The Holy Land (World cultural guides)

In this interesting account, that is slightly dated, the story of the Administration of the Holy Land is told from the period of the Persians to the Byzantines. However most of the work examines the Greek/Ptolemy/Seluecid rule and the subsequent Hasmonean and Roman rule. This is a book of Historical Geography so it focuses on the administration of the land, the cities and the population more than on the overall history. THere are very interesting suggestions here about the Greek colonization of places like Beit Shean(Scythiopolis) and the remnants of the Phoenicians. In addition there are interesting observations about the fluctuation of Jewish settlement and a rare glimpse into the pre-Islamic arab tribes such as the Nabateans and Idumeans who populated the souther part of the country and are not frequently covered in histories of the Middle East. The one great flaw of this text is the almost complete disappearence of the Samaritans from the book. Where are they to be found? Only brief mentions are given of their existence and theior revolt against the Byzantines in 555 AD when their population and nation was almost completely destroyed as the Jews had been in 132 AD. So this is a major hole and it is not explained. The overall coverage of the Byzantine period is weak, there is little coverage of the decline of Roman infrastructure at places like Sepphoris(Tsipori) and there is little discussion of the church. Overall however this is a good general read that has many illuminating chapters. Seth J. Frantzman