Watch Ancient Israel & Jerusalem

From their beginnings as wandering nomads led by Abraham, the Israelites evolved into a civilization when King David captured Jerusalem from other Semitic peoples. Computer-animated reconstructions let viewers see how his son, Solomon, expanded the city and built the Temple, how it was destroyed by the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar, and was only rebuilt centuries later by Herod the Great. Ultimately, Jerusalem was again destroyed, this time by Rome, leaving only the Western Wall of the Temple and the gates, to which the Jews of the Diaspora eventually returned.