The lecture will deal with three periods in the history of Iron Age Jerusalem.

1. The early beginning in the Iron Age I, including the tenth century BCE: Jerusalem is still a small, unfortified settlement, with no trace of significant public architecture.

2. The formative period in the ninth century BCE—the first major step in the growth of Jerusalem: The city expands along the ridge of the City of David. It is still unfortified, but evidence for public construction seems to appear for the first time. This includes the Stepped Stone Structure and the building unearthed on the ridge above it in the summer of 2005.

3. Full-blown statehood under an empire, the late eighth–seventh centuries BCE: In this “great leap forward” in the history of Iron Age Jerusalem, the city expands to the Western Hill and is fortified for the first time.

All this will be reviewed against the background of a variety of biblical and extra-biblical texts, such as the Sheshonq I list, the Court History and the description of Jerusalem as a glamorous capital of the United Monarchy. Historically, special emphasis will be placed on successive periods of foreign dominance over Jerusalem by the Omrides in the first half of the ninth century; Hazael of Damascus in the second half of the ninth century; and, finally, Assyria in the second half of the eighth and much of the seventh century BCE. Part of the lecture will focus on two important outcomes of the critical years in the late eighth century BCE—the centralization of the cult in the Jerusalem Temple and the first compilation of the early history of the Davidic dynasty.