Z dziejów Świętego Miasta, I: Jerozolima przed Izraelitami

The history of the Holy City in the pre-Israelite period is very incomplete, therefore one can hardly gain a thorough knowledge about it. It was plundered and destroyed, then built anew and re-built and then again it rose phoenix-like from the ashes. This phenomenon poses considerable difficulties for historians and archaeologists. Especially the period of the Late Bronze arouses numerous controversies; there are no material traces from this period of the city at all, therefore some scholars conclude that it did not exist then. It seems that this standpoint is too radical. Nevertheless the history of this period should be treated with utmost care, until further evidence has arrived. Throughout this period Jerusalem was a small town, and did not mean much in the main trends of the history of the ancient Near East. A decisive turn in the history of the town took place ca. 1000 BC (this is approximately the date of the appearance of David), when Israelites conquered it and changed it into their capital. Jerusalem had been transformed into a centre from which were sent orders that influenced the lives of the inhabitants of the whole Palestine.