Title: A
History of Jerusalem
Author: Karen Armstrong
Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2005
(First published 1996)
ISBN: 0-00-638347-5
Pages: 431
The city of Jerusalem is the
keystone of the mythological edifice of three great religions in the world,
Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Even though outwardly professing noble ideals
like love, charity and tolerance, there have been rivers of blood that flowed
through the streets of Jerusalem, Zion or al-Quds as the city is known to
people with various perceptions of God. Religion is such a fount of evil that
even normal people turn to bloodthirsty monsters and kill their neighbours in
cold blood simply because that person happens to believe in another
mythological story quite different from ours. This book is a great description
of the vicissitudes the city had undergone in the last 4000 years. And Karen
Armstrong is quite fit for narrating the story as she is a former Roman Catholic
nun who has devoted her life to writing, lecturing and broadcasting on
religious affairs. With a balanced outlook, the author analyses the events
which shaped up the modern city of Jerusalem in a systematic and structured
manner.
Jerusalem was founded in the 18th
century BCE as a temple to the ancient Syrian god Shalem. We find mention of
the city and the Jebusite tribe ruling there from Egyptian clay tablets. The
Israelites who would later claim the city in modern times was still a tribe
from Babylon held in captivity in Egypt. Moses liberated them and after 40
years of wanderings in the desert, settled them in Canaan. David assumed
kingship of Judah in 10th century BCE and conquered Jerusalem. It
was only around 1000 BCE that David and his descendants would establish their
hold on the sacred city for the first time in history. Solomon built a temple
to Yahweh on Mount Zion and transported the Ark of the Covenant, the most
sacred Jewish relic there which provided a fountain of piety and holiness to
the united kingdom of Israel and Judah.
After David and his son Solomon,
the dynasty didn’t produce strong leaders. Powerful empires were growing in the
east – Assyria and then Babylon. Nebuchadnessar, the Babylonian king invaded
Jerusalem, sacked the city and its temple and moved the cream of the inhabitants
to Babylon as captives. But the prisoners were not constrained in any way and
they were allowed to pursue any economic activity they chose, while fully
allowing religious freedom. After about 50 years, most of them were allowed to
go home. The returnees, however, followed a very rigorous form of religion bent
on strict observance of Torah and segregation of the inhabitants to outer
quarters. The isolationist policies were incompatible with the tempest of Hellenization
brought in the wake of Alexander’s invasion. Many of the Jews themselves found
the syncretism of Greeks far more conducive to intellectualism than the blind
following of Torah. Strife between conservatives and hellenists among the Jews
resulted in the Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes sacking the temple in 170
BCE.
The growth of Rome across the
Mediterranean was a good time for Jews. Herod sided with the powers that be in
Rome and erected a string of magnificent buildings in the city. However, the
alliance was bound to be a fragile one as the Jews were fiercely fanatical when
their temple was even approached by the gentiles which included their Roman
masters too. Shortsighted zealots who whipped up frenzy against the Romans were
instrumental in bringing about the ruinous destruction of the temple and the
city in 70 CE, out of which there was no resurrection for the ill-fated temple.
Though we have no historical
evidence to the life of Jesus other than the Bible, it is true that the
Christian faith circulated in Palestine among Jews and gentiles alike due to
the encompassing spirit of early Christianity and its stress on spirituality
rather than physical or geographical icons like Jerusalem or the temple.
Christians kept a low profile until Emperor Constantine lifted sanctions
against them in 313 CE and declared it to be one of the empire’s official
religions. Soon, the persecuted turned into persecutors and blood-curdling
cruelty were inflicted on the Jews who were bundled out of the holy city and more
and more Christian churches and monasteries were built in the 4th
and 5th centuries. All the relics and holy places which we now see
scattered in and around the city were conjured up from naught in those two
centuries. At this time, Byzantium and Persia, the two great contemporary empires
were locked in a mutually destructive war, effectively wiping out their
superiority. Out of this power vacuum emerged the warriors of a new religion
from Arabia.
Muhammad established Islam and
instilled vitality to it. Though he died in 632, his followers continued his
banner forward and in 637, Caliph Omar conquered Jerusalem. The patriarch of
the city, Sophronius, handed it over to the conquerors in a peaceful
transition. Omar built the mosque of al-Aqsa on the Temple Mount. Caliph Abd
al-Malik built the Dome of the Rock in 688 to mark the site of the original
qiblah (the direction to which Muslims turn to, in prayer). Muhammad began with
Jerusalem, but later changed it to Mecca. Gradullay, the city became holy to
Muslims as well, since stories about the Prophet’s ascension to heaven from
Jerusalem were established as received wisdom.
The crusades in the 11th
and 12th centuries saw rivers of blood flowing in the city, which created
lasting emotions of enmity between the Muslims and Christians. Jerusalem could
avail some peace only when the Ottoman empire rose to power in the 16th
century, when it was felt for a brief time that they would overrun Europe too.
But as is common with dynastic rule, the empire began to unravel after a few
generations of powerful emperors like Suleyman the Magnificent. Christian power
that was curtailed since the crusades again became ascendant when Europe made
great strides in economic and technological fronts. Middle East often fell to
the status of European colonies and the state of Israel was formed in 1948. The
city is now in Jewish hands though bloody violence breaks the peace more often
than ever.
The narrative is well referenced
and delivered with a clear outlook and a message of harmony and tolerance.
However, Armstrong treats Jesus as a historical figure with sole references
from the New Testament to support the argument. This is confusing and really
amounts to mixing fact with fiction which is not to be expected in a book with
a strong root in history. The author’s narration is impartial and objective on
most issues except on a few occasions, but there is a subtle thread of pampering
Islamic claims on the city as against those of Jews or Christians. This may be
due to a subconscious effort to appear neutral as the author was a nun in her
earlier career and naturally wished to outlive her past.
The book is recommended.
Rating: 3 Star
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