Lecture 1

This lecture began with Dr. Cargill establishing how a certain area is designated as "sacred space."  We first learned that Jerusalem is the central city for the three primary faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  We then learned that Jerusalem, Mecca, and Rome are three of the major sacred areas.

There are two central reasons that makes an area a "sacred" place: 1) The belief that something supernatural happened there, and 2) Someone important was born there.  The travel to the sacred place is called a pilgrimage.  People make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem because it is considered one of the most sacred of areas.  This city is considered highly sacred because of several reasons:

1) Trade routes, namely The Via Maris and the King's Highway
2) The city is found between the Mediterranean Sea and the Desert
3) The city is on the earthquake fault
4) Though water was once hard to get in Jerusalem, the city is located near the Tigris and Euphrates River
5) It sits on a hill and is between three major valleys (the eastern Kidron valley, the western Hinnom valley, and the central Tyropean valley)

We then learned more about the topography of Jerusalem.  First off, it was established that the Western wall is NOT the western wall of the Temple of the dome, but rather the western wall of the temple mount.  This place is the closest you can get to the Temple of the dome.  Due to this fact, is it considered the holiest site in Jerusalem.  The entire city was then broken into quadrants, where Christians are in the NW, Islam is the NE, Armenians are in the SW, and the Jews and in the SE.

Jerusalem , though holy, did not have qualities of a good city such as proximity to water, military capabilities, or trade routes.  The biggest issue for the city to thrive was water.  To accommodate for this lack of water, ancient peoples crafted what is now known as Warren's shaft so water could be pulled up.  Also, Hezekiah's tunnel dumps in the Siload Pool.  The water is highly known as a very divine substance.  There are four rivers mentioned in stories showing the importance of water (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates).  These rivers were said to flow out of eden into the garden.  We see now that in the fronts of churches, temples, etc there are water cleansing areas.

The issue of the city being holy caused havoc between the Israelis and the Palestinians because the Israelis wanted to use archaeology as a tool in order to investigate more about the holiness of the area.  This, however, caused a huge struggle between the two groups.

Jerusalem is often considered the center of the world because of the concept of the Axis Mundi.  This meant that Jerusalem was in the center between Europa, Asia, and Africa.  To establish this holy space, a building must be made.  The Towel of babel is one such building.  This tower was one of the tools used in the etiology of the bible, trying to explain naturally occurring phenomena.

Lastly, we went over two stories.  First, Genesis 11:91-9 is described as etiology.  This story involved the tower of babel, and tried to explain occurrences with stories people did not understand.  We then went over Genesis 28:10-19, which is Beth-el and Jacob's ladder.  Beth is hebrew for house, and el is one of many names for God.  In this story there is a man who lies down on his back and when he wakes he sees a ladder with angels going up and down.  God is then said to be giving a blessing children.  With this in mind, this story can be interpreted as a fertility dream, explaining sex in an obscure way and then having permission from God to have children.