A few comments on the The Levant
This book is well worth reading but two things about this book you should know before you decide to purchase- one the publisher- Koneman. Koneman is known primarily for art and architecture books and this one is a beauty. I ran across it sometime ago on Amazon, and it has, without question, the most beautiful photography of the Levant that I have seen in any work. I have written things like that before, notably in a review of a work on Syria, but the plates in this volume (there are plates and photographs on every page and it is a 318 page work!) are just wonderful. The work is divided into separate chapters on each era of the Levant- the Bronze Age, the Phoenicians, the Greco-Roman era (with some stunning photographs in this chapter) the Nabateans (those peoples that created and lived at or near Palmyra); the Byzantine Era; and finally Islam and the Crusades. It is the only work I know that covers the whole area architecturally with such an immense number of photographs, still shots, and closeups of architectural sites.
The strength of the work is that it integrates into one volume text, photography, and maps of the Levant from the Bronze Age (from the first emergence of cities 3100 B.C.) all the way to the period where Islam developed as a political and historical force. At each stage of the journey the authors (their are multiple authors but Erich Gubel is the primary one) illustrates each geographic area and how it developed over time. He pays special attention to the particular archaeological characteristics of each area. There are extensive photographs-all in color- of the archeological remains of the desert cities. The shots of Palmyra will simply haunt you. Tomb art, and temple complexes (such as the one at Baalbek) are given special attention. The author(s) pay close attention also to the remains of what you might call day-to day-living from past cultures, explaining their significance.
The book should be read in conjunction with other works on the Middle East. The author has a bias toward those cultures which have left significant architectural remains, which means the biggest sections of the book tend to be those dealing with the Greco-Roman era. Jews receive a little less treatment than other populations, but I don't think this is intentional or reflects any bias. The text, while good, was really designed, I think, as sort of a complement to the pictures. Other works on the Middle East such as (Millar, Fergus: The Roman Near East. ( Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1993) and Ball, Warwick. Rome in the East. (Routledge, 2002) provide extensive textual histories of the area but not the same kind of photography. One landmark work should be mentioned: McDonald, William L. The Architecture of the Roman Empire, : an Introductory Study, (Yale University Press, 1982) and the second volume, The Architecture of the Roman Empire: An Urban Reappraisal (Yale University Press, 1986). This is the starting point for serious study of the architecture of the Roman Empire. For those of you interested in Petra, and it's fascinating architecture, I suggest Guzzo and Schneider, Petra. (University of Chicago Press, 2002), a work with some beautiful color photography. Criticism of the work to the effect that there is not enough space on ancient Israel is misplaced and misunderstands the nature of what the author intended. Israel presents it's own historical, religious and archaeological problems, many of which remain unsolved or are mired in substantial controversy. The subject is so large that it would require book-length treatment, not the chapter type style that this book has presented. There are many new works out on ancient Israel (see Amazon) and this is the primary reason for it being left out of this volume. The book should be taken for what it is, and not what critics think it should be.
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