Product Description

Jerusalem is the site of some of the most famous religious monuments in the world, from the Dome of the Rock to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Western Wall of the Temple. Since the nineteenth century, the city has been a premier tourist destination, not least because of the countless religious pilgrims from the three Abrahamic faiths.

But Jerusalem is more than a tourist site—it is a city where every square mile is layered with historical significance, religious intensity, and extraordinary stories. It is a city rebuilt by each ruling Empire in its own way: the Jews, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims, and for the past sixty years, the modern Israelis. What makes Jerusalem so unique is the heady mix, in one place, of centuries of passion and scandal, kingdom-threatening wars and petty squabbles, architectural magnificence and bizarre relics, spiritual longing and political cruelty. It is a history marked by three great forces: religion, war, and monumentality.

In this book, Simon Goldhill takes on this peculiar archaeology of human imagination, hope, and disaster to provide a tour through the history of this most image-filled and ideology-laden city—from the bedrock of the Old City to the towering roofs of the Holy Sepulchre. Along the way, we discover through layers of buried and exposed memories—the long history, the forgotten stories, and the lesser-known aspects of contemporary politics that continue to make Jerusalem one of the most embattled cities in the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76985 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780674028661
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Goldhill, professor of Greek at Cambridge (The Temple of Jerusalem), provides an illuminating archeological, architectural and historical guide to Jerusalem's most important holy and secular sites from biblical times to the present. He loves the city, but doesn't romanticize either its past or its present, and a theme throughout is that the city of peace has always been a place of contention. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all vie for supremacy in the city, but many claims to authenticity are false, says Goldhill. He debunks, for example, Israeli archeologist Eilat Mazar's claim to have discovered King David's palace. Ironies abound in a city where the Abrahamic faiths are not only embattled but also intermingled; the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has long been held by a Muslim family. As Goldhill explores Jerusalem during the Victorian period, which he claims laid the groundwork for much of the modern city, the impact of British mandatory rule, and the city today, he faces head-on the difficulty of telling the history of a place where every fact is contested by conflicting nationalist narratives. This is a highly knowledgeable and beautifully written look at both the heavenly and the earthly Jerusalem. (May)
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From Booklist
The historical range of responses to Jerusalem, from lofty piety to base aggression toward the holy city’s religious sites, can be found in this fond yet palpably ambivalent archaeological and architectural guide. Goldhill offers it not for the see-and-flee tourist but also for visitors ruminating over the city’s contested history. Recommending an orienting walk atop the wall of the Old City, Goldhill sequentially leads the reader into the three focal destinations for religious pilgrims: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians; the Western Wall/Temple Mount for Jews; and the Haram al-Sharif/Dome of the Rock complex for Muslims. Respectfully explaining the spiritual significance of these and other shrines around Jerusalem, significance acquired through either scripture or the veneration of centuries, is a forte of Goldhill. Yet coursing through his discussions of the relevant archaeology is the irony that stones seen by the saintly should have witnessed conquest and desecration. Such is Jerusalem’s dilemma, one posed with tact in Goldhill’s informative book, replete with insights to move or irritate any religious or political persuasion. --Gilbert Taylor

Review
Simon Goldhill has written an elegant and evocative multi-religious history of Jerusalem. Rock by rock, myth by myth, the book guides the reader through an exhilarating visit to the city, exposing its magnetism and fragility, its light and darkness.
--Sari Nusseibeh, author of Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life (20080225)

A fascinating journey through Jerusalem's most memorable places—and among its most colorful personalities, and epoch-making events. Simon Goldhill is a master historian and expert guide who reveals much that is unexpected about this revered, fought-over, and often misunderstood city. Engaging in tone, superbly written, and admirably even-handed, this book offers a compelling new portrait of the many souls of Jerusalem.
--Neil Asher Silberman, co-author of The Bible Unearthed (20080508)

Goldhill...provides an illuminating archeological, architectural and historical guide to Jerusalem's most important holy and secular sites from biblical times to the present...This is a highly knowledgeable and beautifully written look at both the "heavenly" and the "earthly" Jerusalem. (Publishers Weekly 20080517)

Goldhill depicts a city that has transcended the often violent claims and controversies of its historical figures, revealing the many forgotten people who seek daily accommodation within its walls. Indirectly, as "more than another history," this work helps to explain how religious faith has brought layers of different civilizations to a very special place.
--Zachary T. Irwin (Library Journal 20080530)

Goldhill takes the reader on a tour of recent digs in Jerusalem, visits important buildings, provides fresh readings of texts and discusses competing theories with consummate learning and expository skill...Jerusalem: City of Longing is chock-a-block with entertaining anecdotes--many, alas, tall tales--about this most solemn of cities...The chief merits of this book, which should attract a broad readership, are the zestful vivacity with which Goldhill explores Jerusalem's ancient ruins and texts and the mixture of scholarship that he...injects into his discussion of the unholy history of the holy city.
--Bernard Wasserstein (Times Higher Education Supplement )

[A] pleasing archaeological history of Israel's capital city. Jerusalem: City of Longing is a meticulously researched study of how the city came to be built and rebuilt by successive faith communities and conquerors...The maps are uncluttered, the photographs breathtaking. Not the least virtue of Goldhill's volume is its remarkably balanced account of the Mandate, and of how Jerusalem came to be divided, and then reunited once more.
--Geoffrey Alderman (Jewish Chronicle )

In Jerusalem: City of Longing, [Goldhill] serves up a playful pastiche of a book, peppered with enchanting anecdotes, that places Jerusalem at the world's centre...The history of a city is more about interruptions, contests and heart-wrenching agonies. This is the kind of history Goldhill presents, and it is the main reason his book distinguishes itself among the many others on Jerusalem...A valuable guide for visitors, current residents and even for people who can only dream of ever visiting.
--Kornel Zathureczky (Montreal Gazette )

Why a new book on Jerusalem? No one will raise that question after reading this magnificent history and guide...[Goldhill‘s] extensive knowledge about Jerusalem make[s] this book a joy to read and re-read.
--Morton I. Teicher (Jerusalem Post )

Customer Reviews

What am I looking at?
This is one of the best books to read before you go to Jerusalem, and after. I don't like the author's lighthearted style -- Jerusalem isn't a lighthearted place. But it provides a lot of background that will help you understand what you're looking at.

Fall in love with the city
I've visited Jerusalem a number of times and always came away feeling dizzy from the experience. The jumble of traditions, layers of history and intensity of religious fervor gave me a headache and a vague sense of disgust. Simon Goldhill's take on Jerusalem--a city he obviously knows well and loves deeply--has given me a new appreciation for the complexities of this most vexed city. Obviously erudite, Goldhill's narrative style is engaging, his touch 'light'. I'll return to Jerusalem, now that I've read this book, and will take it along as my 'vade mecum'.