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Master Hiram & King Solomon
980 B.C. Having succeeded in bringing peace and prosperity to his people, King Solomon, the son of David, is determined to build a magnficient temple on the rock of Jerusalem. A temple where the sacred Ark of the Covenant could be housed. A temple to rival in splendour the great pyramids of a land he both loathed and admired. As no Hebrew craftsman could succeed in such an enterprise, Solomon summoned an expert mason from Master Hiram, a strange, solitary man well-versed in the innovative techniques of Egyptian architecture. So began an uneasy friendship between the King and the craftsman. A friendship which bridged two very different cultures and civilisations. A friendship thrown in turmoil when the two men fell in love with the same Balkis, the beautiful Queen of Sheba.
410 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Christian Jacq
225 books948 followersAlso writes under the names Célestin Valois, J.B. Livingstone, and Christopher Carter.
Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist. He has written several novels about ancient Egypt, notably a five book suite about pharaoh Ramses II, a character whom Jacq admires greatly.
Jacq's interest in Egyptology began when he was thirteen, and read History of Ancient Egyptian Civilization by Jacques Pirenne. This inspired him to write his first novel. He first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world's leading Egyptologists.
By the time he was eighteen, he had written eight books. His first commercially successful book was Champollion the Egyptian, published in 1987. As of 2004 he has written over fifty books, including several non-fiction books on the subject of Egyptology.
He and his wife later founded the Ramses Institute, which is dedicated to creating a photographic description of Egypt for the preservation of endangered archaeological sites.
Between 1995-1997, he published his best selling five book suite Ramsès, which is today published in over twenty-five countries. Each volume encompasses one aspect of Ramesses' known historical life, woven into a fictional tapestry of the ancient world for an epic tale of love, life and deceit.
Jacq's series describes a vision of the life of the pharaoh: he has two vile power-hungry siblings, Shanaar, his decadent older brother, and Dolora, his corrupted older sister who married his teacher. In his marital life, he first has Isetnofret (Iset) as a mistress (second Great Wife), meets his true love Nefertari (first Great Wife) and after their death, gets married to Maetnefrure in his old age. Jacq gives Ramesses only three biological children: Kha'emweset, Meritamen (she being the only child of Nefertari, the two others being from Iset) and Merneptah. The other "children" are only young officials trained for government and who are nicknamed "sons of the pharaoh".
Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist. He has written several novels about ancient Egypt, notably a five book suite about pharaoh Ramses II, a character whom Jacq admires greatly.
Jacq's interest in Egyptology began when he was thirteen, and read History of Ancient Egyptian Civilization by Jacques Pirenne. This inspired him to write his first novel. He first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world's leading Egyptologists.
By the time he was eighteen, he had written eight books. His first commercially successful book was Champollion the Egyptian, published in 1987. As of 2004 he has written over fifty books, including several non-fiction books on the subject of Egyptology.
He and his wife later founded the Ramses Institute, which is dedicated to creating a photographic description of Egypt for the preservation of endangered archaeological sites.
Between 1995-1997, he published his best selling five book suite Ramsès, which is today published in over twenty-five countries. Each volume encompasses one aspect of Ramesses' known historical life, woven into a fictional tapestry of the ancient world for an epic tale of love, life and deceit.
Jacq's series describes a vision of the life of the pharaoh: he has two vile power-hungry siblings, Shanaar, his decadent older brother, and Dolora, his corrupted older sister who married his teacher. In his marital life, he first has Isetnofret (Iset) as a mistress (second Great Wife), meets his true love Nefertari (first Great Wife) and after their death, gets married to Maetnefrure in his old age. Jacq gives Ramesses only three biological children: Kha'emweset, Meritamen (she being the only child of Nefertari, the two others being from Iset) and Merneptah. The other "children" are only young officials trained for government and who are nicknamed "sons of the pharaoh".
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 30, 2019
A beautiful novelization of one of Freemasonry‘s central allegories.
