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[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Early Church – V. Patriarchates – VI. Islam – VII. Religious and Political Situation Today – VIII. Archaeology I. Old Testament Jerusalem (ירושׁלם/ yerûšālēm, MT yerûšālayim) was founded c. 1800 bce as a fortified town in the central Palestinian uplands at a strategic point for transportation between northern and southern Palestine. Outside the Bible, the name app…

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[German Version] Leontopolis, (Arab. Tell el-Yahudiyeh), an Egyptian city situated approx. 20 km to the north of Heliopolis and attested since the Old Kingdom (Egypt). A fortress during the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period, it was endowed with sanctuaries in the New Kingdom (A.-P. Zivie, LÄ VI, 1985f., 331–335). According to Strabo and Flavius Josephus (both: Ant. XII 387f.; XIII 62–73), Onias IV purified the ruined temple in Leontopolis around 160 bce and, in allusion to Isa 19:19 (“an altar in the midst of Egypt”), erected a Jewish temple and an al…

[German Version] Perea, Greek Περαία (γή), “(region) opposite,” commonly a term applied to places outside the contiguous state (e.g. Corinth, Rhodes, Mytilene). It occurs in the Bible only as a variant reading in Luke 6:17; otherwise the Bible consistently uses πέραν τοῦ ’Ιορδάνου/ péran toú Iordánou, “beyond (i.e. east of) the Jordan” (Heb. ‘ever ha-yarden; e.g. m. Šeb. 9.2; m. Ketub. 13.10) for the region where John the Baptist preached and baptized (John…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. New Testament – III. Antiquity – IV. Middle Ages and the Modern Period I. Old Testament 1. Terminology and boundaries The terminology used for the land of Israel (cf. Israel), in the sense of the OT view of the land itself, and the definition of its borders varies greatly. The texts appear in the context of particular literary and theologic…