Jerusalem Tracker: News, Publications, and Media about the Holy City (No. 6)
Helpful lists of new material about Jerusalem
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Jerusalem Tracker posts are designed to provide a snapshot of the broad scholarly and popular discussions around historical Jerusalem, bridging disciplines and ideological divides. My (perhaps foolish) goal is to collate lists of every new publication that relates to historical Jerusalem in one place. To accomplish this, I currently follow over 180 active journals, 60 book publishers, and many popular outlets.
In reviewing last year’s Jerusalem Trackers, I found that these posts contained 175 new articles and 20 new books relevant for the study of historical Jerusalem (along with many digital resources, pop media/blog articles, developments, and events). In 2024, this series will move to a quarterly publication, and you can expect to see the next one in May/June. This new page will serve as an archive where you can easily access previous posts in the series.
A few notes before we dive in:
Items listed below must somehow relate to the historical basin of Jerusalem. Material on its hinterland or other topics are included only when there is a direct connection to the city.
Only published material and not forthcoming material is included (with one exception in this list).
Open-access works are noted.
The majority of the material below was created or published after November 2023.
Did I miss anything you thought was important? Let me know in the comments below or contact me at approachingjerusalem@gmail.com.
New Academic Articles about Jerusalem
Book Reviews
“Review of Re-Excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology by Kay Prag” in Palestine Exploration Quarterly by Emmott
“Review of Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages by Lucy Donkin” in Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies by Reeve
History of Jerusalem
“Jerusalem and the Ruins of Tomorrow” (book chapter) in The Bible Among Ruins: Time, Material Remains, and the World of the Biblical Writers by Pioske
“Herod’s ‘Temple of the Most High God’ in Jerusalem. The Sacral Architecture of Judea’s Client King” in Temples, Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques: Sacred Architecture in Palestine from the Bronze Age to Medieval Times, Jens Kamlah and Markus Witte (eds) by Giambrone
“Jerusalem Agents: Armenian and Georgian Pilgrimage to Byzantine Palestine” in Pilgrims in Place, Pilgrims in Motion Sacred Travel in the Ancient Mediterranean, Anna Collar and Troels Myrup Kristensen (eds) by Tchekhanovets
“Sicily, Constantinople, and Jerusalem: A Geographical Pattern in Crusading Expectations along the Centuries” in Religions by Giardini (open access)
“Memory and Materiality in the Letters and Gifts Sent By Ansellus ‘de Turre’ from Jerusalem to Paris, ca. 1120” in Reti Medievali by Long (open access)
“Balian of Ibelin: A Leader in Jerusalem at a Time of Defeat” (Hebrew) in Studies of Leadership Phenomenon in Jewish Communities during the Middle Ages. A Jubilee Festschrift on the Occasion of the Seventieth Birthday of Prof. Menachem Ben-Sasson, Ilan, Ben-Shammai, and Frenkel (eds) by Kedar
“The Siege and Capture of Jerusalem, and the Massacre of Its Inhabitants” (book chapter) in The Road to Antioch and Jerusalem: The Crusader Pilgrimage of the Monte Cassino Chronicle by Petrizzo
“Jerusalem: The Community versus the Asker?” (book chapter) in Jews in Muslim Lands, 1750-1830. Volume I: The Ottoman Middle East by Tsur
“Overlapping Modernities: Jerusalem between the Late Ottoman Empire and the Early British Mandate” in Ordering Imperial Worlds: From Late Medieval Spain to the Modern Middle East, Susan Slyomovics (ed) by Çelik
“Jerusalem Urban Landscape Fragmentation: from a City of Peace into a City of Pieces” in Town Planning Review by Thawaba (open access)
Jerusalem in Ancient and Historical Literature
