<P> Zion (Hebrew: צִיּוֹן ‎ ‎ Tsiyyon), also transliterated Sion, Sayon, Syon, Tzion or Tsion, is a placename often used as a synonym for Jerusalem . The word is first found in 2 Samuel 5: 7 which dates from c. 630--540 BC according to modern scholarship . It commonly referred to a specific hill in Jerusalem, (Mount Zion) located to the south of Mount Moriah or the Temple Mount, on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David . The hill ("mount") is one of the many squat hills that form Jerusalem, to include the Mount of Olives etc . In the past many centuries, that was the only section of Jerusalem inside city wall that was the Jewish quarter . </P> <P> The term Tzion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metonym for Solomon's Temple, the city of Jerusalem and "the World to Come", the Jewish understanding of the afterlife . </P>

The word zion is an ancient biblical term that referred to what city