The Persian Conquest of Jerusalem (614 C.E.)—An Archaeological Assessment

Abstract

While historical sources describe in detail the 614 C.E. Persian conquest of Jerusalem and the massacre of its Christian population, the archaeological evidence for this event is meager. A careful evaluation of the archaeological record reveals a number of mass graves around the city walls which may be attributed to the conquest and the massacre of the Christian population. At the same time, no evidence was found for the destruction of buildings and monuments in or around the city. A number of monuments were claimed to have been destroyed by the Persians, but no substantial evidence for such destruction was found. It is suggested that the sack of Jerusalem by the Persians, like the Islamic conquest of the city two decades later, had only a minor effect on its physical layout and was not the cause or outcome of a long-term urban decline.