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The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land covers the 3,000 years which saw the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--and relates the familiar stories of the sacred texts with the fruits of modern scholarship. Beginning with the origins of the people who became the Israel of the Bible, it follows the course of the ensuing millennia down to the time when the Ottoman Empire succumbed to British and French rule at the end of the First World War.
Parts of the story, especially as known from the Bible, will be widely familiar. Less familiar are the ways in which modern research, both from archaeology and from other ancient sources, sometimes modify this story historically. Better understanding, however, enables us to appreciate crucial chapters in the story of the Holy Land, such as how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the historical circumstances in which Christianity emerged from its Jewish cradle. Later parts of the story are vital not only for the history of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions, but also for the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books with which we are still familiar today.
Sensitive to the concerns of those for whom the sacred books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are of paramount religious authority, the authors all try sympathetically to show how historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves, enriches our understanding of the history of the region and its prominent position in the world's cultural and intellectual history.
Parts of the story, especially as known from the Bible, will be widely familiar. Less familiar are the ways in which modern research, both from archaeology and from other ancient sources, sometimes modify this story historically. Better understanding, however, enables us to appreciate crucial chapters in the story of the Holy Land, such as how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the historical circumstances in which Christianity emerged from its Jewish cradle. Later parts of the story are vital not only for the history of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions, but also for the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books with which we are still familiar today.
Sensitive to the concerns of those for whom the sacred books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are of paramount religious authority, the authors all try sympathetically to show how historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves, enriches our understanding of the history of the region and its prominent position in the world's cultural and intellectual history.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
414 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2018
8 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
H.G.M. Williamson
23 books4 followersH. G. M. Williamson was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University. His expertise in the texts of the Old Testament is complemented by his active participation in the archaeology of the Biblical period in the Holy Land.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 30, 2018
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Holy Land is a detailed history of the Holy Lands (including the modern day Israel, Palestine, parts of Syria, Lebanon & Jordan) which is considered holy by Jews, Christians & Muslims.
It covers a period of roughly 3,000 years from the early human settlements to the end of the First World War. It starts with the Birth of Israel and the Tribes & Monarchy of the Iron age. It also covers other important eras like Babylonian Exile and Restoration, The Roman Era, the Rise of Christianity & Islam, The Era of Crusades from 1099 - 1250, The Ottoman Empire and the conquest by Napoleon. It concludes with the end of World War I. It’s not all political history though, as it also covers the history of Pilgrimage in Jerusalem and various sacred Spaces and Holy Places.
The book is extremely well researched, even including multiple school of thoughts, in case of disputed facts. The biggest challenge for any historical book of this era is separating biblical facts from historical facts and the book does that admirably well. The authors have tried to include historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves. It aims to explain how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the emergence of Christianity and the subsequent rise of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions. Another plus point of this book is the around 100+ paintings, photographs of rare historical artifacts and locations and ancient texts. The history of the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books in the final two chapters are a bonus.
Overall, if you are a history buff and interested in the history of the holy lands, let this be the one book you read.
Many thanks to Edelweiss & Oxford University Press for the ARC.
It covers a period of roughly 3,000 years from the early human settlements to the end of the First World War. It starts with the Birth of Israel and the Tribes & Monarchy of the Iron age. It also covers other important eras like Babylonian Exile and Restoration, The Roman Era, the Rise of Christianity & Islam, The Era of Crusades from 1099 - 1250, The Ottoman Empire and the conquest by Napoleon. It concludes with the end of World War I. It’s not all political history though, as it also covers the history of Pilgrimage in Jerusalem and various sacred Spaces and Holy Places.
The book is extremely well researched, even including multiple school of thoughts, in case of disputed facts. The biggest challenge for any historical book of this era is separating biblical facts from historical facts and the book does that admirably well. The authors have tried to include historical information from other sources, as well as scholarly study of the texts themselves. It aims to explain how and why Judaism developed in the way that it did from the earlier sovereign states of Israel and Judah and the emergence of Christianity and the subsequent rise of Islam and its relationships with the two older religions. Another plus point of this book is the around 100+ paintings, photographs of rare historical artifacts and locations and ancient texts. The history of the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism, as well as the notions of sacred space and of holy books in the final two chapters are a bonus.
Overall, if you are a history buff and interested in the history of the holy lands, let this be the one book you read.
Many thanks to Edelweiss & Oxford University Press for the ARC.
May 30, 2020
Given its favorable reviews in Amazon, this was a disappointment overall. This book is divided into chapters, each written by a different scholar. Some are ok, but too many are just awful --- either in their writing, their objectivity and factuality, or both.
