‘Small in size yet infinite in scope’: historian digs deep into Jerusalem’s history

Jodi Magness’s new book will be a point of reference for years to come

The famous Western (‘Wailing’) Wall in Jerusalem was originally part of Herod’s wall around the Temple Mount, not part of the temple itself

Salvador Ryan

When Mark Twain visited Jerusalem in 1867, he remarked: “The sights are too many. They swarm about you at every step: no single foot of ground in all Jerusalem … seems to be without a stirring and important history.” And yet, for a city whose history seems so present, and so familiar, there is also much that we do not know; or know badly.

Not so Jodi Magness, one of the world’s foremost biblical archaeologists. Her new book is a lavish survey of the history and archaeology of a city “small in size yet infinite in scope”.