

WITH CHRISTIANITY'S RISE AND THE EVER-GROWING POPULARITY OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE IN JERUSALEM, THE RELIGIOUS FOCAL POINT FOR THE CITY WAS NO LONGER THE SPACE ATOP MOUNT MORIAH.

THE TEMPLE AREA, THE SITE OF THE HOLY OF HOLIES, THE PLACE WHERE JESUS PRAYED AND PREACHED, BECAME, LITERALLY, A DUMP.

IT WAS ALSO IN THE FOURTH CENTURY THAT AN ANONYMOUS PILGRIM CAME TO JERUSALEM, KNOWN ONLY AS "THE PILGRIM FROM BORDEAUX."

THE PILGRIM WRITES IN SOME DETAIL ABOUT THE ROCK ATOP MOUNT MORIAH WHERE JEWS WOULD MOURN THE LOSS OF THEIR TEMPLE.

AS HE DESCRIBES -- "THE JEWS WOULD COME EACH YEAR, "ANOINT THE ROCK, BEWAIL THEMSELVES WITH GROANS, REND THEIR GARMENTS, AND SO DEPART."

HIS WRITING OPENS A DOOR TO YET ANOTHER MYSTERY OF THE CITY.

THE PILGRIM VISITED JERUSALEM IN THE FOURTH CENTURY C.E., AND YET HIS ACCOUNT IS THE VERY FIRST WRITTEN REFERENCE TO THE ACTUAL ROCK ATOP MOUNT MORIAH.

Grabar: IT'S VERY CLEAR WHEN YOU GO THERE, YOU HAVE THAT OUTCROP, AND BEFORE EVERYTHING WAS BUILT AROUND, IT MUST HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE VISIBLE THAN IT IS NOW.

AND YET WE DO NOT HAVE, TO MY KNOWLEDGE, AT LEAST, A SINGLE SOURCE, JEWISH OR CHRISTIAN, THAT TALKS ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THAT ROCK.

THE FAST-GROWING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY NEEDED LOTS OF NEW CHURCHES, FOR RESIDENTS AND PILGRIMS, AND HUNDREDS WERE BUILT.

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS EXAMPLES WAS THE NEA CHURCH.

IT WAS MORE THAN 350 FEET LONG, AND IT WAS CALLED "TOO MONUMENTAL TO DESCRIBE."

IT CAME TUMBLING DOWN IN THE SEVENTH OR EIGHTH CENTURY.

NO CONTEMPORARY PICTURES OF THE NEA CHURCH EXIST, THOUGH THE CHURCH IS REPRESENTED ON THE OLDEST KNOWN MAP OF JERUSALEM -- THE MADABA MAP, COMPLETED IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.

IT'S LOCATED ON THE FLOOR OF ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH SOME 35 MILES EAST OF JERUSALEM IN MADABA, JORDAN.

THE NEA CHURCH IS REPRESENTED HERE, THIS LARGE STRUCTURE IS THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

THIS RECTANGULAR SECTION NEAR THE TOP IS THE TEMPLE MOUNT, AND DOWN HERE, IN GREEK, IS AKELDAMA, THE TRADITIONAL SITE OF JUDAS' SUICIDE.

JERUSALEM IS NOT A PLACE WHERE ANYBODY MANUFACTURED ANYTHING EXCEPT SOUVENIRS FOR PILGRIMS.

SO IT WAS A PIOUS CITY AND PROBABLY A VERY DULL, BORING PLACE, WHERE NOT MUCH WAS HAPPENING.

WE HAVE WONDERFUL ACCOUNTS OF CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS.

THEY PRAY ALL THE TIME.

THEY GO FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER AND PRAY FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, SO YOU HAD TO HAVE PEOPLE WHO COOKED FOR THEM, WHO MADE THEIR BEDS, WHO RAN HOSTELS AND SO FORTH.

Peters: AS THE PILGRIMAGE BUSINESS DEVELOPED, THEY WOULD SET OUT TOGETHER IN CARAVANS.

PILGRIMS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ARMED, SO THEY DIDN'T CARRY ARMS, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS NOT THE ARMS, BUT THE MONEY.

BECAUSE TO MAKE THE PILGRIMAGE, YOU HAD TO PAY YOUR WAY, AND, AT THE SAME TIME, IF YOU CARRIED A LOT OF MONEY, YOU WERE SUBJECT TO ALL SORTS OF THIEVERY AND EXTORTION ON THE WAY.

THE REACTIONS OF THE PILGRIMS ARE REALLY VERY INTERESTING.

PART OF IT IS THEY ARE CAUGHT UP IN A KIND OF TRANSPORT OF JOY.

THEY'VE LOOKED FORWARD TO THIS PLACE, THEY'VE READ ABOUT IT, THEY'VE HEARD ABOUT IT, AS A CHRISTIAN, FROM CHILDHOOD, THEY'VE HEARD ABOUT IT IN CHURCH, THEY'VE HAD THE GOSPELS READ TO THEM, AND THEY'RE FINALLY AT THIS PLACE, AND THEY'RE OVERCOME WITH A KIND OF HAPPINESS AT HAVING REACHED THEIR GOAL.

THERE IS ALSO THE KIND OF HISTORICAL THRILL THAT WE STILL ALL GET OF STANDING IN THE PLACE WHERE THINGS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

[ SINGING ] Suarez: TO THIS DAY, MANY CHRISTIANS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD WALK THE PATHS THAT SYMBOLICALLY FOLLOW THE ROUTE JESUS IS BELIEVED TO HAVE WALKED DURING HIS LAST WEEK IN JERUSALEM.

FOR PILGRIMS TODAY, THE REENACTMENT BEGINS FROM THE EAST SIDE OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, SYMBOLIZING THE DAY JESUS ARRIVED IN JERUSALEM FOR HIS FINAL VISIT.

PEOPLE COME OVER THE MOUNT AND ENTER THE CITY HOLDING PALM LEAVES.

THE LEAVES REPRESENT WHAT JESUS' OWN FOLLOWERS ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE PLACED IN FRONT OF HIM AS HE ENTERED THE HOLY CITY.

NEXT IS THE TRADITIONAL WALK ALONG THE VIA DOLOROSA, "THE WAY OF SORROWS."

HERE ALONG THE VIA DOLOROSA ARE 14 LANDMARKS, WHAT ARE CALLED THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS, EACH MARKING PART OF THE STORY FROM THE GOSPELS OR TRADITIONS WHERE JESUS WALKED HIS LAST DAY FOR HIS CRUCIFIXION.

HERE'S THE FIRST STATION -- THE ORIGINAL BUILDING LONG SINCE REPLACED BY A SCHOOL -- WHERE THE ROMAN GOVERNOR PONTIUS PILATE CONDEMNED JESUS TO DIE.

THE SECOND STATION IS REPRESENTED BY THE CHURCH OF THE CONDEMNATION, WHERE ROMAN SOLDIERS SCOURGED JESUS AND THEN PLACED UPON HIM THE CROSS HE WOULD CARRY TO HIS CRUCIFIXION.

THIS IS THE FIFTH STATION, WHERE THE GOSPEL ACCOUNT SAYS ROMAN SOLDIERS TOOK THE CROSS FROM JESUS AND GAVE IT TO A MAN NAMED SIMON TO CARRY.

TRADITION SAYS JESUS PLACED HIS HAND IN THIS STONE, LEAVING AN INDENTATION.