Generally written in the dry, lifeless vernacular that academics employ in obscure scholastic journals that nobody reads deep in the recesses of various college libraries ---- the type that sucks the vitality out of history so much that it's deadened generations of students from ever reading history just for fun , once done with their college education.
Aside from that, the academic rigor one and objectivity are lacking from which one would expect, as a given, in any publication with the name "Oxford" in it to have as a matter of course. In general, if a source is Jewish, the authors have a repeated tendency to dismiss their writings as "romantic" or as "propaganda" --- despite offering no facts to back up such a claim. In fact, particularly, often --- far too often -- this book's writers repeatedly use the phrase, "Most scholars think...." --- when, in fact, "most scholars" do not think any such thing. I know this because this is a topic I read up on, and there is, in fact, a wide body of scholarship on the early history of the Holy Land that stands in contradiction of the authors' oft repeated assertions of fact --- when, in fact, these are ones of opinion and speculation on their part.
There are many examples of this in this book. The authors make much of the fact, for example, that there is no archaeological evidence for such figures as Moses, Samuel, Saul, various Hebrew judges. Ok, well, neither is there any contemporary archaeological evidence for such other historical figures as Socrates or Plato or Homer. Yet pagan or Gentile sources are treated by the authors as authentic and wholly objective --- while Hebrew or Jewish sources are almost never extended similar consideration.
This book also selects strawmen from the Bible that are, in fact, not in the Bible. They claim, for example, to claim to the reader --- either presuming the reader to be Biblically ignorant --- or, perhaps, being Biblically ignorant themselves --- that Bible says that the Hebrews moved into Canaan and conquered it quickly --- then pointing out that the archaeological evidence does not support such a claim. Except there's one serious problem --- the Bible does not claim that. It's right there as plain as day in the Book of Judges chapters 1-3 --- where it makes it clear that the Hebrews did NOT conquer all of Canaan.
Another claim is that neither Ai or Jericho did not exist at the time of the Israelite migration into Canaan. Concerning Ai, we don't know with certitude where Ai even was --- but there are 2 sites in the Holy Land that are presently being investigated --- so it's really incredible that the authors makes such a claim about Ai when such a claim is doubtful. Regarding Jericho, it's even more absurd --- it's one of the oldest cities on Earth --- believed to have been inhabited since as early as 7000-8000 BC --- so, yes, it probably was inhabited during the Bronze Age when the Israelites arrived in the area.
Another example, the authors discard any notion that the Israelites ever were a cohesive group of 12 tribes, then invent this almost laughably absurd theory that they were like various bands of gypsies that migrated from all over Middle East to Canaan, then coalesced into one groups centered on the Mosaic Law---- for no particular, apparently, except just to be different from the Canaanites and Philistines. Given how tight tribal ties are in the modern Middle East even today in such nations as Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, I do not understand why the authors presume that such ties were any less in the Bronze and Iron Age Middle East. In fact, given the sociology of much of the Middle East, the Biblical account that the Hebrews were comprised of distinct tribes with a common culture and faith are entirely believable.
Another whopper in this book is where the author describes the anti-semitic Greek tyrant, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, as just being a ruler merely seeking to "unify his empire" and taking his measures against his Jewish subjects as part of an effort merely "to celebrate diversity". [This was so over the top I almost spewed my coffee on to the book when I read it]. Given that the man massacred Jews by the thousands, forbade them from practicing their faith, invaded the Jewish temple --- and sacrificed a pig in it just to desecrate it and insult the helpless Jews prostrate before his army, that was almost too much to accept. Geez --- Oxford --- what the hell --- what do you for an encore? In your "Oxford Illustrated History of World War 2", do you describe Stalin as an "agrarian reformer" or Hitler as "an outstanding road builder"?
Oh, there's more --- and I could go on, but I won't on this book's deficiencies, but I leave at these as examples.
I guess this could even be a one-star book --- however, the sections on the Byzantine and Crusader periods are decent enough --- enough to make this a 2-star.
In case there's any doubt on my opinion, I do not recommend this book. It was a waste of my time.
Generally written in the dry, lifeless vernacular that academics employ in obscure scholastic journals that nobody reads deep in the recesses of various college libraries ---- the type that sucks the vitality out of history so much that it's deadened generations of students from ever reading history just for fun , once done with their college education.
Aside from that, the academic rigor one and objectivity are lacking from which one would expect, as a given, in any publication with the name "Oxford" in it to have as a matter of course. In general, if a source is Jewish, the authors have a repeated tendency to dismiss their writings as "romantic" or as "propaganda" --- despite offering no facts to back up such a claim. In fact, particularly, often --- far too often -- this book's writers repeatedly use the phrase, "Most scholars think...." --- when, in fact, "most scholars" do not think any such thing. I know this because this is a topic I read up on, and there is, in fact, a wide body of scholarship on the early history of the Holy Land that stands in contradiction of the authors' oft repeated assertions of fact --- when, in fact, these are ones of opinion and speculation on their part.
There are many examples of this in this book. The authors make much of the fact, for example, that there is no archaeological evidence for such figures as Moses, Samuel, Saul, various Hebrew judges. Ok, well, neither is there any contemporary archaeological evidence for such other historical figures as Socrates or Plato or Homer. Yet pagan or Gentile sources are treated by the authors as authentic and wholly objective --- while Hebrew or Jewish sources are almost never extended similar consideration.
This book also selects strawmen from the Bible that are, in fact, not in the Bible. They claim, for example, to claim to the reader --- either presuming the reader to be Biblically ignorant --- or, perhaps, being Biblically ignorant themselves --- that Bible says that the Hebrews moved into Canaan and conquered it quickly --- then pointing out that the archaeological evidence does not support such a claim. Except there's one serious problem --- the Bible does not claim that. It's right there as plain as day in the Book of Judges chapters 1-3 --- where it makes it clear that the Hebrews did NOT conquer all of Canaan.
Another claim is that neither Ai or Jericho did not exist at the time of the Israelite migration into Canaan. Concerning Ai, we don't know with certitude where Ai even was --- but there are 2 sites in the Holy Land that are presently being investigated --- so it's really incredible that the authors makes such a claim about Ai when such a claim is doubtful. Regarding Jericho, it's even more absurd --- it's one of the oldest cities on Earth --- believed to have been inhabited since as early as 7000-8000 BC --- so, yes, it probably was inhabited during the Bronze Age when the Israelites arrived in the area.
Another example, the authors discard any notion that the Israelites ever were a cohesive group of 12 tribes, then invent this almost laughably absurd theory that they were like various bands of gypsies that migrated from all over Middle East to Canaan, then coalesced into one groups centered on the Mosaic Law---- for no particular, apparently, except just to be different from the Canaanites and Philistines. Given how tight tribal ties are in the modern Middle East even today in such nations as Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, I do not understand why the authors presume that such ties were any less in the Bronze and Iron Age Middle East. In fact, given the sociology of much of the Middle East, the Biblical account that the Hebrews were comprised of distinct tribes with a common culture and faith are entirely believable.
Another whopper in this book is where the author describes the anti-semitic Greek tyrant, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, as just being a ruler merely seeking to "unify his empire" and taking his measures against his Jewish subjects as part of an effort merely "to celebrate diversity". [This was so over the top I almost spewed my coffee on to the book when I read it]. Given that the man massacred Jews by the thousands, forbade them from practicing their faith, invaded the Jewish temple --- and sacrificed a pig in it just to desecrate it and insult the helpless Jews prostrate before his army, that was almost too much to accept. Geez --- Oxford --- what the hell --- what do you for an encore? In your "Oxford Illustrated History of World War 2", do you describe Stalin as an "agrarian reformer" or Hitler as "an outstanding road builder"?
Oh, there's more --- and I could go on, but I won't on this book's deficiencies, but I leave at these as examples.
I guess this could even be a one-star book --- however, the sections on the Byzantine and Crusader periods are decent enough --- enough to make this a 2-star.
In case there's any doubt on my opinion, I do not recommend this book. It was a waste of my time.
January 26, 2025
There is much to enjoy here, but with numerous authors handling different eras, it isn't quite as coherent and unified as I hoped it would be...and some authors are far more interested in the archeology than in the social/political history, which is my preferred side of the coin. It's also a physically cumbersome work -- what was so necessary about publishing this work in coffee-table-book format? It's not exactly dominated by panoramic artwork, so what lead to the decision? Overall, it takes some effort to enjoy this book's many rewarding aspects.
March 3, 2025
Perhaps no region on earth has come under more interest than this book's subject. Modern readers who picture this region may immediately cast their mind to images of destruction and violence, and that is a great shame given this region's lasting legacy on global history in which it likely outstrips any other nation.