“Kaum Steine, aber viele Texte. Der Tempel von Jerusalem” in Temples, Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques: Sacred Architecture in Palestine from the Bronze Age to Medieval Times, Jens Kamlah and Markus Witte (eds) by Bieberstein
“Rebuilding Jerusalem: Ezra-Nehemiah as Narrative Resilience” in Jewish Studies Quarterly by Cleath
“Jerusalem in 1 and 2 Maccabees. Perceived, Conceived, Biblicised and Personalised Space” in Religion in the Roman Empire by van Henten (open access)
“The Titles of the High Priest of Jerusalem in the Pre-Hasmonean Period” in Religions by Nihan (open access)
“The Omens at Jesus’s Death (Mark 15:33–39) and the Divine Abandonment of the Temple before Its Destruction in 70 CE” in Journal of Biblical Literature by Vette
“Jerusalem as the Central Place for Paul and Acts” in Religions by Regev (open access)
“Failed Connectivities: Paul’s Collection and his Final Pilgrimage to Jerusalem” in Pilgrims in Place, Pilgrims in Motion Sacred Travel in the Ancient Mediterranean, Anna Collar and Troels Myrup Kristensen (eds) by Anderson
“Gehinnom’s Punishment in Classical Rabbinic Literature” in Jewish Culture and Creativity: Essays in Honor of Professor Michael Fishbane on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, Eitan P. Fishbane and Elisha Russ-Fishbane (eds) by Weiss
“Christmas in May? The Early Jerusalem Commemoration of the Birth of Christ” in Scrinium by Ray
“Laments for the Lost City: The Loss of Jerusalem in Western Historical Writing” in Crusade, Settlement and Historical Writing in the Latin East and Latin West, c. 1100-c.1300, Andrew D. Buck , James H. Kane and Stephen J. Spencer (eds) by Højgaard
“Jerusalem Mythologies: Pilgrims and the Dome of the Rock: Naser-e Khosraw’s Reflections on Jerusalem from his Book of Travels, the Safarnama” in Pilgrims in Place, Pilgrims in Motion Sacred Travel in the Ancient Mediterranean, Anna Collar and Troels Myrup Kristensen (eds) by Koltun-Fromm
Jerusalem and Imagination
“The Dome of the Rock as Image of the Ancient Temple in Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Art” in Temples, Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques: Sacred Architecture in Palestine from the Bronze Age to Medieval Times, Jens Kamlah and Markus Witte (eds) by Berger
Inscriptions from Jerusalem
“The Aramaic Inscription from a Cave Complex at Abraham’s House, Mount of Olives and the Hasmonean Calendar—A New Reading and Interpretation” in Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Period by Morgenstern and Ariel
Archaeology of Jerusalem
“Lifestyles of Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous” in Biblical Archaeology Review by Gadot and Shalev
“Fragments of Luxury: The Jerusalem Ivories” in Biblical Archaeology Review by Avisar
“Excavations in the Givati Parking Lot: Four Years of Renewed Excavations (2017-2020)” (Hebrew) in Qadmaniot by Shalev, Gadot, Bocher, Bacharno, Gelman, Zindel, Zalot-Har-Tov, Machline, Roth, and Shalom
“‘Male until Proven Otherwise?’ Searching for Women with the Help of Inscribed Stamp Seals from Jerusalem” in Near Eastern Archaeology by Biermann
“The ‘Monastery of Virgins’ in Jerusalem Revisited” in Israel Exploration Journal by Barash and Tchekhanovets
“Two Noteworthy Byzantine Weights from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount” in Israel Numismatic Research by Shaham, Devira, and Barkay
“A New Look at Late Iron Age Stamp Seals from Judah” in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel by Koch
“Blood of Martyrs: The Mosaic Floor of the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem” in Revue Biblique by Tchekhanovets
“The »Hezekiah Seal,« Judahite Iconography, and the Winged Form of God in Psalms 61 and 63” in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel by LeMon
“The Isaiah Bulla, Jeremiah the Priest/Prophet, and Reinterpreting the Prophet (nby’) in the Persian Scribal Community” in Jewish Culture and Creativity: Essays in Honor of Professor Michael Fishbane on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, Eitan P. Fishbane and Elisha Russ-Fishbane (eds) by Schniedewind
