Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

This is an excellent book that traces the journeys of the Jewish Temple Treasure (consisting of silver trumpets, the menorah, and the table of showbread) in its circuitous journey across the Mediterranean in antiquity. Kingsley is not merely chasing rainbows - his travels to each destination are backed by mentions of the treasure's fate in ancient Roman & Byzantine sources. Thus the book is an amalgamation of the testimonies of ancient historians, archaeology & interpretation, and Kingsley's own personal perceptions and bittersweet emotional responses to his quest. I learned many new and fascinating things from this book: for example, did you know that an ancient gate of the Roman Colosseum held traces of a 1st century inscription, and when it was finally translated it read that the construction of the Colosseum was financed with the war-spoils of Jewish gold? Or that the Qumran ruins, which have long been assumed to belong to the Essenes, have now been fairly conclusively identified as a Roman era villa and that the surrounding land to the west of the Dead Sea was almost completely given over to date and balsam plantations, which brought in huge profits in the 1st century? I never knew this, and I am quite knowledgeable about the ancient history of this region. Interesting detours such as these are peppered throughout the book, but always relevant to the author's quest of uncovering the fate of the temple treasure.

Although I find the ancient mentions of the treasure's fate to be incredibly tantalizing, it is Kingsley's own personal journey and emotional engagement with his quest that really pulls me in. Moreover, because the author chases the temple treasure through time and space, following the ancient sources to retrace the treasure's journey, the book is also something of a travelogue. I was very impressed by the author, he writes in a very beautiful and compelling style, and I hope to read more works by him. An excellent read.

Reading Kingsley's book is like taking a run through a pleasant countryside for hours on end only to find you've covered less than a mile. It's pleasant reading, but the author is in no hurry to get to the point. This is a work of popular archeological speculation. There is real evidence here and the archeological detective tracks God's Gold intact for over 500 years across the world to Byzantium. After that the proposed path it took rests entirely on speculation. He is tracking a real treasure that, if found, would shake the world with its implications and it could be where he says it is.

This book was quite a ride. Kingsley has a style that keeps the reader by his side throughout his trek. Pondering on age old travel journals and historical writings, he manages to make the past and present exist side by side. He has a very good scholarship, which makes God's Gold not only an adventure story, but a historical treatise as well.
I would most certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient history, Judaic or otherwise.

The book presents a lot of fascinating facts for anyone interested in Roman and Jewish history. Kingsley knows his stuff. Away from his archaelogical roots, Kingsley still tells skillfuly the rather bizzare contemporary tales linked to the lost temple treasures. But the breathless chase to "find" the temple gold, promised in the title, is contrived and leads nowhere. The discussion of what might, or might not, now lie in the Vatican's secret archives fizzles out in a puzzling and frustrating way. One is ultimately left wishing that the book had promised just a plain good story rather than a "quest" in the manner of Indiana Jones. Do read it if you like obscure ancient history leavened with amusing contemporary accounts of crackpot theories.

Well I should have known better. I guess since Hancock has covered the Ark of the Covenant, and others have covered the Holy Grail and the Shroud of Turin, their was nothing left but, ta da, the Silver Trumpets of Truth,(cue the dramatic and or ghostly music here)and the Table of the Divine Presence" which I never heard of, or maybe the Table of Shewbread doesent sound as awesome as he attempts to make these items out as some other type of Gods CyberPhone like the think the Ark was. Basically what the Romans got were but 3rd or 4th generation attempts to recreate the original Vessels that Betzalel created for the Tabernacle in the Desert. These after the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greek all came in and helped themselves to the Temples furniture and treasury.
Then there was his specious claim that the ornamental base of the Arc of Titus Menorah Depiction had to do with hellenistic and roman influences in Judea. YEA, one procurator had to agree not to march into Jerusalem with the eagle emblazoned Roman banners unfurled because even this humble image constituted a idolatrous image, and theis so called archaologist is going to tell others that this Pagan Relief of Gods and Sea Dragons on the Menorah would have stood, no problemo, in the Temple.
And then quoting the writings of Theophanes, he has the vandals taking the treasure, and it explicity states that it was the treasure that Titus brought after his capture of Jerusalem. But of course this fellow was writing a couple of hundred years after this event. Not that it invalidates it, but no one ever left a personal record of having seen the items in the flesh themselves.
And so now they made it to the Monastery of St Theodosius where they lay there still according to him. And of course, nobody can go in to check either.

