Sebag Montefiore - Jerusalem : the biography

ALSO BY SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

NONFICTION

Young Stalin
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
Potemkin: Catherine the Greats Imperial Partner

FICTION

Sashenka

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright 2011 by Simon Sebag Montefiore

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronoto.

www.aaknopf.com

Originally published in hardcover in a slightly different form in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Ltd., an Hachette Livre UK Company.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Some portions of this work were originally published in The Sunday Times Magazine, London.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sebag Montefiore, Simon, [date]
Jerusalem : the biography / by Simon Sebag Montefiore. 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
This Is a Borzoi BookT.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59448-8
1. JerusalemHistory. I. Title.
DS 109.9. S 37 2011
956.94420099dc23 2011020827

Jacket image: Jerusalem in Her Grandeur, engraved by Charles Motta, after Henry Courtney Selous. Private collection. The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images.

Jacket design by Darren Haggar

v3.1

To my darling daughter
Lily Bathsheba

The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more; it is the history of heaven and earth.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI , Tancred

The city has been destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt again. Jerusalem is an old nymphomaniac who squeezes lover after lover to death, before shrugging him off her with a yawn, a black widow who devours her mates while they are still penetrating her.

AMOS OZ , A Tale of Love and Darkness

The Land of Israel is the centre of the world; Jerusalem is the centre of the Land; the Holy Temple is the centre of Jerusalem; the Holy of Holies is the centre of the Holy Temple; the Holy Ark is the centre of the Holy of Holies and the Foundation Stone from which the world was established is before the Holy Ark.

MIDRASH TANHUMA , Kedoshim 10

The sanctuary of the earth is Syria; the sanctuary of Syria is Palestine; the sanctuary of Palestine is Jerusalem; the sanctuary of Jerusalem is the Mount; the sanctuary of the Mount is the place of worship; the sanctuary of the place of worship is the Dome of the Rock.

THAUR IBN YAZID , Fadail

Jerusalem is the most illustrious of cities. Still Jerusalem has some disadvantages. Thus it is reported Jerusalem is a golden goblet full of scorpions.

MUQADDASI , Description of Syria, Including Palestine

SECTION ONE

Aerial view of the Temple Mount (Albatross/Topfoto)

Tel Dan stele, c. 850 BC (Zev Radovan)

Ivory pomegranate, Israel Museum (AKG)

Section of Hezekiahs wall (AKG)

The Siloam inscription, c. 700 BC , Istanbul Archaeological Museum (AKG)

Detail of relief from the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh (AKG)

Detail of relief from the Treasury of the Palace of Persepolis (Bridgeman Art Library)

Coin discovered near Jericho, c. 333 BC (Zev Radovan)

Silver tetradrachm of Ptolemy I Soter, c. 300 BC , Israel Museum (AKG)

Silver tetradrachm of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, c. 175 BC , Israel Museum (AKG)

Judah the Maccabee (authors collection)

Silver denarius of Mark Antony and of Cleopatra VII (The Trustees of the British Museum)

Reconstruction of the Second Temple, Israel Museum (AKG)

Ossuary of Simon the builder of the Sanctuary (AKG)

Greek inscription from the Temple, c. 50 BC , Istanbul Archaeological Museum (AKG)

South-eastern corner of Herodian wall encircling the Temple Mount (Zev Radovan)

The Crucifixion, Hubert van Eyck, Ca dOro, Venice (Bridgeman Art Library)

Coin of Herod Antipas, c. AD 439, Israel Museum (AKG)

Coin of Herod Agrippa I, c. AD 4339, Israel Museum (AKG)

Head of Titus, first century AD , Louvre Museum, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)

Skeletal arm of young woman, AD 67 (Zev Radovan)

Rocks at the foot of the Wall, Jerusalem (authors photograph)

Detail from the Arch of Titus, Rome (AKG)

Coin minted to commemorate victory over Judaea, AD 81 (Zev Radovan)

Bronze bust of Hadrian, c. 135, Israel Museum (Bridgeman Art Library)

Silver coin issued by Simon bar Kochba, c. 1325, Israel Museum (AKG)

Fourth-century pilgrim graffiti, Church of the Holy Sepulchre (AKG)

Colossal head of Constantine the Great, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome (AKG)

SECTION TWO

Marble statue of Julian the Apostate, 362, Louvre Museum, Paris (AKG)

Justinian I and his retinue, c. 550, San Vitale, Ravenna (Bridgeman Art Library)

Theodora and her retinue, c. 550, San Vitale, Ravenna (Bridgeman Art Library)

Mosaic map of Palestine, Madaba (AKG)

The Golden Gate (authors photograph)

Ascension of Muhammad, from a manuscript of Nizamis poem Khamza, 153943, British Library (AKG)

Umayyad dynasty gold dinar showing Abd al-Malik (The Trustees of the British Museum)

The Dome of the Rock (AKG)

Interior of the Dome of the Rock (Garo Nalbandian)

The looting of Jerusalem in 1099, illuminated miniature from a universal chronicle, Jean de Courcy, Bibliotque Nationale, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)

Baldwin I crosses the Jordan, illumination from Roman de Godefroi de Bouillon, Bibliotque Nationale, Paris (AKG)

Medieval map of Jerusalem from Robert the Monks Chronicle of the Crusades (Corbis)

Melisende marrying Fulk of Anjou from the Histoire de la conquete de Jerusalem by William of Tyre, Bibliotque Nationale, Paris (Bridgeman Art Library)

Melisendes Psalter, c. 113143, British Library (AKG)

Baldwin IV and William of Tyre, illumination from Histoire de Outremer by William of Tyre, British Library (AKG)

Portrait of Saladin, British Library (Bridgeman Art Library)

Frederick II entering Jerusalem, 1227, Vatican Library (AKG)

The Dome of Ascension (AKG)

Entrance to the Market of the Cotton Merchants (authors collection)

Qaitbay fountain (AKG)

Suleiman I, portrait attributed to school of Titian, c. 1530, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (AKG)

Fountain of the Gate of the Chain (AKG)

Detail from the exterior mosaics of the Dome of the Rock (Corbis)

Engraving of Sabbatai Zevi (AKG)

SECTION THREE

Ibrahim Pasha, Charles-Philippe Larivire, Museum of French History at the Palace of Versailles (RMN)

Greek Church of the Holy Sepulchre, David Roberts, 1839 (AKG)

Sir Moses Montefiore (authors collection)

Montefiore windmill and cottages (Mishkenot Shaananim)

Photograph of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Patriarch Yessayi, 1861 (Armenian Partriarchate)

A group of Yemenite Jews (American Colony)

A group of Ashkenazi Jews, 1885, Hulton Archive (Getty)

Crowd of Russian pilgrims at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (American Colony)