was a
single house that could be used as a residence." The land was annexed to
Syria, and ceased to be a Jewish country. Hadrian became emperor in A.D.
117, and issued an edict forbidding the Jews to practice circumcision,
read the law, or to observe the Sabbath. These things greatly distressed
the Jews, and in A.D. 132 they rallied to the standard of Bar Cochba,
who has been styled "the last and greatest of the false Messiahs." The
Romans were overthrown, Bar Cochba proclaimed himself king in Jerusalem,
and carried on the war for two years. At one time he held fifty towns,
but they were all taken from him, and he was finally killed at Bether,
or Bittir. This was the last effort of the Jews to recover the land by
force of arms. Hadrian caused the site of the temple to be plowed over,
and the city was reconstructed being made thoroughly pagan. For two
hundred years the Jews were forbidden to enter it. In A.D. 326 the
Empress Helena visited Jerusalem, and built a church on the Mount of
Olives. Julian the Apostate undertook to rebuild the Jewish temple in
A.D. 362, but was frustrated by "balls of fire" issuing from under
the ruins and frightening the workmen. In A.D. 529 the Greek emperor
Justinian built a church in the city in honor of the Virgin. The
Persians under Chosroes II. invaded Palestine in A.D. 614 and destroyed
part of Jerusalem. After fourteen years they were defeated and Jerusalem
was restored, but the Mohammedans under Omar captured it in A.D. 637.
The structure called the Dome of the Rock, on Mt. Moriah, was built by
them in A.D. 688.

The Crusades next engage our attention. The first of these military
expeditions was made to secure the right to visit the Holy Sepulcher. It
was commenced at the call of the Pope in 1096. A force of two hundred
and seventy-five thousand men began the march, but never entered
Palestine. Another effort was made by six hundred thousand men, who
captured Antioch in 1098. A little later the survivors defeated the
Mohammedan army of two hundred thousand. Still later they entered
Jerusalem, and Godfrey of Bouillon was made king of the city in 1099. By
conquest he came to rule the whole of Palestine. The orders of Knights
Hospitallers and Knights Templars were formed, and Godfrey continued in
power about fifty years. In 1144 two European armies, aggregating one
million two hundred thousand men, started on the second crusade, which
was a total failure. Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt, c