Cities and Temples That Bore the Name of Jerusalem Throughout History

This interpretation holds that the name Jerusalem was not, in ancient history, the exclusive name of a single city only, but rather a religious name or title applied to multiple sacred places, according to the انتقال of the religious center, the temple, or the community that carried this legacy. Therefore, the study of the history of Jerusalem should not begin from the assumption that it was one fixed place that never changed, but from the possibility that it was a chain of sacred cities and temples that bore the same name or meaning in different stages of history.

According to this understanding, a number of cities and temples may be traced that bore the name of Jerusalem, or fulfilled its symbolic and religious role across the ages.

1. Karnak / Egyptian Thebes: the first city to bear the meaning of Jerusalem

In this view, Egyptian Thebes, whose religious center is known today as the Temple of Karnak, represents the earliest great city to bear the meaning of the holy city. Thebes was one of the greatest religious centers of the ancient world, and it served as a center of worship, ritual, and religious authority. For this reason, it may be regarded as the first place in which the meaning of Jerusalem was embodied, that is, the universal holy city associated with the temple, sanctity, and religious sovereignty.

Here, the name Jerusalem is not understood merely as a geographical designation, but as a religious attribute of a city that attained the highest rank in religious and political consciousness. From this perspective, Thebes / Karnak becomes the first model of this name or this meaning.

2. Delphi / Greek Thebes: the second Jerusalem

After that, this sacred center, according to this interpretation, moved to Delphi in Greece, or to what is also connected with the idea of Greek Thebes within the Hellenic religious sphere. Delphi was not merely a local temple, but a unifying religious center for the Greek world, and the seat of revelation, prophecy, and supreme religious authority.

In this interpretation, Delphi represents the second Jerusalem, because it was the place where religious symbolism and spiritual sovereignty came together, and because it fulfilled the role of the central temple to which the nations and communities connected with the history of the Children of Israel are attributed in this understanding. Thus, Delphi is not read here as a pagan site separated from religious history, but as a sacred center equivalent in function to what was later attributed to Jerusalem.

3. Smyrna / Izmir: the Jerusalem of the Jewish temple

Then another place appears that bore this name, or fulfilled its meaning, namely Smyrna, that is, present-day Izmir. In this interpretation, Smyrna is understood as a Jewish temple, or as a city with a special religious character, to which the name Jerusalem was applied. Here the idea becomes clearer: the name Jerusalem was not attached exclusively to a single city, but could be transferred to a new sacred site if it became the center of worship, authority, or the religious community.

From this perspective, Smyrna acquires special importance, because it represents one stage in the transfer of the name, and reveals that “Jerusalem” may be a functional religious name more than a rigid geographical coordinate.

4. Pergamon: the Jewish Jerusalem in the heart of Anatolia

After Smyrna comes Pergamon, which in this interpretation is regarded as the Jewish Jerusalem, because it lies in the midst of their land, that is, in Anatolia / Turkey. Pergamon therefore gains great importance here, as it is seen as the city that bore the name at a later stage, when the religious and political center became associated with it.

For this reason, Pergamon is not merely one city among the cities of Asia Minor, but is read here as a new Jerusalem, or the Jewish Jerusalem, that is, the city in which the community became centered and which carried the sanctity and function of the name.

5. Lalibela in Ethiopia: the African Jerusalem

At another stage, the name Jerusalem appears in the churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia, one of the most famous religious sites explicitly associated with the idea of an alternative Jerusalem or a new Jerusalem. This Ethiopian sacred complex is not simply a group of churches carved into rock, but reflects a complete religious consciousness of the idea of transferring sanctity and re-embodying Jerusalem in a new place.

Thus, Lalibela stands as an important witness to the fact that the name Jerusalem was not confined to one place alone, but was capable of being transferred whenever the sacred center was transferred, or whenever religious memory was rebuilt in a new geography. Here the global dimension of the idea of Jerusalem becomes clear, as a name that could be reborn in another space.

6. The Arab Jerusalem: the last known place to bear this name

The last place to bear this name in this sequence is the Arab Jerusalem known today. In this interpretation, this city is understood as the most recent place to bear the name Jerusalem, and as having emerged at a late stage in this long history of the name. In this view, it is not considered the first original bearer of the name, but rather the final link in a chain of sacred places that carried the meaning of Jerusalem throughout the ages.

It is further added, according to this interpretation, that the Arab Jerusalem was built, or rose to prominence, as a later substitute after the destruction of an earlier religious center, namely the Temple of Delphi, in the context of the Roman war against the Jews. Thus, the Arab Jerusalem becomes the final extension of this sacred name, not its absolute beginning.

Conclusion of the idea

The central conclusion of this interpretation is that Jerusalem is not an exclusive name belonging to one place only, but rather a historical religious name that moved among a number of sacred cities and temples. Therefore, research into Jerusalem should not proceed from the question: Where is the one and only city? Rather, it should begin from a broader question: How did the name Jerusalem move among different religious centers throughout history?

On this basis, this name may be traced in a chain extending from:

• Karnak / Egyptian Thebes
• Delphi / Greek Thebes
• Smyrna / Izmir
• Pergamon
• Lalibela in Ethiopia
• The Arab Jerusalem

Thus it becomes clear that Jerusalem was not merely one fixed and rigid city, but a religious title borne by multiple sacred cities, each of which carried the name or the meaning at a certain stage of history.