Despite followers' claims of

a miraculous resurrection of their discredited leader, Jerusalem today

returned to normalcy after a tumultuous weekend that included a stormy

execution day punctuated by two minor earthquakes on Friday and Sunday

that rattled the city and did minor damage to the Temple veil.

Three men two convicted robbers

and a political protestor died Friday from lethal crucifixion at the traditional

execution site, a hill outside Jerusalem called Golgotha.

Both Temple and Roman authorities

anticipated no more public outbursts of the kind that began one week ago

with a noisy political protest parade and ended with an otherwise quiet

Sabbath.

In between, officers kept a

close watch over mercurial crowds who began the week by proclaiming a

carpenter's apprentice from Nazareth as their new-found "king,"

and ended with nearly the same crowds led by Temple officials, including

the High Priest demanding his execution.

Jesus, son of the late Joseph,

a rural carpenter, died Friday at 3 p.m. after a crucifixion lasting six

hours, with only his mother, Mary, and a few diehard followers, mostly

women, looking on, authorities said.

Other accounts of "large

multitudes" attending the execution and mourning his death could

not be independently confirmed. Temple authorities denied there were any

widespread demonstrations of grief for Jesus, whom Temple officials considered

a revolutionary and "blasphemer."

They noted that among his followers

was the notorious Simon the Zealot, a well-known political opponent of

the Roman administration.

In the final controversial

act of that day, the Nazarene was buried in a nearby tomb before sundown

a member of the Jerusalem Council.

Joseph was unavailable for

comment. No public ceremonies were held.

The core group of his loose

band of followers, known as "disciples," were unaccounted for,

authorities said, having scattered shortly after his arrest last week

near Gethsemane.

His fledgling political movement

seems to have died with Jesus, said sources close to Roman Gov. Pontius

Pilate.

Roman authorities were quick

to point out that Pilate, who conducted the final hearing on the Galilean's

crimes, was "disappointed that a peaceful solution could not be found

to the trouble stirred up by Jesus and his rebels."

"I asked them (the crowds)

what harm had he really done, but they were adamant," Pilate said.

"I washed my hands of this man's fate."

Sources close to the governor

indicated that in sanctioning the execution he was trying to "be

sensitive" to the demands of King Herod, the titular ruler of the

province, and the religious leaders of the province's largest city.

For their part, Temple sources

said they wanted no repercussions from Imperial Rome in response to the

three-year campaign of Jesus to establish what he called "the kingdom

of God."

the capital city had settled back into its everyday routines, with the

marketplaces filled with buyers and traders and the religious ceremonies

at the Temple continuing as usual.

Roman authorities declined

comment on a report that Temple officials asked for and got a guard placed

around the tomb of the fallen "Messiah."

Authorities discounted as "hysterical

fabrications" stories from some Jerusalem residents about sightings

of deceased relatives who allegedly appeared shortly after the execution

and burial.

They also dismissed unconfirmed

reports of the dead revolutionary's body being missing from "an empty

tomb" early Sunday morning.

Temple officials declined press

requests for a visit to the prisoner's burial site, citing their desire

to maintain order and prevent emotional demonstrations of the sort that

preceded the would-be "king's" death.

One official, who wished to

remain anonymous, ridiculed the claims made by Jesus before his death.

"So he saved others, did he? He couldn't even save himself. He even

said he was going to destroy this Temple and then rebuild it in three

days. Well, this King of Israel couldn't even come down from the cross

to show his powers to us so that we might believe."

His followers were unavailable

for comment. Authorities said they had reports the disciples had returned

to their rural villages to resume their former occupations.

Transcript of CNN's "Jerusalem

Week in Review":

JUDY: And, finally, in a footnote

to a busy week in the Judean capital, a former carpenter who challenged

both the religious power of Temple officials and the very rule of Rome

over the world ended up nailed to a cross outside the city that followers

said would be the site of his eternal palace.

His name for the record was

Jesus, and his death, like so many Zealots before him, proved ultimately

to be pointless.

His misled followers must be

wondering now how they could have invested so much faith in a man who

ended his life hanging naked between two thieves.

In a widely noted show of nonpartisan

political cooperation, both King Herod and Gov. Pilate agreed that for

the sake of Israel's security and the Pax Romana, such a threat to law

and order could not be tolerated.

He was buried in an unmarked

tomb, away from the view of the world that he sought to rule.

I'll say his name one more

time Jesus of Nazareth for it's likely the last time anyone will ever

hear it again.

Fast-forward to Easter,

2002: That was then; this is now. Do they get it yet?