The Clash of Ancient Civilizations

Rome and Jerusalem

The first book to bring together these two ancient civilisations

In Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, Martin Goodman explores the history of a titanic struggle whose repercussions are still felt today. 
 
 In 70CE, after four years of Jewish rebellion, Roman legions devastated the great city of Jerusalem. Sixty years later, its ruin was completed when Emperor Hadrian built a new city on top of it that Jews were forbidden even to enter. 
 
 In this highly acclaimed book, Martin Goodman examines the background and course of this titanic conflict - from the political ambitions of Roman military leaders to the spread of Christian influence through the empire - and its lasting consequences. 
 
 'In this remarkable book Martin Goodman casts a truly fresh eye over well-known figures and events' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;History Today 
 
 'Important and powerfully expressed ... The best available general account of a turning point not just in the history of the Roman Empire but also in the development of the modern West' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Simon Goldhill, The Times Higher Education Supplement 
 
 'Should be read by anyone seeking seriously to understand modern Middle Eastern tangles ... a lucid account of ancient tragedy' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Diarmaid MacCulloch, Guardian 
 
 'Splendid ... an important book, on a difficult subject : the reason why Romans sought to destroy the Jews and Judaism completely. Only one man would have written it' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Paul Johnson, Tablet 
 
 Martin Goodman has divided his intellectual life between the Roman and Jewish worlds. He has edited both the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies. He has taught Roman History at Birmingham and Oxford Universities, and is currently Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford.

Martin Goodman has divided his intellectual life between the Roman and Jewish worlds. He has edited both the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies. He has taught Roman History at Birmingham and Oxford Universities, and is currently Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford.

In AD 70, after a war that had flared sporadically for four years, three Roman legions under the future Emperors Vespasian and his son Titus surrounded, laid siege to, and eventually devastated the city of Jerusalem, destroying completely the magnificent Temple which had been built by Herod only eighty years earlier. What brought about this extraordinary conflict, with its extraordinary consequences? This superb book, by one of the world&rsquo;s leading scholars of the ancient Roman and Jewish worlds, narrates and explains this titanic struggle, showing why Rome&rsquo;s interests were served by this policy of brutal hostility, and how the first generation of Christians first distanced themselves from its Jewish origins and then became increasingly hostile to Jews as their influence spread within the empire. The book thus also provides an exceptional and original account of the origins of anti-Semitism, whose history has had often cataclysmic reverberations down to our own time.

Martin Goodman

An absolute godsend ... Goodman has done both Jews and non-Jews a great service with this book, encapsulating most of Jewish thought over four millennia into one extraordinarily readable volume

A History of Judaism is beautifully written and meticulously annotated, and includes maps and illustrations. Goodman holds the book with authority and impeccable even-handedness, engaging the reader with his erudition, but also seasoning the narrative with some of the great and most influential Jewish lives. I could hardly recommend it more.

Judaism is by some distance the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions and, despite the extraordinarily varied forms it has taken and diverse beliefs it has contained over three millennia, it has been generally understood by both Jews and gentiles as a single entity. There have been many histories of the Jewish people but remarkably few attempts to relate the history and evolution of Judaism itself. In this book, the first comprehensive, single-volume work of its kind in English, Martin Goodman explains how Judaism came to be and how it has developed from one period to another, as well as the ways in which its varieties have related to each other. Ranging from the religion's inception to the many denominations of contemporary Judaism, this book addresses one of the world's great religions on a grander scale than any predecessor.

Martin Goodman

Praise for A History of Judaism

An absolute godsend ... Goodman has done both Jews and non-Jews a great service with this book, encapsulating most of Jewish thought over four millennia into one extraordinarily readable volume

A History of Judaism is beautifully written and meticulously annotated, and includes maps and illustrations. Goodman holds the book with authority and impeccable even-handedness, engaging the reader with his ...

Books by Martin Goodman

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