BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Jerusalem Through the Ages

An authoritative introduction to Jerusalem's archaeology

Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to the Crusades

By Jodi Magness
(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2024), x + 614 pp., 157 b/w figs., 16 color plates; $39.99 (hardcover), $27.99 (eBook)

Reviewed by Shimon Gibson

Keeping abreast of the ever-expanding body of scholarship on ancient Jerusalem has become a formidable task even for someone like myself who specializes in the archaeological history of the city. Consequently, anyone writing a single-volume archaeological study of Jerusalem that is both comprehensive and unafraid to engage in matters of interpretation is attempting the impossible. Yet this is precisely what Jodi Magness has achieved. Hers is a remarkably stimulating, well-written, and informative book—a boon for professionals, students, and the general public alike. Such a feat may be virtually impossible to replicate. Anyone who obtains a copy should treasure it, because it may very well be the last of its kind.

In Jerusalem Through the Ages, Magness, one of the leading archaeologists excavating in Israel today, covers a vast array of material culture associated with Jerusalem, drawing from the results of early digs in the 19th century up to the systematic scientific work being undertaken today (many of the results mentioned in the book are still unpublished). Recounting virtually everything that we know about the city from its earliest beginnings in the Neolithic period to the medieval era, Magness covers roughly 8,000 years of history. And she does so with diligence and remarkable insight, adding 82 pages of notes and 56 pages of bibliography. Yet she does not lose the student or general reader, who may not be compelled by the minutia of scholarly debates.

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The book opens with an introduction on topography and sources, followed by a chapter on some of the key explorers of Jerusalem from the 19th century to the present. Magness then proceeds to examine the principal (and sometimes even obscure) archaeological discoveries of each historical period in turn—from the Middle Bronze Age to the Crusaders. There are individual chapters dedicated to Jebusite, Israelite, Judahite, post-Exilic (Persian), Hasmonean, Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, and Crusader Jerusalem. In an epilogue, the author also briefly touches on British Mandatory Jerusalem.

Magness naturally excels in the historical periods and subjects on which she has conducted her own extensive field-work—especially the Greco-Roman and Byzantine eras. Among the best, and full of insights, are her discussions of the Third Wall of Jerusalem and the city’s northern outskirts at the time of Aelia Capitolina—the Roman colony founded on the ruins of Jerusalem.^*

Most remarkable, however, Magness surpasses her predecessors in the balancing act of providing up-to-date scholar-ship together with a well-written story. In comparison, popular historian Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Jerusalem: The Biography (Vintage Books, 2011), although excellent when it comes to the history of the city, is lacking in regard to the contributions archaeology has made since the last century. Katharina Galor and Hanswulf Bloedhorn valiantly attempt to re-address this in their The Archaeology of Jerusalem: From the Origins to the Ottomans (Yale Univ. Press, 2013), but they themselves readily admit having to contend with a vast amount of information from the many digs conducted in the city and not wanting to provide “exhaustive lists and descriptions” that might compromise the clarity of their text. In this regard, Max Küchler’s Jerusalem: Ein Handbuch und Studienreiseführer zur Heiligen Stadt (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007) does try to do exactly that by providing the reader with an inexhaustible quantity of data with analysis amounting to more than 1,200 pages, which is both overwhelming and inaccessible to non-German readers. On the other hand, Andrew Lawler’s accessibly written Under Jerusalem (Doubleday, 2021) deals very specifically with the ideological and political issues behind the archaeological exploration of Jerusalem, without delving into the details of archaeological data.

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It is then easy to see the exceptional value of this new book. In the future, I expect similar attempts to focus increasingly on specific historical periods and specialized subjects, while mainstream publications on ancient Jerusalem are likely to shift toward the exceedingly general and interpretative, shaped by the particular viewpoints and interests of their individual authors. Jodi Magness has carried out her task with admirable commitment and alacrity, even though, as she modestly acknowledges, “Jerusalem is so rich in remains, so incredibly layered and complex, that it is impossible to know everything about it.” I will treasure my copy.

Notes:

* See Hanan Eshel, “Aelia Capitolina: Jerusalem No More,” BAR, November/December 1997.

Shimon Gibson is a professor in the History Department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He co-directs the Mt. Zion excavations in Jerusalem.