On a fertile plain 258 meters below sea level, Jericho is the lowest city on earth. It is also one of the oldest. Perhaps most famous for the story of Joshua’s conquest of the city with trumpets (Joshua 6:20)—"When they heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised a mighty war cry and the wall [of Jericho] collapsed then and there"— today Jericho is a thriving market town. Archeologists have found no evidence of Joshua’s amazing feat, but their research does confirm the presence of ancient settlements in the area.

Jericho was abandoned after the Babylonian exile of the Israelites circa 600 BC, but a settlement nearby became a Persian administrative center. During the Hellenistic period, the entire district was a private royal domain, and consequently little resettlement occurred. In the 1^st century BC, during the Roman hegemony, Marc Antony gave the territory to Cleopatra as a gift, but in 30 BC the Roman emperor Octavius placed the entire region under the rule of Herod. Herod launched an ambitious construction campaign in Jericho that included aqueducts, theatres, and palaces.

Jesus would have passed through Jericho often, because that was the route taken by pilgrims going from Galilee to Jerusalem. According to Mark (10:46-52), Jesus restored sight to the blind beggar Bartimaeus during a trip through Jericho.

During the Middle Ages, Jericho became identified with the Mount of Temptation and the wilderness area where Satan tempted Jesus, although none of the biblical narratives are conclusive on this point. Nonetheless, several churches in the area commemorate this episode in the life of Jesus.