Jerusalem in History

Studies on the Holy City have suffered from two major drawbacks. First, the problem of objectivity that arises when the history of Jerusalem is presented from the point of view of one of the three religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - that claim it; and second, the problem of continuity, for there are many gaps in the published history of the city, any important and interesting periods receiving virtually no attention at all. This text covers a time scale of nearly 5000 years, beginning in the Bronze Age and continuing to the present. Loved around the world and through the ages, Jerusalem has lived through times of glory when it was built and embellished on a grand and impressive scale. Yet because of its uniqueness, Jerusalem has also suffered terribly. Several times it has been razed to the ground, its inhabitants annihilated. Yet each time has risen again. In almost all cases, powerful religious feelings were present in the shaping of events, often artificially generated and channelled. When religion is manipulated, objectivity gives way to bias and prejudice, and historical reporting suffers, While the volume of writing on Jerusalem has increased in recent years, especially after the Israeli occupation of the city, much of this literature was part of a campaign to justify a specific political end - the transformation of Jerusalem. This book presents a balanced picture of Jerusalem - an account which aims to help readers understand and form an independent opinion about the history of the city.