Eric M. Meyers

I must confess that I'm always a bit suspicious when I'm reading a book about the "holy land" that is written by somebody who is a professor of religious studies. Seems to me that they are unlikely to be totally objective. However, in this case (and there are two professors of religious studies involved) I'm reasonably impressed. I didn't detect any bias...though that doesn't mean it's not there.
The book is a reasonably straightforward examination of the archeology of the area of Palestine/Israel from the period around 300 BCE to the period around 300 CE when Christianity finally emerged as a major force...mainly because Constantine was a convert. A couple of things stood out for me. One was that there is virtually no clear archeological evidence for Jesus ...and, in fact, no archeological evidence for Christianity until about 200 CE. As the authors point out, there was nothing much to distinguish Christians from the various other sects of Judaism in the early years.
They devote quite a lot of time to the Dead Sea Scrolls and to the community that (presumably) produced them and hid them.
I have always been a bit confused by the role of Herod the Great and Herod Antipas...and, it seems, with reason. There was a whole family of Herods who, while Jewish, cooperated with the Romans. And, in fact, Herod the great was really only great because he was supported militarily by the Romans. But he did undertake an astonishing amount of building. I found myself asking the question: where did all the wealth come from to enable him to do all this building. Taxation was one obvious source but there is a limit to how much one can bleed the population. I'm still a bit mystified because this book does not explain it. In one sense public works and public expenditure creates it's own economic activity and expands the wealth. On the other hand, a time of peace allows prosperity to develop and is good for generating taxation returns.
In hindsight, the two great Jewish revolts ...one in about 70CE and the other ...the Bar Kokhba revolt ..some 62 years later brought about the total collapse of the Jewish state and (yet another) diaspora of the Jews. This time, to last for about 2,000 years into the present. Interestingly enough Bar Kokhbar was also held out to be the Messiah...but all he brought was the utter devastation of the Jewish people plus this massive diaspora. One of the weaknesses of the Jewish community was clearly their lack of cohesion and the plurality of views. The aristocracy and priesthood seemed to be all for cooperation with the Romans ..and maintaining the peace (and their position in society) whilst the fundamentalists were concerned about religious purity and getting the Romans out. Some magnificent gestures:...such as Masada ....but ultimately a total failure. (They should have read Sun Tzu..who recommends not fighting unless you are going to win). The book also draws attention to Josephus's position ...as first a leader of the Jews fighting the Romans and then (supposedly) a neutral observer writing an objective history. Especially when he comes to explaining his own role and actions. I was also fascinated to learn that the mass suicide at Masada might also be a bit suspect. (No bones...no archeological evidence and it was certainly talked up by Yadin ....an archeologist who excavated the site. He's been criticised as working to create a "national myth" with Israel suffering from a siege mentality. ....though there is one throw-away line, in this book, that suicide is strictly forbidden under Jewish law).
Another thing I found fascinating was the fusion of religions that seemed to take place with all sorts of relics and talismans from various religions seemingly being found together in the post revolt period. And, to me, this is quite understandable...especially if there is intermarriage between various groups. One can imagine a mother with a pagan background still retaining her fondness for some of the old traditions and beliefs ..and likewise a husband ...maybe illiterate and not having a perfect grasp of (say) Jewish law and traditions ....accepting the foreign beliefs (and "harmless" artifacts) into the home. Anyway, there is evidence that various belief systems seemed to coexist for long periods in relative peace and with tolerance.
Oh, there is one other theme that I don't assume to really understand and that is a focus on baths in various sites and the correlation of this with ritual purity.....washing and baptism of various sorts. On the other hand, when you live in dry areas ..prone to drought....it makes a lot of sense to have some decent water storage.
On the whole, not a bad book. But maybe not brilliant either. I'll give it 4 stars.… (more)