IT'S DOUBTLESS A PILGRIM'S TALE.

THIS BUILDING IS FROM A MUCH LATER DATE.

THE VIA DOLOROSA CONTINUES UP THIS WAY TOWARD GOLGOTHA.

SOME CHRISTIANS COUNT THE STATIONS DIFFERENTLY, BUT ALL AGREE THE VIA DOLOROSA ENDS AT JESUS' TOMB IN THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

YOU FEEL SOMETHING VERY PROFOUND THERE.

YOU FEEL THIS IS THE STORY OF THE EASTER TRIDUUM.

THIS IS THE STORY OF GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY THURSDAY, EASTER DAY, ET CETERA.

THIS IS WHAT MAKES YOU WHO YOU ARE.

THIS GIVES US OUR RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION.

[ MAN CHANTING ] Suarez: THE EARLY SEVENTH CENTURY SAW THE RISE OF ISLAM AS THOUSANDS IN THE NEAR EAST BEGAN TO FOLLOW A MAN KNOWN AS THE PROPHET MOHAMMED.

HE WAS BORN SOME 800 MILES FROM JERUSALEM IN MECCA, A SMALL MARKET TOWN IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, IN ROUGHLY THE YEAR 570 C.E.

MECCA IS NOW IN SAUDI ARABIA.

ISLAMIC TRADITION HOLDS THAT MOHAMMED'S LINEAGE DESCENDS DIRECTLY FROM ABRAHAM THROUGH ABRAHAM'S FIRST SON, ISHMAEL.

ISLAM, WHICH MEANS "SUBMISSION TO GOD," IS UNDERSTOOD TO HAVE STARTED WITH REVELATIONS GIVEN TO MOHAMMED BY GOD.

THE STORY IS BEAUTIFUL.

HE'S KNOWN TO HAVE GONE ONE DAY TO THE MOUNTAINS OUTSIDE OF MECCA AND TO A CAVE THAT HE USED TO FREQUENT THERE TO GET AWAY FROM IT ALL.

WHILE HE WAS SITTING THERE, ENJOYING THE SOLITUDE, A VISION OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL APPEARED TO HIM AND SAID, "RECITE, RECITE, IN THE NAME OF THY LORD."

[ SPEAKING ARABIC ] AT FIRST, HE... WASN'T SURE EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS SEEING AND WHAT HE WAS HEARING, AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL REPEATED SEVERAL TIMES, "RECITE, RECITE, IN THE NAME OF THY LORD."

THESE REVELATIONS OCCURRED OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS, AND THUS BEGAN THE PROPHET'S CAREER.

Suarez: THE REVELATIONS MOHAMMED IS SAID TO HAVE RECEIVED WERE LATER ASSEMBLED INTO A TEXT KNOWN AS THE QUR'AN.

BELIEVED BY MUSLIMS TO BE GOD'S OWN WORDS, THE QUR'AN IS THE CENTRAL RELIGIOUS TEXT OF ISLAM.

Hamdani: THE GIST OF THE REVELATIONS WERE, ORIGINALLY, ETHICAL AND MORAL, AND REFLECTED THE KIND OF CONCERNS THAT PEOPLE LIKE MOHAMMED AND HIS SOCIETY HAD ABOUT THE INEQUITIES OF HIS WORLD.

Suarez: ISLAMIC TRADITION HOLDS THAT MOHAMMED WAS A PROPHET OF GOD WHOSE ROLE, IN PART, WAS TO DELIVER GOD'S REVELATIONS TO HUMANKIND.

BECAUSE OF THE REVERENCE MUSLIMS SHOW MOHAMMED, MANY BELIEVE HIS FACE SHOULD NEVER BE DEPICTED.

ACCORDING TO THE QUR'AN, THERE WERE MANY PROPHETS BEFORE MOHAMMED, INCLUDING ADAM, NOAH, ABRAHAM, AND MOSES.

JESUS, TOO, IS CONSIDERED A PROPHET, KNOWN TO MUSLIMS AS 'ISA.

BUT ON THIS ISSUE, THE QUR'AN IS CLEAR -- JESUS IS NOT CONSIDERED THE SON OF GOD.

MOHAMMED IS CONSIDERED THE SEAL OF THE PROPHETS, BY WHICH ISLAMIC TRADITION MEANS TO SAY THAT HE IS THE LAST IN A LONG LINE OF PROPHETS -- GOOD MEN, WHO, BECAUSE OF THEIR GOODNESS, GOD HAD SELECTED FOR THE SPECIAL PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATING HIS WORD, GOD'S WORD.

YOU HAVE TO THINK OF ISLAM AT THAT TIME BEING STILL MORE -- A MORE THEISTIC MOVEMENT RATHER THAN AN INDEPENDENT RELIGION.

AND THAT'S ONE THING ABOUT THE EARLY IDENTITY OF THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT, OF THE MOHAMMED MOVEMENT, IS THIS PURE MONOTHEISM -- "LET'S GO BACK TO THE BASICS.

LET'S GO BACK TO THE WORSHIP OF ONE GOD."

Suarez: DURING MOHAMMED'S LIFETIME, MOST OF HIS FOLLOWERS WERE IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA, HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

BUT JERUSALEM STILL HELD SPECIAL SPIRITUAL MEANING FOR THEM.

Mourad: MOST OF THE SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF BIBLICAL RELIGIOUS HISTORY UNFOLDED IN JERUSALEM.

THE TEMPLE OF GOD WAS FIRST BUILT BY KING SOLOMON IN JERUSALEM ON THAT TEMPLE MOUNT.

THERE ARE EVEN LEGENDS ABOUT THE FACT THAT JERUSALEM IS THE FIRST PLACE THAT WAS CHARTED ON EARTH.

THIS ROCK IN JERUSALEM IS A PIECE OF HEAVEN.

IT IS THE FIRST THING THAT WHEN GOD STARTED TO CREATE THE WORLD, THAT'S THE FIRST THING HE CREATED.

IT HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH, FOR EXAMPLE, THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC, OR, IN ISLAMIC TRADITION, ISHMAEL, BY ABRAHAM IN HIS TIME, AND IT HAS ALSO BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH POINTS SACRED OR SIGNIFICANT TO JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY, AND IT WAS THEREFORE NOT SURPRISING THAT IT BECAME THIS SORT OF -- IT BORE THE IMPRIMATUR, IF YOU WILL, OF THIS LATEST MONOTHEISTIC TRADITION.

JERUSALEM WAS THE FIRST PRAYER DIRECTION, OR QIBLAH, THE FIRST DIRECTION IN WHICH MUSLIMS PRAYED.

FOR ABOUT 16 MONTHS, MOHAMMED HAD THE EARLY COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS PRAY TOWARD JERUSALEM.

AFTER THAT, HE CHANGED THE PRAYER DIRECTION TO MECCA.

JERUSALEM GREW IN IMPORTANCE TO MUSLIMS BECAUSE OF AN EVENT BRIEFLY DESCRIBED IN THE QUR'AN KNOWN AS THE NIGHT JOURNEY OF MOHAMMED.

MUSLIMS BELIEVE MOHAMMED TRAVELED BY NIGHT FROM MECCA, THEIR HOLIEST CITY, TO A PLACE CALLED AL-MASJID AL-AQSA, WHICH TRANSLATES TO "THE FARTHEST MOSQUE."

