Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel

by Eric H. Cline

" Jerusalem Besieged is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples, ideologies, and religions have fought for some four thousand 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 four 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

"This groundbreaking study offers a fascinating synthesis of Jerusalem's military history from its first occupation into the modern era. Cline amply deploys primary source material to investigate assaults on Jerusalem of every sort, starting at the dawn of recorded history. Jerusalem Besieged is invaluable for framing the contemporary situation in the Middle East in the context of a very long and pertinent history."
-Baruch Halpern, Pennsylvania State University


A sweeping history of four thousand years of struggle for control of one city

"[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

"A pleasure to read, this work makes this important but complicated subject fascinating."
-Jewish Book World

"Jerusalem Besieged is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples, ideologies, and religions have fought for some four thousand 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

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Military Fiction, Middle East, Historical, Ancient History

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2004

About the author

DR. ERIC H. CLINE is the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University. A National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, and Fulbright scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at the site of Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel from 1994-2014, and seven seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. A three-time winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best Popular Book on Archaeology" Award (2001, 2009, and 2011) and two-time winner of the American School of Archaeology's "Nancy Lapp Award for Best Popular Archaeology Book" (2014 and 2018), he is a popular lecturer who has appeared frequently on television documentaries and has also won national and local awards for both his research and his teaching. He is the author or editor of 20 books, almost 100 articles, and three recorded 14-lecture courses. His previous books written specifically for the general public include "The Battles of Armageddon: Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley from the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age" (2000), "Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel" (2004), "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" (2007), "Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction" (2009), "The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction" (2013), "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed" (2014), “Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology" (2017), and “Digging Up Armageddon” (2020). He has also co-authored a children's book on Troy, entitled "Digging for Troy" (2011). For a video of his "Last Lecture" talk, go to http://vimeo.com/7091059.

Reviews

[Paolo del ventoso Est · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo libro ha accompagnato il mio pellegrinaggio in Terra Santa e di conseguenza ne conserverò per sempre il ricordo. Quella di Cline è una voce storica chiara, una inappuntabile organizzazione delle fonti che rappresenta una chiave per comprendere la complessità di Gerusalemme e delle sue difficilissime/straordinarie convivenze. Gerusalemme, nota ai grandi monoteismi come "Città della Pace" è un luogo dove il sangue è scorso a fiumi; eppure la sua sacralità persiste, come un enigma ancestrale, un cuore sacro sotto le molteplici stratificazioni della storia.
Nonostante l'enorme fascino che ovviamente proviene dalla storia antica e contrariamente ad ogni aspettativa pre-lettura, la parte che più è riuscita a catturare la mia attenzione è quella legata alla prima guerra mondiale e alla figura imponente e ambigua del generale britannico Allenby

[Carley]

Read for class. I thought Cline did a pretty good job at summarizing A TON of historical events spanning about 3,000 years. That being said it was super dense at points.

[Pāvels Šnejersons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, a bit disappointing read after brilliant 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by the same author.
It does cover history of Jerusalem in detail, but the author chooses what history pages to concentrate on quite arbitrarily. Capture of Jerusalem by crusaders fills many pages with detailed descriptions of the massacred followed. Conflict in Mandate Palestine describes mostly Jewish terrorism, of all things. The author is not sufficiently critical of Biblical narrative (I recommend the superb The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman for discussion of the archaeology of Israel and its relationship to the origins and content of the Hebrew Bible).
Also, why use "Moslem" un the modern book?

[Brian Bojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of Jerusalem in 500 pages that hits the high points and focuses on battles that took place for the city and its surrounding environs through history. Not as detailed as Montefiore’s Jerusalem bio but a good refresher of key events. Considerable body count in this book. The nearly 100 page bibliography has great value.

[El-Jahiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a bit dated ( it ends in the early 2000s of conflict), this book provides a pretty unbiased portrayal of the religio-political scenario of that region since the antiquity. A must-have, if you want to understand the historical basis and the root cause of contentions surrounding the Holy City.

[Michael Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approximately, 4,ooo thousand years of military campaigns fought over the city of Jerusalem. Read for a class on the history of Jerusalem at Uni.

[Briana Grenert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid, concise, extremely readable, and informative. I appreciate the ways in which Cline connects ancient history to the modern world.
Well worth reading!

[Doug Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cline is, by profession, an archaeologist. He is a good story-teller but I was hoping for more archaeology. This is a history of the battles in and over Jerusalem.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a 400 page book about 4,000 years of Jerusalem which means it is a summary. On the other hand Cline does an excellent job pulling together sources and condensing the information needed for each of the major sieges of Jerusalem.

Eric Cline sees himself as being between the Biblical Minimalist and Maximalist so if you follow his other works he will tell where the scholarship forms on a particular subject.

Book is a keeper

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting but a little overwhelming in its breadth - it covers 4000 years. I liked that it gave me a good overall picture of what has been going on in Jerusalem, but it was very difficult to keep track of all of the battles and important people.

[Allan Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed history—very readable.