He may have a PHD in something, but until his claims are reviewed by his peer group, he is just another intellectual jumping on the naked archaelogist gravy train.

This author seems to have one singleminded goal--to delegitimize the Jewish claim on Israel. Like many revisionists, he is coy in his tactics. In this book, Mr. Kingsley thumbs his nose at anything Torah related as any sort of truth, while at the same time r-e-l-y-i-n-g upon the Torah to proves is points about disproving Jewish claims to ancient Israel. He also totally fails to understand or utilize commonly accepted middle east history--including Islamic history.

No, Mr. Kingley's history is modern -day -revised -in -Islamic -mosques- in -London -history....

This ridiculous so called quest for truth is nothing but an anti-semtic blog. It is completely unacademic in its presentation of so called facts. Again and again and again, Mr. Kingsley flips the bird at anything Jewish and then turns around and makes bold pronouncements that "without a doubt this, that the other is fact" (as he imagines it), with zero proof offered other than he's saying it is so--as long as it suits his anti-semitic agenda of sizing up ancient Israel as anything but the homeland of the Jewish people.

Over and again he laughs off the Bible--but then uses out of context phrases from the Bible to decide this or that could not have happened as it regarded the ancient relics IF it supports his agenda ...


Mr. Kingsley states he is interested in the truth, but then he goes to Israel, has exactly one brief conversation with one person involved in the Temple Mount Association and decides that's all he needs to know about the Jewish claim on the land. He then races back to London with to investigate the one single phrase made by the association in a letter to the Vatican and structures his entire premise upon disproofing his own supposed interpretation of it. Big surprize when he then tears it to shreds because something he found an opposing clue in an english library disagreed with the guy.

The author then goes on and decides that thoughts that come to his head while looking at Titus' arch are firm truths--because he decided them to be...hello?? Are we just a wee bit conceited?

Why did this so called investigative archeologist fail bring his investigation to the scholars at the antiquities departments of the great universities of Israel? Why did he never discuss his vast, vast lack of knowlege of Torah with a single Torah scholar from the Orthodox community? Adin Steinsaltz's probably would have gladly discussed his quiery. Why did he not call upon him or any other Judaiac scholar?

The very least this imbecile could have done is take the FREE online classes at Yale on the literature of the ancient Hebrew Bible. Then perhaps he would have become familiar with the context of the ancient legends. Why did he not study Judaism if he intended to search for the most prized ancient Jewish relic?

I'll tell you why--he did his research talking coffee over by the mosque in his London neighborhood...He's so boldly conceited he figured none of us would object!

This so called archeologist--and I doubt he has been very successful as one--is so ridiculous, so ill informed and so lacking in this work that by the second paragraph I seriously doubted his ability but read on to find out what his agenda may be. In the book's second paragraph he refers to a series of things happening around Passover. He then states the dates at SEPTEMBER! Hello, earth to scholar: Passover--Pessah, is in s-p-r-i-n-g. This is just one of dozens of errors in this book.

This man, writing about the most precious belonging to the Jewish people does not even begn to know the most elementary elements that any secondary school child would be required to know before handing in a middle school paper.

This book is idiotic to the point of being offensive. Therefore I feel it had one purpose, to play upon the ignorance of other unknowing westerners who would be deceived into believing the Jewish land of ISRAEL is doubtable.

btw, Mr. Kingsley, the word Palestine was not used until 3,000 years after the Exodus. But I am sure you knew that when you used it hundreds of times in this book. You should be ashamed.

One other thing. In the beginning of this book you refer to removing antiquities from the ship wreacks along the Israeli coastline. I intend to write to the government.

Mr. Kinglsey, you may have conned a publisher into printing this, but thank Gd there are places like this to respond to your sleazy agenda.
THe nation of Israel is the ancient homeland of the Jews.

Don't waste your money. The only "God's Gold" is the author saying "Thank you God for letting me make money off of this piece of dung". The absence of true, hard core facts combined with surreal leaps of disparate information that supposedly culminate in "facts" are just nothing short of laughable. The end of the books basically states "we just don't know where it is". Well there you have it. Basically this is an author's attempt to bilk money from a lot of readers expecting something based on historical fact gained through rigorous research. My in year old daughter could have written a better piece of work.