The city was besieged in Hezekiah’s reign, by the army of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, but was saved by the sudden destruction of the invading army.  After the death of Josiah, the city was tributary for some years to the King of Egypt, but was taken after repeated attempts by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C., and was left a heap of ruins.  The work of rebuilding it began by order of King Cyrus about 538 B.C., who allowed the Jewish people who had been carried into captivity to return for this purpose.  From this time Jerusalem enjoyed comparative peace for several hundred years and grew to be an important commercial city.  When Alexander invaded Syria it submitted to him without resistance.  After his death it belonged for a time to Egypt and in 198 B.C., passed with the rest of Judea under the rule of Syria.  Antiochus the Great ruled it with mildness and justice, but the tyranny of his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, brought about the revolt, headed by the Maccabees, through which Jerusalem gained a brief independence.  In 63 B.C., Pompey the Great took the city, demolished the walls and killed thousands of the people, but did not plunder it.  However, nine years later Crassus robbed the temple of all its treasures.  The walls were soon after rebuilt under Antipater, the Roman procurator, but when Herod came to rule over the city with the title of King, given him by the Roman Senate, he was resisted and only took possession after an obstinate siege, which was followed by the massacre of great numbers of the people.  Herod improved and enlarged the city, and restored the temple on a more magnificent scale than in Solomon’s time.  Jerusalem is said at this time to have had a population of over 200,000.  This period of wealth and prosperity was also rendered most, memorable for Jerusalem by the ministry and crucifixion of Christ.  About A.D. 66, the Jews, goaded to desperation by the tyranny of the Romans, revolted, garrisoned Jerusalem, and defeated a Roman army sent against them.  This was the beginning of the disastrous war which ended with the destruction of the city.  It was taken by Titus, in the year 70, after a long siege, all the inhabitants were massacred, or made prisoners, and the entire city left a heap of ruins.  The Emperor Hadrian built on the site of Jerusalem a Roman city, under the name of Elia Capitolina, with a temple of Jupiter, and Jews were forbidden to enter the city under pain of death.  Under Constantine it was made a place of pilgrimage for Christians, as the Emperor’s mother, Helena, had with much pains located the various sites of events in the history of Christ.  The Emperor Julian, on the contrary, not only allowed the Jews to return to their city, but also made an attempt, which ended in failure, to rebuild their temple.  In 614 the Persian Emperor Chosroes invaded the Roman empire.  The Jews joined his army, and after conquering the northern part of Palestine, the united forces laid siege to and took Jerusalem.  The Jews wreaked vengeance on the