I deemed it was the Mycenaean Greek Philistines who originally named it ieros ulhm = sacred forest.
However the authors of the Hebrew Bible seem to want everyone to believe that it was named as IER SLMH = city of Solomon.
EIR = city Genesis 4:17 SLM = Salem (city) Genesis 14:18 IROSLIM = Jerusalem Joshua 10:1 SLMH = Solomah vs Solomon 2 Samuel 5:14
Hence Solomon (or Shlomo for those that are a bit short) is said to have built a hall of wooden pillars, which in effects make the first temple a sacred forest.
But the real question should be, what made the environs of Jerusalem so sacred to the Philistines?
