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We have to go back to very early times to talk about the first Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsule. Historians say that the first Jewish arrived here in the X Century B.C. on fenice ships that went to Tartessos (Tharsis), situated between the river Tinto and Odiel in Huelva, where copper was plentiful.
Some of the ships went to the Guadalquivir River, going up till our city, dominated by the ibers turtedanos. It is believed that Jews were already in the area, while the Phoenician expedition returned to its point of destination. When Claudius Marcellus founded the Roman Córdoba, next to the ibers turdetanos village, the Jewish were there since long ago.
The jewish grew step by step, showing its mayor growth when Jerusalem was destroyed by Tito in the year 70. We must take account of the repression imposed by Hadrian in Judea, which increased migration to other areas, for example, to Córdoba.
During the Roman Period, jews were free to practice their religion, they were even released from duties that were incompatible with the exercise of their faith, such as the rites of worship of the Emperor; so we can say that the jewish were protected. The jewish were divided into communities with their own administration.
This period of calm that marked the Roman was truncated to the invasion of peoples from the north, the visigoths. In the seventh century an edict was promulgated to expulse them from the peninsule. When Saint Isidore of Seville appeared, who in the Council of Toledo, in 633, banned the prosecution against the jewish.
When the muslin invaded the peninsule, the jewish helped them. At the same time they were allowed to practice their religion and even the trade. They played an important role in the political and social life, as administer the Public Treasury, even in the Omeya Court. The Jewish spoke arabic and the romance.
The Jewish Quarter was situated out of the North Walls occupying the zone of Campo de la Merced and Saint Marina section. During the Umayyad Caliphate there were plenty trade people living there. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed in 1148 by the almohades, when they occupied the city.
After the arrival of Ferdinand III,the Saint in 1236 and till their expulsion by the Christian Kings in 1492, the Jewish occupied the zone of Arquillo Street, the Umayyad Alcazar and the east wall of the Medina. This is the nowadays Jewish Quarter conserved. Its streets are narrow and with a lot of turnings, with double storey houses, built around a square, with its own Synagogue, market and a cemetery.
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