Antrim: THE VERSE IN THE QUR'AN SAYS, "GLORY BE TO GOD, WHO TRANSPORTED HIS SERVANT ON A JOURNEY BY NIGHT FROM THE SACRED MOSQUE," WHICH IS MECCA, NO QUESTION, "TO THE FARTHEST MOSQUE."

THAT'S ALL IT SAYS.

SO THEN THE INTERPRETATION IS WHAT IS THE FARTHEST MOSQUE?

THE HADITH, THE TRADITIONS THAT FURNISH THE INTERPRETATION OF THAT QUR'ANIC VERSE, SAY THE FARTHEST MOSQUE IS JERUSALEM.

Hamdani: WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT THE NIGHT OF THE ISRA, OR THE ASCENSION, WHICH IS THE TERM THAT IS USED IN ISLAMIC TRADITION, MOHAMMED MOUNTS A HORSE BY THE NAME OF BURAQ, A HORSE THAT IS WINGED, AND THAT HORSE CARRIES HIM TO JERUSALEM.

Suarez: ISLAMIC TRADITION HOLDS THAT AFTER MOHAMMED ARRIVED AT THE FARTHEST MOSQUE, HE ASCENDED, FOR A TIME, TO HEAVEN.

Hamdani: WE ONLY KNOW FROM THE REVELATION THAT HE PROVIDED THE NEXT MORNING THAT HE HAD BEEN CALLED UPON TO BE INTERVIEWED BY GOD AND THIS REQUIRED THAT HE MAKE A PIT STOP IN JERUSALEM AND, FROM THERE, SPRING TO THE HEAVENS.

THERE WERE SEVEN LEVELS OF HEAVEN, AND THESE REPRESENTED STAGES OF MERIT IN THE SORT OF DIVINE ORDER, AND IT WAS MOHAMMED THAT WAS ABLE TO GRADUATE THROUGH ALL OF THEM.

HE SEES A LOT OF PROPHETS ON THE WAY.

THEY CONGRATULATE HIM ON HAVING BEEN INVITED TO MEET WITH GOD, AND, UNLIKE THEM, THEY ALSO ENVY THE FACT THAT HE IS ABLE TO GET CLOSER TO GOD THAN THEY WERE.

HE'S EITHER BELIEVED TO HAVE ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY BEEN CARRIED BY BURAQ FROM MECCA TO JERUSALEM AND FROM THERE TO THE HEAVENS, OR HE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE GONE THERE SPIRITUALLY.

IN OTHER WORDS, HE REMAINED PHYSICALLY ASLEEP AT HOME, BUT IT WAS HIS SPIRIT THAT MADE THIS JOURNEY.

IN ONE LESSER-KNOWN INTERPRETATION, THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS ACTUALLY LIFTED UP BY THE ANGEL GABRIEL AND BROUGHT TO THE PROPHET.

THE IDEA WAS THAT THE MERCHANTS OF MECCA SAID THAT, "IF YOU HAVE BEEN THERE, DESCRIBE THE CITY TO US."

HE COULDN'T, BECAUSE HE WENT THERE BY NIGHT, SO HE COULDN'T SEE IT.

SO GABRIEL THEN BRINGS HIM THE CITY TO MECCA AND PUTS IT IN FRONT OF HIM SO HE CAN DESCRIBE IT TO THE MERCHANTS WHO ARE THERE WITHOUT THEM SEEING THAT HE IS LOOKING AT THE CITY THAT GABRIEL BROUGHT.

Suarez: THE STORY BRINGS THE MONOTHEISTIC DYNAMIC OF JERUSALEM FULL CIRCLE.

MOST ISLAMIC TRADITIONS TEACH THAT WHEN MOHAMMED ASCENDED TO HEAVEN FROM JERUSALEM, HE DID SO FROM THE VERY SAME ROCK WHERE THE BIBLE SAYS THE TEMPLES ONCE STOOD.

BY THE TIME OF MOHAMMED'S DEATH IN 632 C.E., ISLAM WAS THE DOMINANT FORCE IN MUCH OF THE ARABIAN PENINSULA.

TWO YEARS LATER, THE MUSLIM ARMIES, WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MOUNTED SOLDIERS, SET OUT FROM ARABIA TO CONQUER NEW LANDS.

FOR TWO YEARS, THE MUSLIM ARMIES BATTLED CHRISTIAN FORCES, FINALLY ARRIVING AT JERUSALEM IN THE YEAR 638 C.E.

THE PRECISE DETAILS OF THE MUSLIM CONQUEST OF JERUSALEM ARE NOT KNOWN, BUT A CENTURIES-OLD TRADITION HOLDS THE CITY CAME INTO THEIR HANDS THROUGH A PEACEFUL TRANSFER OF POWER FROM THE CHRISTIAN PATRIARCH SOPHRONIUS TO THE MUSLIM CALIPH UMAR IBN AL-KHATTAB.

THE OFFICIAL LINE IS SOMETHING LIKE THIS, THAT UMAR, THE CALIPH, THE RULER OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY, COMES TO JERUSALEM THAT HAD BEEN SEEN BY THE PROPHET.

HE ARRIVES THERE AND MEETS THE PATRIARCH, AND UMAR IS A VERY SIMPLE MAN, SO HE ARRIVES IN SIMPLE DRESS.

SOPHRONIUS IS A METROPOLITAN OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

HE HAS FANCY CLOTHES, HE'S SURROUNDED BY PRIESTS AND CHOIRS AND EVERYTHING, AND THEY WALK AROUND THE CITY TOGETHER AND SOPHRONIUS FIRST TAKES UMAR TO THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND SHOWS HIM THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND WHAT WAS THERE.

AND THEN HE SAYS, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PRAY HERE?"

AND UMAR SAYS, "NO, BECAUSE IF I PRAY HERE, "LATER MUSLIMS WILL THINK THAT THIS PLACE "BECOMES A MUSLIM PLACE, AND THIS IS A CHRISTIAN PLACE, IT'S NOT A MUSLIM PLACE."

Suarez: JUST A FEW YARDS AWAY FROM THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE IS THIS MOSQUE KNOWN AS THE MOSQUE OF UMAR.

IT WAS BUILT MANY CENTURIES LATER, BUT IT'S SAID TO HONOR WHERE THE CALIPH UMAR CHOSE TO PRAY INSTEAD.

THE MUSLIMS WHO NOW CONTROLLED JERUSALEM ALLOWED THE CHRISTIANS TO CONTINUE PRACTICING THEIR RELIGION.

[ CHANTING ] IT WAS ALSO AT THIS TIME, IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY, THAT CHRISTIAN ARMENIANS ARE SAID TO HAVE INSTALLED THEIR FIRST PATRIARCH IN JERUSALEM.

THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY HAD BEEN GROWING SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE YEARS, WITH MOST ARMENIANS LIVING IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF THE CITY.

CENTURIES LATER, THIS AREA WOULD COME TO BE CALLED THE ARMENIAN QUARTER.

IT EXISTS TO THIS DAY, HIGHLIGHTED BY ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL.

[ BELLS TOLLING ] WITHIN THE CATHEDRAL IS THIS SMALL CHAPEL WHERE ARMENIANS AND OTHER CHRISTIANS GATHER TO PRAY.

MANY BELIEVE THE SEVERED HEAD OF JAMES THE APOSTLE IS BURIED HERE.