“Family Burial Caves, Family Identity, and Family Structure in Jerusalem and its Environs” (book chapter) in The Social Archaeology of Late Second Temple Judaea: From Purity, Burial, and Art, to Qumran, Herod, and Masada by Regev
“‘Princeton’s Gift to Turkey’: Exploring the Political Matrix of the Orpheus Mosaic from Jerusalem and Late Ottoman Sardis” in Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies by Luke and Çelik
“Early Byzantine encolpia and Images of Holy Sepulchre Shrines, from Tomb 39A at Pella in Jordan” in Byzantion by O’hea
Selected articles from Dieter Vieweger’s festschrift Durch die Zeiten. Through the Ages, edited by Katja Soennecken, Patrick Leiverkus, Jennifer Zimni, and Katharina Schmidt:
“Chalkstone Vessels: From Jerusalem with Love (and Purity)” by
Schöpf and Zimni
“The Stamped Jar Handles from Area 10 at Giv’ati Parking Lot Excavations. Evidence for 700 Years of Continuous Habitation and Administration” by Gadot, Bocher, Shalom, and Shalev
“Tiberias, Ramla and Jerusalem The Eleventh Century CE in the Archaeological Evidence” by Cytryn
“The Southern Wall of Jerusalem and the Pool of Shiloah in the Iron II Period” by Reich
“The Traditional Tomb of David on Mount Zion: Theories versus Archaeological Reality” by Re’em
“The Origins of the Artistic Depictions of the Temple Menorah Archaeological Evidence from Jerusalem” by Baruch and Reich
“The Southern Walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in 10th-11th Century AD” by Rabo
New salvage excavation reports in Hadashot Archaeologiot (all open access):
“Jerusalem, Shu‘fat” by Cohen
“Jerusalem, the Old City, Lions Gate Road” by Cohen
“Jerusalem, the Old City, Antonia Street” by Cohen
“Jerusalem, the Old City, Bet Ha-Bad Street” by ‘Adawi
“Jerusalem, Giv‘at Ha-Mivtar” by Rafeh Abu Raya
Selected articles in the new issue of ‘Atiqot (all open access):
“A First-Century BCE Chalk-Vessel Assemblage from Har Ḥoma, Jerusalem, and the Beginning of the Chalk-Vessel Industry” by Mizzi, Zilberstein, Sandhaus, Avner, and Kisilevitz
“Ritual Purification and Bathing: The Location and Function of Siloam Pool and Solomon’s Pool in Second Temple Period Jerusalem” by Szanton
“Jewish Pilgrimage, Temple Sacrifices and ‘Disposable’ Cooking Pots” by Abadi
“A Second-Temple Period Chalk Quarry and Vessel-Production Cave Complex on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem” by Seligman, Amit and Zilberbod
“The Pottery Assemblage from the Mount Scopus Chalk-Vessel Production Cave” Sandhaus
“Stratigraphic Setting and Lithology of Mount Scopus Chalk Quarry Cave” Frumkin and Lewy
New Books about Jerusalem
Urbanism in Jerusalem from the Iron Age to the Medieval Period at the Example of the DEI Excavations on Mount Zion by Jennifer Zimni (dissertation)
Shaping Identities in a Holy Land: Crusader Art in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem: Patrons and Viewers by Gil Fishhof
Several chapters address aspects of Jerusalem
Between Jerusalem and Mecca: Sanctity and Redemption in the Qurʾān and the Islamic Tradition by Uri Rubin
Several chapters address aspects of Jerusalem
The Southern Wall and Corners of the Temple Mount: Past, Present, Future edited by Yuval Baruch, Ronny Reich, Moran Hagbi, and Joe Uziel. Several chapters are available on Academia:
Introduction by Baruch and Reich
“Dendroarchaeological Analysis of Remains Found at the Excavations of the Western Wall Foundations” by Roth and Laggut
Jerusalem: Terrestrial and Subterranean (Russian) by Yana Tchekhanovets
For it is the King's Sanctuary and it is a Royal House: Egyptian Influence on Solomon's Building Projects in Jerusalem (Hebrew) by David Shapira
Bir Salem, Nazareth und Chemet Allah: Verbindungen zwischen Württemberg und Palästina anhand dreier Zweigstellen des Syrischen Waisenhauses in Jerusalem 1889–1939 by Andreas Butz
Jerusalem in the Second World War by Daphna Sharfman
Jerusalem Burning. The Terror and Promise of the “Wrath of Love” by Robert L. Canfield
I’m Talking about Jerusalem. Aspects of the Holy City by Tim Dowley
