The Ancient History of Jerusalem from Prehistoric Times to the Roman Occupation

Description

“This book is a modest attempt to write a true history of the city of Jerusalem from its emergence until its Roman occupation. By ‘true history,’ we mean excluding all religious and biblical influences from controlling and directing the course of events… especially those related to the city’s rise and growth during the Bronze and Iron Ages; that is, during the period of approximately three thousand years before Christ.”

Khazal al-Majidi seeks to interpret archaeological evidence to write an alternative political, cultural, and religious history of the ancient city of Jerusalem. He begins with prehistoric times, when settlements and pastoral and agricultural villages emerged, followed by the rise of cities and the founding of Jerusalem by the Amorites in the Early Bronze Age. He then examines Jerusalem’s history during the Iron Age in the first millennium BCE, a period considered the most controversial due to the dominance of biblical narratives in the city’s history during this time. Al-Majidi disregards these narratives because he finds no archaeological evidence to support them. Instead, he relies on biological and archaeological studies of the region’s history, exploring the true origins of Judaism. He then addresses the Ptolemaic and Seleucid periods—during which Judaism was refined and its scriptures and laws were finalized—culminating in the Roman occupation of Jerusalem.