HE'S SAID TO HAVE BEEN BEHEADED IN THE FIRST CENTURY.

IN THE CENTER OF THE CHURCH IS ANOTHER TOMB WHERE ARMENIANS BELIEVE JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS, IS BURIED.

THE MUSLIM RULERS ALSO ALLOWED 70 JEWISH FAMILIES TO RELOCATE TO JERUSALEM.

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN SOME 500 YEARS THAT ANY SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF JEWS HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO LIVE IN THE HOLY CITY.

THE ISLAMIC LEADERS MADE OTHER CHANGES TO JERUSALEM, INCLUDING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MOSQUE ON THE SOUTHERN END OF THE TEMPLE PLATFORM.

THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE -- OR IN ENGLISH, "THE FARTHEST MOSQUE" -- HAS BEEN REBUILT SEVERAL TIMES.

IT'S SAID TO BE ABLE TO HOLD AS MANY AS 5,000 WORSHIPERS.

INSIDE, BEAUTIFUL MARBLE COLUMNS SPAN THE ROOM, WHICH FEATURES SOME 14 ARCHES AND OVER 100 CLEAR AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS.

IN THE CENTER OF THE FAR WALL IS THE MIHRAB, WHICH INDICATES THE DIRECTION OF PRAYER.

IN 692 C.E., UNDER ORDERS FROM THE ISLAMIC RULER CALIPH ABD AL-MALIK, THE MUSLIMS OF JERUSALEM COMPLETED ANOTHER MAJOR STRUCTURE -- A DOMED SHRINE OVER THE ROCK ITSELF.

Grabar: ABD AL-MALIK COVERS THE WALLS WITH MOSAICS REPRESENTING THE CROWNS AND ALL THE PARAPHERNALIA BELONGING TO ALL THE KINGS OF THE EARTH, LIKE KIND OF TROPHIES SET AROUND THE ROCK.

Suarez: THE MAGNIFICENT BUILDING, THOUGHT BY MANY TO BE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN THE WORLD, HAS EIGHT SIDES WITH FOUR LARGE ENTRANCES AND 16 WINDOWS.

THE DOME ON TOP IS MADE IN PART WITH WOODEN BEAMS AND IS NOW COVERED WITH AN ALUMINUM ALLOY THAT APPEARS GOLDEN.

THE COVERING ITSELF IS NEW, BUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE BUILDING AND MANY OF ITS INTERIOR DECORATIONS ARE ORIGINAL.

Grabar: THIS ONE IS REMARKABLE BECAUSE ITS GEOMETRY IS ALMOST FLAWLESS.

IT IS PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL, THE OCTAGON IS BASED ON EXTENSION OF THE CIRCLE ACCORDING TO THE MOST ELEMENTARY RULES OF GEOMETRY.

ITS ELEVATION IS BASED ON THE PROPORTIONS OF SQUARE ROOT TO FIVE, WHICH IS THE GOLDEN MEAN BY WHICH ALL THOSE SPECTACULAR BUILDINGS WERE BUILT.

NONE IS SO PERFECTLY GEOMETRICALLY ROUND.

THAT'S ONE THING.

THE SECOND REMARKABLE THING ABOUT IT IS COLOR.

THERE IS NO OTHER BUILDING IN THE WHOLE MEDITERRANEAN AREA AT THAT TIME THAT WOULD HAVE SO MUCH COLOR.

AND THE THIRD THING IS THE MOSAICS INSIDE, WHICH IS THE ONLY THING WHICH IS MORE OR LESS FROM THE SEVENTH CENTURY, WHICH IS A UNIQUE PROGRAM OF DECORATIVE, OF ORNAMENTAL DECORATION THAT EXISTS ANYPLACE.

Suarez: 1,300 YEARS AFTER ITS CONSTRUCTION, THE BUILDING IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE IN THE WORLD.

NOW THERE IS A DISTINCTIVELY ISLAMIC MONUMENT THAT DOMINATES THE SKYLINE IN JERUSALEM, THAT REMINDS EVERYONE WHO COMES TO THE CITY THAT THIS NOW IS AN ISLAMIC CITY.

YOU MIGHT HAVE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES ALL OVER, BUT, ESSENTIALLY, THIS IS AN ISLAMIC CITY THAT IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MUSLIMS.

Grabar: THAT IS A SPECTACULAR EVENT BECAUSE OF THE BUILDING THAT IS BEING BUILT.

BUT THE REAL QUESTION IS WHY WAS IT BUILT?

WE HAVE TO IMAGINE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ROCK AND THE BUILDING.

IT WAS A BUILDING THAT WAS HONORING THE ROCK.

IT WOULD BE THE CELEBRATION OF A SPOT CONNECTED WITH GOD AS CREATOR AND GOD AS SAVIOR.

Mourad: IT'S THE BELIEF THAT IT IS A PIECE OF THE TEMPLE, A PIECE OF HEAVEN.

ACTUALLY, THERE ARE STORIES THAT IT WAS ALSO THE THRONE OF GOD WHEN GOD WAS ON EARTH.

THAT IS, QUOTE-UNQUOTE, TALKING ABOUT WHEN GOD USED TO RESIDE IN THE TEMPLE.

Suarez: OVER TIME, THIS ENTIRE AREA WOULD COME TO BE CALLED THE HARAM AL-SHARIF, THE NOBLE SANCTUARY.

SIMILAR TO CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM, ISLAM, TOO, HOLDS THAT IN THE FUTURE, THERE WILL BE A DAY OF JUDGEMENT.

Antrim: THERE ARE A LOT OF TRADITIONS THAT SPECIFY THAT ON JUDGEMENT DAY, NOT ONLY WILL ALL THE FAITHFUL, ALL THE BELIEVING MUSLIMS, BE GATHERED IN JERUSALEM, BUT MOHAMMED WILL BE BROUGHT THERE, AND THE KAABA, WHICH IS THE BLACK SQUARE STRUCTURE IN MECCA THAT MUSLIMS WALK AROUND AS PART OF THEIR PILGRIMAGE, THEIR HAJJ, IN ISLAM, THAT THAT KAABA WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO JERUSALEM, SO THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE TRADITIONS ARE THAT MECCA WILL COME TO JERUSALEM BECAUSE OF JERUSALEM'S PROXIMITY TO THE NEXT WORLD, TO THE AFTERLIFE.

Suarez: JERUSALEM WOULD COME TO BE THE THIRD-HOLIEST CITY FOR MUSLIMS AFTER MECCA, THE BIRTHPLACE OF MOHAMMED AND HOME OF THE KAABA, AND MEDINA, THE BURIAL PLACE OF MOHAMMED.

WITHIN JERUSALEM, MANY SITES, PARTICULARLY ON AND AROUND THE HARAM AL-SHARIF, WERE CONSIDERED HOLY FOR THE MUSLIMS.

EVEN VISITING THE CITY WAS CONSIDERED A PIOUS ACT.

IN LATER YEARS, THEY WOULD CALL THE CITY ITSELF AL-QUDS, WHICH MEANS "THE HOLY."

Antrim: JUST THE SHEER NUMBER OF SITES THAT WERE CONSIDERED SACRED IN JERUSALEM WAS PART OF WHAT MADE JERUSALEM IMPORTANT.

THERE'S A GOOD ONE WHICH, I THINK, REALLY ENCOMPASSES WHY EARLY MUSLIMS VENERATED JERUSALEM.

THE TRADITION GOES, IN JERUSALEM, THERE IS NO HANDSPAN OF SPACE THAT A PROPHET HAS NOT WALKED ON.

AND THEN, FURTHER, LITERATURE TALKS ABOUT THE SURROUNDINGS OF JERUSALEM, THAT JERUSALEM IS SACRED NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF WHAT'S IN IT BUT BECAUSE IT'S KIND OF THE EPICENTER OF A HOLY LAND.

[ MAN SPEAKING ARABIC ] Suarez: TO THE EAST OF THE HARAM AL-SHARIF ARE THE GRAVES OF TWO MEN SAID TO BE ACTUAL COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET MOHAMMED.

BURIED HERE IS 'UBADA IBN AL-SAMIT, AND JUST A FEW STEPS AWAY IS THE GRAVE OF SHADDAD IBN AWS AL-ANSARI.

ANOTHER HOLY PLACE FOR MUSLIMS IS THIS SMALL CAVE KNOWN AS THE WELL OF SOULS.

IT'S ACTUALLY LOCATED JUST UNDER THE ROCK ITSELF.

HERE, MANY BELIEVE, GOD WILL ONE DAY BRING TOGETHER THE SOULS OF ALL TRUE BELIEVERS.

WITHIN THE DOME OF THE ROCK IS THIS SMALL STRUCTURE WHICH COVERS WHAT MANY BELIEVE TO BE MOHAMMED'S OWN HANDPRINT ON THE ROCK.

THE HANDPRINT CAN BE FELT IF ONE REACHES INTO THIS HOLE.

Grabar: WHEN THE PROPHET ASCENDED TO HEAVEN, THE ROCK WAS SO EXCITED BY THAT THAT IT WANTED -- THE ROCK WANTED TO GO TO HEAVEN WITH THE PROPHET.

AND THE PROPHET SAID, "NO, YOU CAN'T," AND PUT HIS HAND DOWN TO HOLD THE ROCK DOWN.

HE LEFT WITHOUT THE ROCK.

THE ROCK STAYED ON EARTH.

Suarez: FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE TENTH CENTURIES, DIFFERENT MUSLIM DYNASTIES CONTROLLED JERUSALEM.

CHRISTIANS MAINTAINED A SIGNIFICANT PRESENCE IN THE CITY, BUT THE MUSLIMS EVENTUALLY BECAME THE MAJORITY, AS THE MUSLIM EMPIRE WAS GROWING RAPIDLY THROUGHOUT THE NEAR EAST.

IN THE EARLY 11th CENTURY, ONE PERSIAN MUSLIM TRAVELER TO JERUSALEM REMARKED, "JERUSALEM IS VISITED BY PEOPLE "UNABLE TO MAKE THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA.

"SOME YEARS, MORE THAN 20,000 PEOPLE COME, BRINGING THEIR CHILDREN TO CELEBRATE."

Grabar: EVERYTHING BEGINS TO ACQUIRE A MUSLIM SIGNIFICANCE, EVEN IF IT HAD A DIFFERENT SIGNIFICANCE BEFORE.

YOU HAVE BOTH THE STORY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE PROPHET, THE QUIET LITTLE DOMES, LITTLE CUPOLAS, THIS AND THAT, YOU HAVE PLACES WHERE HOLY MEN STAY AND HAVE SCHOOLS THERE, YOU HAVE TEACHING DONE THERE.

IN OTHER WORDS, YOU HAVE ALL THE OFFICIAL ACTIVITIES OF THE NEW FAITH THAT FIND A SPACE TO BE THEMSELVES, TO DEVELOP.

Suarez: JERUSALEM'S JEWISH POPULATION INCREASED UNDER MUSLIM RULE, AS DID ACTIVITY AT THE WESTERN WALL.

AND THERE WAS ALSO A BUSY SYNAGOGUE IN THE CITY.

JERUSALEM'S JEWS HAD LITTLE MONEY, BUT THOSE IN THE DIASPORA HELD THEM IN HIGH REGARD BECAUSE THEY CHOSE TO LIVE IN THE HOLY CITY.

AS ONE LETTER DESCRIBES, "THEY WERE THE GUARDIANS OF THE SYNAGOGUE, THE POOREST OF THE POOR, THE PENNILESS PRINCES."

BY THE LATE 11th CENTURY, TENSIONS BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS WERE GROWING.

THE CHRISTIAN ROMAN EMPIRE, WHICH HAD SPLIT IN HALF MANY CENTURIES BEFORE, WAS NOW RULED FROM TWO CAPITALS -- CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE EAST AND ROME IN THE WEST.

MESSAGES HAD BEEN COMING TO EUROPE THAT THE MUSLIMS WHO RULED JERUSALEM WERE PERSECUTING THE LOCAL CHRISTIANS AND DEFILING THEIR HOLY PLACES.

AT THE SAME TIME, TURKISH MUSLIMS WERE EXPANDING WESTWARD INTO ANATOLIA, PRESENT-DAY TURKEY.

TO THE EASTERN CHRISTIANS, PARTICULARLY TO THE EMPEROR IN CONSTANTINOPLE, THIS TRANSLATED INTO FEAR.

THOSE SAME TURKS WHO HAD TAKEN OVER JERUSALEM WERE PROCEEDING IN THE DIRECTION OF CONSTANTINOPLE, ANOTHER THING THAT CAUSED TREMORS IN THE WEST, PARTICULARLY WHEN MESSAGES BEGAN TO ARRIVE FROM THE EASTERN EMPEROR SAYING, "HELP US, DO SOMETHING, BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO BE OVERWHELMED."

THINK OF IT -- AN EASTERN CHRISTIAN MONARCH BASED IN CONSTANTINOPLE APPEALS TO WESTERN CHRISTIANS IN EUROPE FOR HELP AGAINST AN INCREASINGLY POWERFUL MUSLIM STATE ON ITS BORDER.

IT'S A POLITICAL ACT WITH GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS.

ONCE AGAIN, LITTLE JERUSALEM IS PULLED ONTO THE WORLD'S CENTER STAGE, AND POPE URBAN II ISSUES THIS DRAMATIC APPEAL -- "THE NOBLE RACE OF FRANKS MUST COME TO THE AID "OF THEIR FELLOW CHRISTIANS.

"THE INFIDEL TURKS ARE ADVANCING.

"ALL SHOULD GO, RICH AND POOR ALIKE.

GOD HIMSELF WILL LEAD THEM."

DEUS LE VOLT, "GOD WILLS IT," BECAME THE BATTLE CRY OF THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS WHO SET OUT TO TAKE JERUSALEM BACK FROM THE MUSLIMS.

THE YEAR WAS 1095.

THE CRUSADES HAD ALL BUT BEGUN.

Peters: A CRUSADE HAS TO BE FORMALLY PROCLAIMED.

IT'S PROCLAIMED BY THE BISHOP OF ROME, AKA THE POPE, AND WHAT HE IS SAYING IS HE IS INVITING -- BECAUSE HE HAS NO ARMY OF HIS OWN -- HE IS INVITING CHRISTIAN PRINCES TO VOLUNTEER TO GO ON THIS HOLY WAR, IN RETURN FOR WHICH THEY WILL GET CERTAIN SPIRITUAL REWARDS AND ALSO CERTAIN ECONOMIC REWARDS, AND THAT IS A -- THE MONEY THAT WOULD BE PAID FROM CHURCH TAXES WOULD REVERT TO THEM INSTEAD OF TO THE BISHOP.

SO THERE WAS A KIND OF FINANCIAL EASEMENT THAT WAS GIVEN THEM AS WELL.

IN 1096, A CRUSADER ARMY OF 60,000 SOLDIERS, ACCOMPANIED BY WIVES AND FAMILIES AND PEASANTS, LEFT EUROPE AND HEADED FOR JERUSALEM.

LATER, IN THAT SAME YEAR, FIVE MORE ARMIES OF 100,000 MEN FOLLOWED, ACCOMPANIED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF PRIESTS.

THE 11th-CENTURY CHRONICLER RAYMOND d'AGUILIERS WROTE THAT WHEN THE CRUSADER ARMY GOT ITS FIRST GLIMPSE OF JERUSALEM, THE MEN FELL TO THE GROUND AND WEPT.

THEIR EMOTION WAS LIKELY FLEETING AS THE NEXT THING THEY DID WAS LAY SIEGE TO THE CITY.

Peters: THE BATTLE WAS EXTRAORDINARILY BLOODY.

THE MUSLIMS FELL BACK ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT, AND THAT WAS THE PLACE OF THEIR LAST DEFENSE.

THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE, PARTICULARLY, WAS THE PLACE WHERE THEY HELD OUT TO THE LAST PERSON.

ONE OF THE CHRISTIAN EYEWITNESSES SAID THAT AFTER THE BATTLE, THE WARRIORS WANDERED THE EMPTY STREETS OF JERUSALEM LOOKING LIKE BUTCHERS.

THEY WERE COVERED IN BLOOD, AND THEY WERE JUST ABSOLUTELY SORT OF DAZED FROM THE CARNAGE.

AND THAT EVERY MUSLIM TO THE LAST MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD HAD TO BE KILLED AT THE AQSA MOSQUE, SO IT REALLY WAS A BLOODBATH AT THE END OF THE THING.

Suarez: LEADING UP TO THE CRUSADES, THERE HAD BEEN PROVOCATIONS ON BOTH SIDES.

PUSHING AND SHOVING IS OFTEN FOUND IN PLACES HOLY TO DIFFERENT PEOPLES, BUT THE MAGNITUDE OF THE LATIN-CHRISTIAN REACTION, A HOLY WAR LAUNCHED FROM DISTANT EUROPE AGAINST THE MUSLIM RULERS OF JERUSALEM, CAUGHT THE MUSLIMS OF THE REGION COMPLETELY BY SURPRISE.

THE CRUSADERS TOOK MOST OF JERUSALEM FOR THEMSELVES.

THEY CHOSE THEIR MOST RUTHLESS MILITARY LEADER, GODFREY OF BOUILLON, AS THE NEW MAN IN CHARGE.

BUT HE DIDN'T TAKE THE TITLE "KING."

INSTEAD, HE CALLED HIMSELF ADVOCATUS SANCTI SEPULCHRI, THE DEFENDER OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

GODFREY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS TO BREACH THE CITY WALLS, AND DURING THE FINAL MASSACRE OF THE MUSLIMS, HE WAS SAID TO HAVE REMOVED HIS ARMOR AND WALKED BAREFOOT THROUGH THE BATTLE TO PRAY AT THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

THE CRUSADERS BUILT CHURCHES ALL AROUND THE CITY, NEW ONES AT PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE, AND THEN REBUILT OLD PLACES OF WORSHIP, LIKE THIS BUILDING THAT I'M IN RIGHT NOW.

AT BOTTOM IS A ROMAN TEMPLE.

ON TOP OF THAT IS A BYZANTINE BASILICA, AND THEN STANDING ON TOP OF THAT IS THIS CRUSADER CHAPEL.

THE CRUSADERS EVEN CONVERTED THE DOME OF THE ROCK INTO A CHURCH.

Grabar: THEY WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE DOME OF THE ROCK, BECAUSE IT WAS A SANCTUARY OF THE ENEMY.

BUT THEY DIDN'T.

THEY SAID, IT'S THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AND THAT IT'S HOLY FOR US.

AND DECORATED IT WITH MOSAICS, WITH PAINTINGS, AND SO FORTH.

Suarez: THE CRUSADERS COVERED THE ROCK WITH MARBLE TO PREVENT PILGRIMS FROM CHIPPING AWAY PIECES AS SOUVENIRS.

THE MARBLE IS LONG GONE, BUT MANY OF THE MARKINGS AND CUTS SEEN ON THE ROCK TODAY ARE FROM ENTHUSIASTIC PILGRIMS OVER THE CENTURIES.

THE LATIN KINGS AND THEIR KNIGHTS HELD JERUSALEM FOR ALMOST 100 YEARS.

BUT THEY RULED A DEPOPULATED CITY SINCE THEY WERE THE ONLY OCCUPANTS.

MUSLIMS WHO HADN'T BEEN SLAUGHTERED WERE DRIVEN OUT OF THE CITY, AND THE JEWS WHO HADN'T ALREADY LEFT WERE ALSO KILLED.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE CRUSADES WAS GETTING PEOPLE TO MOVE THERE.

I MEAN, IT WASN'T SOME GARDEN OF EDEN, BECAUSE WHEN THE CRUSADES WERE OVER, THE CRUSADERS LEFT, RIGHT?

THEY WENT HOME.

THEY SAID, "WE'VE DONE THIS, WE'RE GOING HOME NOW."

HOW DO YOU HOLD A PLACE?

HOW DO YOU HOLD A COLONY WITHOUT COLONISTS?

THAT WAS THE PROBLEM.

Suarez: BY THE LATE 12th CENTURY, MUSLIM RULERS CONTROLLED LANDS ALL OVER THE NEAR EAST, BUT JERUSALEM REMAINED ELUSIVE, AND THE MUSLIMS WANTED THE HOLY CITY BACK.

Antrim: THERE'S A QUOTE FROM A POEM THAT I WILL PARAPHRASE, A POEM QUOTED IN A LATE 12th-CENTURY ESSAY BY A PROMINENT BAGHDAD SCHOLAR, WHO SAID, "WAKE UP, MUSLIMS.

WHILE YOU HAVE BEEN SLEEPING, WE HAVE LOST JERUSALEM."

SO THE IDEA OF THIS POEM THAT HE'S QUOTING WOULD BE TO, AGAIN, GALVANIZE MUSLIMS TO REALIZE WHAT THEY HAVE LOST AND TO PUT IT AT THE TOP OF THEIR LIST OF PRIORITIES, POLITICAL AND MILITARY PRIORITIES.

Hamdani: JERUSALEM WAS IMPORTANT TO ANYONE AT THE TIME BECAUSE IT WAS A CENTER OF RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE AND ALSO AN ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL.

IT WAS ALSO SYMBOLIC.

TO BE ABLE TO CONQUER JERUSALEM OR TO TAKE IT BACK FROM THE CRUSADERS MEANT THAT YOU HAD DEALT A SYMBOLIC BLOW TO THESE PESKY EUROPEANS WHO HAD CREATED FOOTHOLDS FOR THEMSELVES IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGION.

Suarez: IN THE LATE 1100s, THE MUSLIMS FOUND THE LEADER WHO WOULD HELP THEM RECLAIM THE CITY -- SALADIN, A LIFE-LONG SOLDIER OF KURDISH DESCENT WHO CAME FROM TIKRIT IN MODERN IRAQ.

Antrim: HE WAS A POLITICAL AND MILITARY LEADER WHO HAD AMBITIONS OF HIS OWN, AND HE WANTED TO CONSOLIDATE THE TERRITORIES OF EGYPT AND SYRIA UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP.

CENTRAL TO CONSOLIDATING THOSE TERRITORIES WOULD BE TAKING OVER THE LANDS THAT WERE CURRENTLY BEING OCCUPIED BY THE CRUSADERS, OF WHICH ONE WAS JERUSALEM.

Suarez: BY THE 1170s, SALADIN MADE HIMSELF MASTER OF BOTH SYRIA AND EGYPT.

IN DOING SO, HE HAD SURROUNDED THE CRUSADER KINGDOMS FOR THE FIRST TIME BY A SINGLE MUSLIM POWER WITH A SINGLE AND SINGLE-MINDED RULER.

THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT SHOWDOWN BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND SALADIN'S ARMY DID NOT TAKE PLACE IN JERUSALEM.

INSTEAD, THEY WENT TO BATTLE SOME 100 MILES NORTH OF THE CITY ON JULY 4, 1187.

HE FINALLY LURES THEM OUT INTO A PITCHED BATTLE IN GALILEE AT A PLACE CALLED HATTIN.

AND THERE IS AN EXTREMELY BLOODY BATTLE IN WHICH THE CRUSADERS ARE SOUNDLY DEFEATED.

Suarez: AFTER THEIR VICTORY AT HATTIN, SALADIN AND HIS ARMIES CONTINUED THEIR MARCH TOWARD JERUSALEM, ARRIVING AT THE CITY WALLS IN SEPTEMBER, 1187.

INSIDE, THE CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS WERE WAITING.

SALADIN, HIS ARMY FAR SUPERIOR, ATTACKED.

THE FIGHTING WAS BRUTAL.

THE CHRISTIANS WERE SAID TO HAVE CRIED OUT DURING THE BATTLE, "WE SHALL BRING ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD "IN DEFENSE OF THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION.

"WE SHALL DESPISE OUR OWN SAFETY IN THE DESIRE FOR HER SURVIVAL."

AFTER JUST TWO WEEKS OF FIGHTING, THE CHRISTIANS SURRENDERED TO SALADIN.

BUT, UNLIKE THE CRUSADERS, WHO SLAUGHTERED VIRTUALLY EVERY MUSLIM AND JEWISH INHABITANT OF JERUSALEM, SALADIN ENTERED THE CITY PEACEFULLY, RANSOMED COUNTLESS MORE PRISONERS, AND, ON THIS OCCASION, AT LEAST, SLAUGHTERED VIRTUALLY NO ONE.

Hamdani: AS A MUSLIM GENERAL AND LEADER WITH AN EYE ON ACQUIRING GOOD P.R.

FOR HIMSELF, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY GOING TO RESPECT THE HOLY CHARACTER OR THE SACRED CHARACTER OF MONUMENTS OR INSTITUTIONS LIKE THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE, AND HE WAS ALSO GOING TO DO HIS BEST TO RESTORE THE SANCTITY OF THE DOME OF THE ROCK AND THE AL-AQSA MOSQUE.

WHEREAS THE CHRISTIANS HAD DESECRATED THESE MUSLIM MONUMENTS, HE WAS KEEN ON RESTORING THEIR SANCTITY.

Peter: IT WAS SUGGESTED TO SALAHADIN THAT HE TAKE THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AND CONVERT IT INTO A MOSQUE, AND HE SAID, "LOOK, "WE COULD DESTROY THE THING DOWN TO THE GROUND "AND WE COULD THROW THE DUST INTO THE AIR, "BUT CHRISTIANS ARE NEVER GOING TO FORGET THAT PLACE.

"THERE'S NO WAY OF ERADICATING THE MEMORY OF IT FROM CHRISTIAN MINDS, SO LET IT STAND, LET IT STAY."

Suarez: SALADIN ALSO ALLOWED FOR SHARING ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES OF JERUSALEM.

[ CHANTING ] OVER TIME AND AFTER MANY POWER STRUGGLES AND MUCH POLITICAL MANEUVERING, THE MAJORITY OF THE CHURCH CAME TO BE SHARED BY THE LATIN CATHOLICS, THE GREEK ORTHODOX, AND THE ARMENIANS.

LATER, THE EGYPTIAN COPTS, THE SYRIAN CHRISTIANS, AND THE ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIANS ESTABLISHED A PRESENCE IN THE CHURCH, THOUGH WITH LITTLE SPACE AND LESS POWER OVER CHURCH AFFAIRS.

THIS ARRANGEMENT WAS CODIFIED CENTURIES LATER AND REMAINS IN PLACE TO THIS DAY.

SALADIN ALSO DID SOMETHING UNEXPECTED.

HE GAVE THE KEYS TO THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE TO A MUSLIM FAMILY IN JERUSALEM, ARRANGING FOR THEM TO OPEN AND CLOSE THE CHURCH DOORS EVERY DAY.

SCHOLARS SAY HE DID THIS TO ENSURE SUCH AN IMPORTANT PLACE IN THE CITY WAS PROTECTED, BUT AN OLD TRADITION TELLS IT DIFFERENTLY.

Man: WELL, MY FAMILY IS IN CHARGE OF OPENING AND CLOSING THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

WE IS THE DOORKEEPER AND THE GUARDIAN OF THE CHURCH.

THERE IS ANOTHER FAMILY -- THERE IS ANOTHER MUSLIM FAMILY TO KEEP THE KEYS, AND SO WE ARE TWO MUSLIM FAMILIES.

Man: THERE WAS A BIG TROUBLE AMONG THE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS REGARDING THE KEY.

WHEN SALADIN CAME, HE SAID, "I WILL GIVE THE KEY TO A NEUTRAL PERSON, "A MUSLIM FAMILY WHO ENTERED THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WITH SULTAN SALADIN."

AND THIS IS THE ORIGINAL KEY WHICH WE RECEIVED 840 YEARS AGO.

I HAVE INHERITED THE KEY FROM FATHER TO SON AND FROM GENERATION DOWN TO GENERATION UP TILL THE PRESENT DAY.

SALADIN ALSO DID SOMETHING FOR THE JEWS NO LEADER OF JERUSALEM HAD DONE IN CENTURIES -- HE ALLOWED THEM TO RETURN IN LARGE NUMBERS.

WITHIN THREE YEARS, JEWS FROM THE NEARBY CITY OF ASHKELON CAME TO JERUSALEM AND BUILT A SYNAGOGUE.

MORE JEWS THEN BEGAN TO ARRIVE FROM NORTH AFRICA, AND, IN LATER YEARS, SOME 300 MORE FAMILIES CAME FROM EUROPE.

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CENTURIES, THE CITY SAW A PERIOD OF RELATIVE PEACE, WITH CHRISTIANS, JEWS, AND MUSLIMS LIVING TOGETHER, PERHAPS NOT ALWAYS IN PERFECT HARMONY, BUT WITH LIMITED BLOODSHED.

A SERIES OF NEGOTIATIONS AND BATTLES TOOK PLACE IN THE FOLLOWING YEARS, AND CONTROL OF THE CITY PASSED BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN POWERS.

THAT IS, UNTIL THE MID-13th CENTURY, WHEN THE LAST EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN ARMY LEFT THE CITY AND JERUSALEM BECAME PART OF THE ISLAMIC MAMLUK EMPIRE.

THIS BEGAN 650 YEARS OF MUSLIM RULE.

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UPHEAVALS PLAGUED THE NEW LEADERSHIP.

THE CITY'S PROMINENCE FELL, AND IT BECAME A BACKWATER, A SLEEPY PROVINCIAL TOWN OF THE MAMLUKS.

PILGRIMS, HOWEVER, CONTINUED TO FLOCK THERE.

AS ONE MAMLUK BUREAUCRAT NOTED, "NOBLE JERUSALEM IS VENERATED AMONG ALL MUSLIMS, "JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS, THE DIFFERENCE AMONG THEM BEING ONLY IN THE SITES OF VISITATION."

IN THE 16th CENTURY, THE LOOK OF JERUSALEM CHANGED YET AGAIN WHEN CONTROL PASSED TO THE ISLAMIC OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED OTTOMAN SULTANS, SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT, IS SAID TO HAVE HAD A DREAM THAT HE WOULD BE EATEN BY LIONS IF HE DID NOT REBUILD THE WALLS OF THE CITY THAT HAD BEEN DESTROYED SINCE THE CRUSADES.

THE WALLS BUILT BY SULEIMAN, WHICH ARE OVER NINE FEET THICK, STILL SURROUND MOST OF WHAT IS KNOWN AS JERUSALEM'S OLD CITY.

UNDER SULEIMAN, IT SEEMED, THE CITY MIGHT BECOME ENERGIZED AGAIN.

BUT IN THE CENTURIES AFTER SULEIMAN, THE OTTOMANS FOUND NEW PROBLEMS.

CORRUPT, POORLY MANAGED, ROTTING FROM WITHIN, THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE END WOULD PAY LITTLE ATTENTION TO JERUSALEM.

AGAIN, THE CITY FELL IN PROMINENCE AND BECAME THE FORGOTTEN JEWEL OF A DYING EMPIRE.

WHEN THE WRITER MARK TWAIN VISITED IN 1869, HE SAID OF THE CITY, "RENOWNED JERUSALEM ITSELF, "THE STATELIEST NAME IN HISTORY, "HAS LOST ALL ITS ANCIENT GRANDEUR AND HAS BECOME A PAUPER VILLAGE."

IN THE LATE 19th CENTURY, THE OTTOMAN STATE BEGAN TO CRUMBLE, AND MANY OF THE DIFFERENT ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN THE MULTICULTURAL EMPIRE PRESSED FOR SELF-RULE.

THE MAP OF THE MIDDLE EAST WAS REDRAWN YET AGAIN AND JERUSALEM MOVED BACK INTO THE LIGHT.

AGAIN, IT WAS A BARGAINING CHIP OF EMPIRES AND OFTEN A BATTLEGROUND.

FOR MANY JEWS IN THE DIASPORA, THIS PERIOD MEANT THE REALIZATION OF A DREAM.

A PLACE THEY HAD KNOWN ONLY IN MEMORIES AND IN PRAYER COULD NOW BE SEEN, COULD BE VISITED, COULD BECOME HOME.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS, MANY FLEEING ANTI-SEMITISM IN HITLER'S EUROPE, BEGAN TO MOVE TO THE HOLY LAND, AND MANY CHOSE TO LIVE IN JERUSALEM.

AT THE SAME TIME, BRITISH-MANDATED PALESTINE BECAME HOME TO A RISING ARAB NATIONALISM AND THE POSSIBILITY FOR ARAB SELF-GOVERNMENT MADE REAL BY THE FALL OF THE OTTOMANS.

CONFLICTS BEGAN TO ERUPT BETWEEN JEWS AND ARABS, GAINING THE ATTENTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, WHICH, IN 1947, VOTED IN FAVOR OF SEPARATE ARAB AND JEWISH STATES.

THE ARAB LEAGUE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED THE IDEA OF A JEWISH STATE IN PALESTINE AND WENT TO WAR TO PREVENT IT.

WHEN THE FIGHTING ENDED, THE CITY OF JERUSALEM WAS SPLIT, ITS WESTERN PORTION CONTROLLED BY THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL, ITS EASTERN PORTION AND THE OLD CITY CONTROLLED BY NEIGHBORING JORDAN.

THESE BORDERS, TOO, CHANGED QUICKLY.

AFTER ANOTHER ARAB-ISRAELI WAR IN 1967, ISRAEL GAINED CONTROL OF EAST JERUSALEM, INCLUDING THE OLD CITY, AND THE WEST BANK OF THE JORDAN RIVER, ALONG WITH A LARGE PALESTINIAN POPULATION.

TO THIS DAY, FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS NOW, ALL OF JERUSALEM, INCLUDING THE OLD CITY, HAS BEEN UNDER ISRAELI CONTROL.

TODAY, THE CITY IS HOME TO NEARLY 750,000 PEOPLE, SOME 30,000 OF WHOM LIVE IN THE OLD CITY BEHIND SULEIMAN'S WALLS.

INSIDE THE OLD CITY ARE THE FOUR QUARTERS, WHICH, OVER THE YEARS, HAVE COME TO BE HOME TO DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES -- JEWISH, ARMENIAN, MUSLIM, AND CHRISTIAN.

HEAD DOWN A SIDE STREET, CUT THROUGH AN ALLEY.

IT CAN TRANSPORT YOU IN A SECOND TO ANOTHER AGE, TO A PLACE WHERE TIME SEEMS TO HAVE STOPPED.

HISTORY IS LAYERED UPON HISTORY IN ROUGH-HEWN STONE.

CALIPHS AND CONQUERORS, HUMBLE PILGRIMS AND EMPERORS, HAVE BUILT CENTURY NEXT TO CENTURY.

ONE THING NEVER CHANGES -- IN A WORLD OF 21st-CENTURY CITIES THAT MOVE TO THE RHYTHMS OF MODERN LIFE -- TIMETABLES, SCHEDULES, CLOCKS, AND COMMUTES -- THIS PLACE HOLDS TO THE RHYTHM OF THE ETERNAL.

EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY, PEOPLE FROM SO MANY FAITHS MAKE TIME TO PRAY, IN EVERY WAY.

IN WHISPERS, SONGS, AND SHOUTS, JERUSALEM IS ALWAYS TALKING TO GOD.

AMEN!

[ BLOWS SHOFAR ] [ BELLS RINGING ] AS THERE HAS BEEN FOR 4,000 YEARS, FIGHTING OVER THE CITY GOES ON.

AGE-OLD GRIEVANCES OVER LAND, POLITICS, AND RELIGION HAVE NOT BEEN SETTLED.

JERUSALEM IS RARELY WITHOUT TENSION.

EVEN IN ONE OF THE CITY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL AND QUIET GARDENS, ONE GLIMPSES A SIGN ENGRAVED WITH THE MESSAGE ECHOED HERE FOR MILLENNIA -- "PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM."

BUT WHILE IT'S OFTEN A PLACE OF STRUGGLE AND SORROW, IT STILL, MORE THAN ANYTHING, HAS REMAINED THE CITY THAT HAS INSPIRED SO MANY -- POETS AND PROPHETS, CLERGY AND KINGS.

IT HAS REMAINED THE CENTER OF THE WORLD.