The Romans, who began ruling over Palestine in 63 BCE, changed their policy towards Jewish self-rule from the 6th year CE onwards. They initiated direct rule over Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine. When the Jews revolted against the Romans between 66-70 CE, the Roman Emperor Titus brutally suppressed the rebellion, destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem. Additionally, the Romans quashed another and final Jewish uprising between 132-135 CE, demolishing Jerusalem, plowing its site, forbidding Jews from entering or residing there. Only Christians, provided they were not of Jewish origin, were allowed to reside. The Romans established a new city over the ruins of Jerusalem called Aelia Capitolina, named after the Roman emperor at that time, Hadrian. Hence, Jerusalem came to be known as Aelia, reflecting Hadrian's name. The ban on Jews entering Jerusalem lasted for another two hundred years.
Following Hadrian's rule, the number of resident Christians in Jerusalem steadily increased. With Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity and his mother Queen Helena's visit to Jerusalem in 320 CE, the Christian character of Jerusalem began to dominate its pagan aspect. Constantine himself built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and his successors continued constructing churches and Christian monuments in Palestine. The Byzantines allowed Jews entry into Jerusalem only once a year, near a barrier that remained at the site of the Temple, preserving it in reverence for what Jesus, peace be upon him, had prophesied (Matthew 24:2) in the Gospel of Matthew.