God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem [Hardcover]

Sean Kingsley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2007

In 70 AD, the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus plundered the great Temple of Jerusalem, claiming for themselves a priceless hoard. The golden candelabrum, silver trumpets, the bejeweled Table of the Divine Presence—the central icons of the Jewish faith—were cast adrift in Mediterranean lands and exposed to centuries of turbulent history and the rule of four different civilizations. Only an intriguing trail of clues remains to betray the treasure's ever-changing destiny—a trail eminent archaeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley has followed on one of the most remarkable quests of this or any other age: the search for the final resting place of God's gold.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this fast-paced tale that is part detective story, part travelogue and adventure story, historian Kingsley, editor of the archeology journal Minerva, hunts for one of the most sought after ancient treasures: a golden candelabrum, a pair of silver trumpets and the jewel-covered Table of Divine Presence carried away from the Temple in Jerusalem by Vespasian in A.D. 70. Many believe that these pieces, long since disappeared, lie buried beneath the Temple Mount, while others are convinced that they are buried under the Vatican. Relying on the ancient historians Josephus and Procopius, Kingsley traces the trail of the treasure as best he can. Many in modern times have tried and failed to find the treasure, including John Allegro, the Dead Sea Scrolls expert, who used the now-famous Copper Scroll as his guide in the caves at Qumran. At the end of his travels, Kingsley visits the monastery of Saint Theodosius in the Judean wilderness, where he believes Byzantine patriarch Modestus may have hidden the treasures in the seventh century after carrying them away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to protect them from Muslim invaders. Although we will likely never find the Temple treasure, Kingsley's bracing tale of religious intrigue grips the imagination. 16 pages of b&w photos. (June 12)
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From Booklist

Indiana Jones would tip his hat to Kingsley, an intrepid archaeologist who has spent 15 years pursuing a very real treasure that surpasses Hollywood's fantasies. Estimated at 50 tons of gold, the treasure of Herod's Temple fell into Roman hands when Vespasian besieged Jerusalem two millennia ago. Roman leaders lavished much of their temple plunder on the Colosseum and other projects. But Kingsley uncovers exciting evidence that a still sizable amount of the sacred trove—including the great golden candelabrum and the Table of Divine Presence—remained intact. Worth at least $1 billion today, this hoard passed through turbulent centuries under the vigilant care of powerful guardians who protected it by repeatedly moving it. It will probably disappoint some readers that, in the end, Kingsley cannot breach the suspiciously locked gates of those he identifies as the treasure's current keepers. (Only a killjoy would reveal the identity and location of these keepers.) But many readers will find that the thrill of tracing long-buried clues to those tantalizing locked gates is itself a great prize. Christensen, Bryce

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition, First Printing. edition (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060854006
• ISBN-13: 978-0060854003
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #617,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, educating, and fast moving, October 12, 2007

By 

Scott (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem (Hardcover)

I picked up this book to read a man's personal quest and theory about the Lost Temple Treasure. That is exactly what I got and enjoyed every bit of it. I have a degree in History and professionaly have found that Kingsley has done a lot of research and investigating- that's worth a lot.
If you are picking up this book because you think that the end will lead you to the POT OF GOLD, then don't bother, because anyone in this field knows that we do not know what happened to the treasure- you should stick with Indiana Jones for a feel good ending. However if you want to see a learned man obsessed with the past (as I have personally been there before) and taking all the steps that he knows to reconstruct a time gone by, than by all means enjoy this trip to far away lands in far away times-and who knows, maybe he's got it right.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Read, Not Much New Under the Sun Though, September 14, 2010

By 

Ronn Berrol (Oakland, CA. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem (Paperback)

Sean Kingsley has written a pleasant, easily readable book with lots of promise, but very little payoff. It is written in a very self-indulgent style, but not in an offensive way. For those with a deeper knowledge of history, there will be almost nothing new, but he does cross many different time periods nicely and weaves the time-line of the temple treasures possible journey in a very accessible fashion. For those with less of a background in the pertinent histories I think you will find enough historical facts and information from the post biblical period of Jerusalem, through the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., with relevant discussions of the Dead Sea scrolls, and Imperial Rome. His Journey will also take you to the early Byzantine era and up to the start of the Muslin ear in the Levant. There the journey rather spectacularly ends, with a rather weak conclusion and false idealistic rationalization.

Kingsley, narrates his travels to many different lands were the Temple treasures may have lain themselves, but as you go with him the reader is almost always left with the feeling that the journey was unnecessary and simply justification to find filler for the book. . The author tries to imply that his journeys break new ground and revelations about the Temple treasure, but each time he then suddenly finds a historical passage from ancient historians that one could easily find on Google, Wikipedia or the local library that tell him where to go next

For example, in one chapter Kingsley goes to Rome and visits many important archaeological sites so that he can get his mind around where the Temple treasures may have been taken by conquerors and victors. The writing is crisp and the descriptions of ancient Rome are informative and accurate, but in the end he simple sites Josephus's writings form his book, "The Jewish War", 7.158-161, which tell him that the Temple treasures were taken to the Temple of Peace by Vespasian and Titus. All his travels essentially have taken him back to the primary historical source, with no new information to further expound on the validity of Josephus. This pattern of travel, visit the important archaeological sites to dig for the truth, and then returning to easily accessible historical sources for the answer (and then taking these sources for fact) are repeated over and over throughout the book.

Still I must admit that I enjoyed Kingsley's style and easy way with bringing history to the written page, but there isn't much new here and his conclusions are as stated above, rather disappointing and self-serving. Towards the end of the book his attempts to imply the danger he is in by exploring the subject matter at hand, or by his travel to easily accessible regions of the West Bank are almost comical. In many ways this book is like the magazine, Minerva, where Kingsley has worked as managing editor. Filled with promise and glitz, lots to look at, but very little for the history buff who wants to look deeper.

4.0 out of 5 stars a treasure hunt without treasure, June 26, 2011

By 

D. Woollard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem (Paperback)

Kingsley takes a very educated and intellectual look at a quest that has obsessed both scholars and treasure hunters for centuries, the quest for the gold treasures from the temple of Jerusalem. Kingsley, an archaeologist with a long history of digs and scholarly investigations, brings all of his education and experience to bear on the topic, testing out a number of hypotheses as to where the gold ended up. It's a fascinating story, rich in history, travel details and the real-life details of what archaeologists actually did without the Indiana-Jones derring-do gloss. That the tale ultimately ends flat has nothing to do with the writing and everything to do with the fact that this mystery many never be solved.