Catalogue of the New Corpus of Documents from the Ḥaram al-sharīf in Jerusalem by Said Aljoumani, Zahir Bhalloo, and Konrad Hirschler (open access)
Jerusalem through the Ages. From Its Beginnings to the Crusades by Jodi Magness (releases in four days)
New Pop/Social Media and Blogs about Jerusalem
Iron Age Moat in the Givati Parking Lot
HA | BAR | Livescience | AJ
Miniature Writing on Ancient Amulets: Ketef Hinnom inscriptions reveal the power of hidden writing
How archaeologists reconstructed the burning of Jerusalem in 586 BCE
Hellenistic roof tiles from the Givati Parking Lot
2,000-Year-Old Measuring Table Points to Location of Ancient Jerusalem Market
Stone box with compartments found on first-century CE road
Reconstructed Jesus’ Tomb Opened for First Time in 500 Years
Virtually Explore Jesus’ Tomb at the National Geographic Museum
The Hadrianic Column Base: From the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Terra Sancta Museum
The painting of the Resurrection by Paolo de Matteis in the Holy Sepulchre
Israel to Renovate the Rockefeller Museum—Will Its Palestinian History Finally Be Acknowledged?
Jerusalem court acquits man who smashed 'blasphemous' statues at Israel Museum
Between Science and Faith: The Centenary of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
Excavation by cosmic ray
Recent Approaching Jerusalem Articles
Robinson vs. Williams: Reliving a 19th-Century Topographical Boxing Match
Two scholars writing across the Atlantic in the 1840s sparred over the topography of ancient Jerusalem. A review of their debate is still instructive.
An Iron Age Moat on the Southeastern Hill, 19th-century photograph, and summaries of other sources about historical Jerusalem
William Bartlett's Lament over Mount Zion
What we can learn about Jerusalem from an excerpt of a 19th-century travelogue
Kerosine street lamps, a historical photo of Dung Gate, Jerusalem's lighthouse, and one ridiculously expensive book
New Digital Resources related to Jerusalem
Podcasts
Axis Mundi
New Books Network
Israel Story
Videos
Oded Lipschits - The Untold Story of the History of Jerusalem Before its Conquest under David
Several from James Tabor:
Lecture recordings are available from the conference “Jerusalem: From the Umbilicus Mundi to the Four Corners of the Earth and Back,” held at the Yad Yizhak Ben Zvi Institute on July 11–14, 2023. Some are in English, others in Hebrew. A PDF of the full program is available here.
New Developments in Jerusalem
A new update on the ongoing excavations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was released in December. It includes photos and downloadable PDF statement.
See also this video.
Five Years and 30 Million Shekels Later, East Jerusalem Cable Car Project Remains Stuck Midair
Two Byzantine weights found in the Temple Mount Sifting Project have reignited conversations about the status of the sacred platform during the Byzantine Period:
The lack of remains uncovered in the excavations at Birket al-Ḥamra and a recent article in ‘Atiqot by Nahshon Szanton, have led to discussions about the true location of the ancient Pool of Siloam:
Renovation projects at the Terra Sancta Museum are ongoing.
Upcoming Events about Jerusalem
The Ben-Zvi Institute is offering a number of upcoming tours and courses in Hebrew for cost. Some are focused on Jerusalem.
27 Feb 19:00 JT - In-person lecture by Fr. Jean-Claude Maingot, OCSO at The Tantur Ecumenical Institute. The title is “John Henry Newman and the affair of the Bishopric of Jerusalem.”
5 March 8-9:30 PM ET - Livestream for paid supporters discussing recent archaeology, pop media stories, and developments related to historical Jerusalem.
21 March 17:00 JT/10:00 AM ET - In-person and Zoom lecture at the Albright Institute by Louis Fishman titled: “Jews and Palestinians between Istanbul and Jerusalem.” Details here.
Note: This post has been updated to include some additional resources since it was initially published.
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