This book takes the history of the old city from its beginnings as a fortified village through every conquest or occupation – Canaanite, Israelite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, Seleucid, Roman, Byzantine, Ummayad, Abassid, Fatimid, Seljuk, Crusader, Saracen, Tatar, Mamluk, Ottoman, British, Jordanian and finally Israeli. There is a welcome dispassionate approach to the constantly shifting occupation of a city that is arguably the spiritual center of three religions--and has the battle scars to show for it. How power transferred hands and what effect it had are laid out chapter by chapter, chronologically, so that centuries pass in a matter of pages.
So what happens? Pretty much everything you can think of. Rival places of worship were destroyed and new ones constructed with the stones of earlier buildings, thus making Jerusalem the most complicated archaeological site in the world. Populations were slaughtered or sold into slavery, then later replaced by new waves of immigration. Montefiore's book, packed with fascinating and often grisly detail, is a gripping account of war, betrayal, looting, rape, massacre, sadistic torture, fanaticism, feuds, persecution, corruption, hypocrisy and spirituality. Which is true but makes the book sound gruesome--it is not. it is a wonderful read, and I would especially recommend it if you are going to visit the city.
This sounds like an absolutely engrossing book. I heard an extract from the audio book on The Book Report Radio show on http://bookreportradio.com.
ReplyDeleteThere is no better way than this to get a sense of what a book is like. This is a must read