Key facts
- Location
- Jerusalem
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- archaeological site
- Country
- Israel
- Located in
- Jerusalem
- Image
- Jerusalem map.png
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Aelia Capitolina
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- culture
- Roman Empire
- partially coincident with
- Jerusalem
- native label
- COLONIA AELIA CAPITOLINA
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Aelia Capitolina (Latin: Colonia Aelia Capitolina [kɔˈloːni.a ˈae̯li.a kapɪtoːˈliːna]) was a Roman colony founded during the Roman emperor Hadrian's visit to Judaea in 129/130 CE. It was founded on the ruins of Jerusalem, which had been almost totally razed after the siege of 70 CE. This act marked a significant transformation of the city from a Jewish metropolis to a small pagan settlement dedicated to the cult of Capitoline Jupiter.
The population of Aelia Capitolina consisted primarily of Roman legionaries, veterans, and other non-Jewish settlers. Jews were forbidden entrance to the city. The city's urban layout was redesigned with broad colonnaded streets, arched gateways, and forums that served as commercial and social hubs. The religious landscape also shifted, with the worship of Roman deities replacing the Jewish religious practices that had been centered around the Temple in Jerusalem. Aelia Capitolina remained a relatively minor city within the Roman Empire, with an estimated population of around 4,000, significantly lower than the population during the late Second Temple period.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Aelia Capitolina” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.