Customer Reviews

Jerusalem: Portrait of the City in the Second Temple Period (538 b.c.e.-70 c.e.)

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Levine does an excellent job in portraying Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period. More than that, he gives the reader a feel for what life was like in the city during that time.

The book is well-written and packed with information. While it is not an exciting read, the 416 pages of text move along at a good pace. The author discusses issues over which scholars disagree, but he never allows his summary of the debates to become bogged down in needless detail.

As a Christian, I found his description of Jerusalem in the first century A.D. to be particularly valuable. The book provided small but valuable insights into the life of the first Christians in Jerusalem.

For background information about the Old Testament post-exilic period and the New Testament era, this book is a gem.

I can't recommend this highly enough to readers interested in the in-depth results of scholarly work on Jerusalem that the average person can understand. Rarely am I so impressed with a book. It is logical, easy to follow and isn't wordy.

It is organized first by date -
Part I is 536 BC to 63 BC (Chapters The Persian Era, the Hellenistic Era, the Hasmonean Era, )

Part II is the Herodian era (to 6 AD, Chapters The Historical Dimension, The Urban Landscape, the Temple and Temple Mount, Jerusalem in the Greco-Roman Orbit: The Extent and Limitations of Cultural Fusion)

Part III is the first century through the Jewish Revolt in AD 70 (Chapters The Historical Dimension, Urban Configuration, Social stratification, Religious Ambience and the Destruction of Jerusalem.

I bought this book for my son who has a degree in history from a Major University. I also bought it for my dearest friend who also studied history in college and then went on to culinary school to become a chef. They both find it very well written and fascinating and believe me, they are not easily pleased. I recommend this very highly.