The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700

by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor

Book Overview

The Holy Land, as the geographic focal point of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, has immeasurable resonance for the pilgrims it has attracted since as early as the fifth century BC. The Holy Land is an indispensable, illustrated guide to over 200 of the best Christian, Jewish, and Islamic sites in the City of Jerusalem and the surrounding Holy Land from earliest times to 1700. Each entry explains the history and topography of a site, as well as its...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192880136
• ISBN13: 9780192880130
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 516 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.5" x 5.4"

Customer Reviews

Easity the best

This book is filled with the knowledge of vast experience and travel. If you want a book that doesn't just give the religiously naive and superstitious what they want to hear (like so many do), then this is your book. Excellent in several ways.

Excellent overview

Great description of both the sights and the surroundings of all of the different areas of the Holy Land. Provides background to understand the significance, as well as other importance in other times.

Great Guide

Very informative with good descriptions. The language is a little difficult to interpret at times and I wish there was a little more history with each site, but overall a great guide.

Invaluable

Recommended to me by an archaeolgist long active in Israel, I found this book quite helpful in appreciating a number of sites (and sights) I recently visited (and saw) in the Holy Land. For folks who are looking to learn more about various ancient sites than the typical tour guide can offer, this will be well worth its price. In addition to its being informative, I found the personality of its author evident and engaging.

An excellent guide for the layman.

We recently returned from two weeks in Israel where we traveled around on our own with this book and the Lonely Planet Guide. Our trip would have been much poorer without The Holy Land. The strength of the book is its description of almost every ancient site of interest in Israel with line maps of the present structures and historical descriptions of the sites. The author includes quotes from ancient historians and medieval pilgrims as well as citations to the Bible. He approaches all the sites with respect but does not hesitate to call the authenticity of some sites into question when the historical or archaeological evidence does not support it. He points out that greater faith can be placed in the Christian sites where there was evidence of pre-Constantinian veneration, before the questions of pilgrims "excited the imaginations of local guides." For me this makes the more credible sites such as the Holy Sepulchre and the house of Peter even more moving.For practical information on hotels, buses, etc. you should pick up the Lonely Planet Guide, but for infomation on the historical and religious sites this is the best book I have seen.