September 28, 2023
Tüm dünyaca bilinen bir efsane olan Hiram Abif efsanesine Egyptologist Christian Jacq gözünden Mısır kaynaklarını da esas alarak bakan bir roman.
O dönemi çok iyi bilen Jacq sanki o dönemde yaşamış gibi coğrafyayı gelenekleri ve şu an bir yerlerde yapılan ritüelleri son derece iyi bir şekilde anlatıyor.
Özellikle İbrani mitolojisine ilgi duyan kişilerin okumasını tavsiye ederim. Ama her değerli kitabın olduğu gibi bu kitabın da baskısı yok sahaflar sizi bekler.
O dönemi çok iyi bilen Jacq sanki o dönemde yaşamış gibi coğrafyayı gelenekleri ve şu an bir yerlerde yapılan ritüelleri son derece iyi bir şekilde anlatıyor.
Özellikle İbrani mitolojisine ilgi duyan kişilerin okumasını tavsiye ederim. Ama her değerli kitabın olduğu gibi bu kitabın da baskısı yok sahaflar sizi bekler.
October 24, 2025
Me gusto. El autor no glorifica a Salomón realmente lo retrata como un hombre poderoso, más allá de que hay "magia" involucrada, que actúa como probablemente lo haría un rey poderoso de la época que debe equilibrar su gobierno entre religión, política, deseos y amor.
August 4, 2021
I don’t agree with people who are saying “it’s too simplistic”, “it’s not well written”. C.J tells a story about a character as fascinating as complex: Salomon. It’s simple to read, it’s captivating, no need to have done Harvard to understand. C.J is an Egyptologist, it only traduces his will to give a lil of his knowledge, a lil of his love for Egypt to everybody.
Also if you want to better understand some of his allusions about the deep and complex Egyptian’s way of thinking I would recommend his essay: “La sagesse égyptienne”
It’s harder to understand but it permits to go into it in depth.
Also if you want to better understand some of his allusions about the deep and complex Egyptian’s way of thinking I would recommend his essay: “La sagesse égyptienne”
It’s harder to understand but it permits to go into it in depth.
January 10, 2024
Not one of his better ones. His series on Ramses, and Stone of light were good, but this one was not well written - or not well translated - short, choppy sentences, simplistic writing, jumping from thought to thought. Too bad because he has written about a fascinating historical era.
September 2, 2024
Pharaonic, architectural plot, easy read.
Jacq is one of my favourite historical fiction authors. I have lots more on my tbr list, so it’s good to chip away at them. This was a stand-alone historical fiction about King Solomon of Israel. New to the throne, he thinks the only way to bring his nation to prosperity is the construction of a temple that compares with no other. Naïve, and desperate, he struggles to find anyone amongst his people with the ability to make his vision a reality, let alone funding it. This is more or less the entire plot with a few twists and turns along the way. Some cloak and dagger moments. Some factions and betrayals. The bond between those forbidden to meld. Some used and abused people. Excellent historical detail especially surrounding ancient Egyptian ceremonies.
The characters were well sculptured. I have no idea about any of the real people to say how accurate or realistic it was. I liked Queen Sheba. I liked Solomon at the beginning, but he lost his integrity along the way, so he was a fade out. Master Hiram was a stick in the mud who got away with more than he dared to.
I normally need a decent plot to keep my attention, and this just scraped through, hence the deducted star. It was easy to read. Not the best of Jacq’s work yet highly enjoyable.
Jacq is one of my favourite historical fiction authors. I have lots more on my tbr list, so it’s good to chip away at them. This was a stand-alone historical fiction about King Solomon of Israel. New to the throne, he thinks the only way to bring his nation to prosperity is the construction of a temple that compares with no other. Naïve, and desperate, he struggles to find anyone amongst his people with the ability to make his vision a reality, let alone funding it. This is more or less the entire plot with a few twists and turns along the way. Some cloak and dagger moments. Some factions and betrayals. The bond between those forbidden to meld. Some used and abused people. Excellent historical detail especially surrounding ancient Egyptian ceremonies.