This book is not a political history in the sense that its authors have predisposed biases. This is most directly evidenced by its use of the neutral Holy Land to describe this region, which has been the birthplace of two major religions and a very important region for a third. The Holy Land is one of the oldest and storied regions on Earth. Being located on the precipice of the fertile crescent, its people likely benefited from its close proximity to the world's earliest civilisations, having a history which goes back as far as the 11th century BC.
The book's early chapters discuss the migrations and establishment of the Isrealites and is one of the book's best chapters covering the various theories as to how the Israelites came to settle or emerge as a distinct entity. All of these theories are discussed well and provide insight into the complexities of understanding ancient history when there is a lack of written and archaeological evidence.
Biblical accounts, which are important sources in the early history of the Holy Land, are treated with caution but are acknowledged as being occasionally reputable accounts. Even when not strictly accurate, it can still provide some general details that are likely not too dissimilar from the truth. For example, in, the book's third chapter it posits that David may have been a real king of ancient Israel and Judah but could have been an unrightful successor to Saul due to biblical accounts stressing David's legitimacy in a way that parallels the propaganda of Darius I.
Although the book is mostly a straightforward linear history from the Holy land's earliest known peoples to the end of WW1, It also includes three chapters at the end, discussing the history of Pilgrimage, holy places and scripture in the holy land. In my opinion these chapters dragged on far too long and may have been better served in the main narrative. In the case of Holy places, this could have been done quite straightforwardly as most of the holy places are man-made structures such as temples, which were part of a ruler's wider construction work.
In terms of the goal of the book as being a non-political history of the Holy Land, it mostly delivers. However, unfortunately, as its narrative gets closer to the modern age, the more seemingly political the book gets, essentially being forced to take a position to give a coherent narrative.
Each chapter is written by a different author, meaning there is some variation in the book's quality. In general, I preferred the earlier chapters, which seemed more polished; later chapters drift more into opinionated history and sometimes don't form consistent narratives or come across as slightly rushed.
Considering the length of history this book covers, the pacing was very good. Each period is given a good amount of coverage, such as the Crusades, the emergence of Islam and the early demographic transitions of the 20th century.
Despite this book being quite a hard read at times, overall this is a very good overview of the history of the Holy Land, which suffers slightly from a lack of consistency in its style and narrative due to its various authors.
This book is not a political history in the sense that its authors have predisposed biases. This is most directly evidenced by its use of the neutral Holy Land to describe this region, which has been the birthplace of two major religions and a very important region for a third. The Holy Land is one of the oldest and storied regions on Earth. Being located on the precipice of the fertile crescent, its people likely benefited from its close proximity to the world's earliest civilisations, having a history which goes back as far as the 11th century BC.
The book's early chapters discuss the migrations and establishment of the Isrealites and is one of the book's best chapters covering the various theories as to how the Israelites came to settle or emerge as a distinct entity. All of these theories are discussed well and provide insight into the complexities of understanding ancient history when there is a lack of written and archaeological evidence.
Biblical accounts, which are important sources in the early history of the Holy Land, are treated with caution but are acknowledged as being occasionally reputable accounts. Even when not strictly accurate, it can still provide some general details that are likely not too dissimilar from the truth. For example, in, the book's third chapter it posits that David may have been a real king of ancient Israel and Judah but could have been an unrightful successor to Saul due to biblical accounts stressing David's legitimacy in a way that parallels the propaganda of Darius I.
Although the book is mostly a straightforward linear history from the Holy land's earliest known peoples to the end of WW1, It also includes three chapters at the end, discussing the history of Pilgrimage, holy places and scripture in the holy land. In my opinion these chapters dragged on far too long and may have been better served in the main narrative. In the case of Holy places, this could have been done quite straightforwardly as most of the holy places are man-made structures such as temples, which were part of a ruler's wider construction work.
In terms of the goal of the book as being a non-political history of the Holy Land, it mostly delivers. However, unfortunately, as its narrative gets closer to the modern age, the more seemingly political the book gets, essentially being forced to take a position to give a coherent narrative.
Each chapter is written by a different author, meaning there is some variation in the book's quality. In general, I preferred the earlier chapters, which seemed more polished; later chapters drift more into opinionated history and sometimes don't form consistent narratives or come across as slightly rushed.
Considering the length of history this book covers, the pacing was very good. Each period is given a good amount of coverage, such as the Crusades, the emergence of Islam and the early demographic transitions of the 20th century.
Despite this book being quite a hard read at times, overall this is a very good overview of the history of the Holy Land, which suffers slightly from a lack of consistency in its style and narrative due to its various authors.
October 17, 2019
Some chapters better than others; interesting views on Holy Land history. Overall, interesting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews