The most contested real estate on Earth? (PDF)
I won’t try to reproduce a smaller version of this image because it would simply befoul rather remarkable work.
From the image (top right):
Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary. Jews and Christians call it the Temple Mount. Built atop Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, this 36-acre site is the place where seminal events in Islam, Judaism and Christianity are said to have taken place, and it has been a flash point of conflict for millenniums. Many aspects of its meaning and history are still disputed by religious and political leaders, scholars, and even archaeologists. Several cycles of building and destruction have shaped what is on this hilltop today.
Great as far as it goes but the lower left bottom gives the impression that Hezekiah expanded the temple mount after Ahaz (his predecessor) plundered it. So legend holds but that leaves the reader with the false impression that the Jewish temple came to the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount first.
If you recall your Sunday School lessons, David conquers Jerusalem (Jebus), as told in 1 Chronicles 11:4-9.
Jerusalem was a sacred site long before David or the Israelites appear in the historical record. How long? Several thousand years at least but the type of excavation required to detail that part of the city’s history won’t happen any time soon.
Do enjoy the map, it is very impressive.