The characters were well sculptured. I have no idea about any of the real people to say how accurate or realistic it was. I liked Queen Sheba. I liked Solomon at the beginning, but he lost his integrity along the way, so he was a fade out. Master Hiram was a stick in the mud who got away with more than he dared to.
I normally need a decent plot to keep my attention, and this just scraped through, hence the deducted star. It was easy to read. Not the best of Jacq’s work yet highly enjoyable.
March 18, 2025
Una novela acerca del nacimiento de una estructura de una gran civilización. Como lo fueron lo fue el pueblo. Una organización una idea de estado y la construcción del gran templo.
El templo de salomon. Desde su concepción. Su planeación y construcción. Toda una hazaña para la época.
El templo de salomon. Desde su concepción. Su planeación y construcción. Toda una hazaña para la época.
October 3, 2020
Fun yet accurate history. The writer is an eminent French Egyptologist, and it shows, yet her wears his knowledge lightly.
November 23, 2021
La leggenda di Hiram e la costruzione del Tempio di Salomone raccontate in maniera semplice ma coinvolgente.
October 5, 2022
Libro abbandonato a metà. È davvero troppo lento e superficiale.. magari non sono nel target.
August 12, 2023
Christian Jacq'ı hep merak ederdim.
Maalesef, benim için büyük hayal kırıklığı.
Hamaset dolu, boş bir kitap.
Maalesef, benim için büyük hayal kırıklığı.
Hamaset dolu, boş bir kitap.
January 26, 2015
I love historical novels and I really wanted to like this book, but it's impossible. It started too chaotically and unstructured, as if the author felt it was necessary to shortly mention all kind of stuff about Solomons life before starting to tell his actual story. That was the first 100 pages. Then this Master Hiram finally turned up (which is a little late for a character whose name is in the title, if you ask me) and I read about him moaning about his homesickness and doubts for another 100 pages.
Ok, so after thinking about putting it aside, I just forced myself through it (mainly because I already got through half of the book and I want to mark it as read xD). But oh my god, it's really extremely boring. It's repeating itself all the time. And it's contraditory as well. (Now I'm writing that down, it's like the Bible itself!) Example: on page 288, Master Hiram tells Solomo 'The temple is ready'. Wordly. Then, on page 292, Solomo asks him when they can celebrate the inauguration. Hirams answers that the vestibule and some side buidlings aren't ready yet so the temple is not ready to be opened. WHAT?!
There are a LOT of characters that are against the building of the temple. Actually everyone is except for Solomon, but no serious attempts are made to really avoid the construction. It's just dull moaning ALL THE TIME. Hiram disappears for at least ten times. The characters are flat and do not develop. Nagsara, Solomon wife, is pathetic. The writer describes magic as if he believes in it himself. Then I got to question myself if he wanted to write a historical novel or a fantasy book.
I actually doubt if the writer reviewed his book after he finished his first draft and if an editor read it before it got published.
I am so disappointed.
Ok, so after thinking about putting it aside, I just forced myself through it (mainly because I already got through half of the book and I want to mark it as read xD). But oh my god, it's really extremely boring. It's repeating itself all the time. And it's contraditory as well. (Now I'm writing that down, it's like the Bible itself!) Example: on page 288, Master Hiram tells Solomo 'The temple is ready'. Wordly. Then, on page 292, Solomo asks him when they can celebrate the inauguration. Hirams answers that the vestibule and some side buidlings aren't ready yet so the temple is not ready to be opened. WHAT?!
There are a LOT of characters that are against the building of the temple. Actually everyone is except for Solomon, but no serious attempts are made to really avoid the construction. It's just dull moaning ALL THE TIME. Hiram disappears for at least ten times. The characters are flat and do not develop. Nagsara, Solomon wife, is pathetic. The writer describes magic as if he believes in it himself. Then I got to question myself if he wanted to write a historical novel or a fantasy book.
I actually doubt if the writer reviewed his book after he finished his first draft and if an editor read it before it got published.
I am so disappointed.
September 29, 2012
A bit slow! But very nice!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews