Description
Jerusalem Besieged offers a sweeping history across the millennia, yet focuses on a single location-a view of centuries of often violent battles for one city.
Author Eric Cline tells the story of four thousand years of struggles for control of Jerusalem, a city central to three major religions and held sacred by millions of people throughout the world. No other city has been more bitterly fought over throughout its history. Jerusalem, whose name to some means "City of Peace," has seen at least 118 separate conflicts during the past four millennia-conflicts that ranged from local religious uprisings to strategic military campaigns.
Many of those disputes altered the course of history in the region, and sometimes in the larger world as well. Some have had political or religious consequences that are still important today, despite intervening decades, centuries, or millennia. These battles of yesterday also feed the propaganda of today, as the events of history are used and abused by modern military and political leaders, including Yasser Arafat, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, and Ariel Sharon.
Written for the general reader, Jerusalem Besieged chronicles the struggles of four millennia, sets their contexts, and demonstrates their continuing relevance to the social and political problems of the Middle East today.
About the Author
Eric H. Cline is Associate Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology in the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on the ancient world, including The Battles of Armageddon (University of Michigan Press, 2000), which won the 2001 Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award.
Reviews
[An] absorbing account of archaeological history, from the ancient Israelites' first conquest to today's second intifada. Cline clearly lays out the fascinating history behind the conflicts." - USA Today
"Jerusalem Besieged is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples, ideologies, and religions have fought for some 3,000 years over a city without either great wealth, size, or strategic importance. Cline guides us through the baffling, but always bloody, array of Jewish, Roman, Moslem, Crusader, Ottoman, Western, Arab, and Israeli fights for possession of such a symbolic prize in a manner that is both scholarly and engaging." - Victor Davis Hanson, Stanford University; author of The Other Greeks, and Carnage and Culture
"A beautifully lucid presentation of five thousand years of history in a single volume. Cline writes primarily as an archaeologist - avoiding polemic and offering evidence for any religious claims - yet he has also incorporated much journalistic material into this study. Jerusalem Besieged will enlighten anyone interested in the history of military conflict in and around Jerusalem." -Col. Rose Mary Sheldon, Virginia Military Institute
Book Information
ISBN 9780472031207
Author Eric H. Cline
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press
Weight(grams) 908g
Author Eric Cline tells the story of four thousand years of struggles for control of Jerusalem, a city central to three major religions and held sacred by millions of people throughout the world. No other city has been more bitterly fought over throughout its history. Jerusalem, whose name to some means "City of Peace," has seen at least 118 separate conflicts during the past four millennia-conflicts that ranged from local religious uprisings to strategic military campaigns.
Many of those disputes altered the course of history in the region, and sometimes in the larger world as well. Some have had political or religious consequences that are still important today, despite intervening decades, centuries, or millennia. These battles of yesterday also feed the propaganda of today, as the events of history are used and abused by modern military and political leaders, including Yasser Arafat, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, and Ariel Sharon.
Written for the general reader, Jerusalem Besieged chronicles the struggles of four millennia, sets their contexts, and demonstrates their continuing relevance to the social and political problems of the Middle East today.
About the Author
Eric H. Cline is Associate Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology in the Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on the ancient world, including The Battles of Armageddon (University of Michigan Press, 2000), which won the 2001 Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award.
Reviews
[An] absorbing account of archaeological history, from the ancient Israelites' first conquest to today's second intifada. Cline clearly lays out the fascinating history behind the conflicts." - USA Today
"Jerusalem Besieged is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples, ideologies, and religions have fought for some 3,000 years over a city without either great wealth, size, or strategic importance. Cline guides us through the baffling, but always bloody, array of Jewish, Roman, Moslem, Crusader, Ottoman, Western, Arab, and Israeli fights for possession of such a symbolic prize in a manner that is both scholarly and engaging." - Victor Davis Hanson, Stanford University; author of The Other Greeks, and Carnage and Culture
"A beautifully lucid presentation of five thousand years of history in a single volume. Cline writes primarily as an archaeologist - avoiding polemic and offering evidence for any religious claims - yet he has also incorporated much journalistic material into this study. Jerusalem Besieged will enlighten anyone interested in the history of military conflict in and around Jerusalem." -Col. Rose Mary Sheldon, Virginia Military Institute
Book Information
ISBN 9780472031207
Author Eric H. Cline
Format Paperback
Page Count 432
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press
Weight(grams) 908g
