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Bethlehem

Q5776

Bethlehem: town in Judaea, birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

Bethlehem on the Madaba Map

Already mentioned in the Amarna Letters (fourteenth century BCE), when king Abdu-Heba of Jerusalem asks the king of Egypt for archers to recover Bit Lahmi
Birthplace of David^note[1 Samuel 16.]
Walled city, garrisoned by the Philistines^note[2 Samuel 23.14.]
Fortified by king Rehoboam
Prediction by the prophet Micah: "out of you will come one who will be ruler over Israel".^note[Micah 5.1-6.] This line was read as Messianic
Birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth (according to the gospels of Matthew and Luke); later, caves were mentioned as the real birthplace
The emperor Hadrian (r.117-138) expels the Jews;
339 CE: Basilica of the Nativity by the empress Helen
384 Jerome settles in Betlehem, lives in one of the caves