The hereditary posts are gradually disappearing on the Haram. The Shihabis, another one of the Families, descended from Lebanese princes, who live in their own family waqf close to the Little Wall, used to be Custodians of the Prophet’s Beard. The beard and job have disappeared yet the pull of this place is magnetic: the Shihabis still work on the Haram.
Just as the rabbi walks down to the Wall, just as Nusseibeh is tapping on the doors of the Church, just as Ansari opens the gates of the Haram, Naji Qazaz is leaving the house on Bab al-Hadid Street that his family have owned for 225 years, to walk the few yards alongthe old Mamluk streets up the steps through the Iron Gate and on to the Haram. He proceeds directly into al-Aqsa, where he enters a small room equipped with a microphone and bottles of mineral water. Until 1960, the Qazaz family used the minaret but now they use this room to prepare like athletes for the call. For twenty minutes, Qazaz sits and stretches, an athlete of holiness, he then breathes and gargles the water. He checks that the microphone is on and when the clock on the wall shows it is time, he faces the qibla and starts to chant the adhan that reverberates across the Old City.
The Qazaz have been the muezzins at al-Aqsa for 500 years since the reign of Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay. Naji, who has been muezzin for thirty years, shares his duties with his son Firaz and two cousins.
It is now one hour before dawn on a day in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock is open: Muslims are praying. The Wall is always open: the Jews are praying. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is open: the Christians are praying in several languages. The sun is rising over Jerusalem, its rays making the light Herodian stones of the Wall almost snowy – just as Josephus described it two thousand years ago – and then catching the glorious gold of the Dome of the Rock that glints back at the sun. The divine esplanade where Heaven and Earth meet, where God meets man, is still in a realm beyond human cartography. Only the rays of the sun can do it and finally the light falls on the most exquisite and mysterious edifice in Jerusalem. Bathing and glowing in the sunlight, it earns its auric name. But The Golden Gate remains locked, until the coming of the Last Days.2
THE MACCABEES: KINGS AND HIGH PRIESTS 160 BC–37 BC
Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns
THE HERODS 37 BC–AD 100
Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns.
This family tree shows only the Herodian rulers. The Herodians frequently
intermarried making a full family tree extremely complex.
THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD AND THE ISLAMIC CALIPHS AND DYNASTIES
Ruling caliphs are in capitals.
This family tree is not complete but is designed to show
the connections of the Prophet and the dynasties of Islam.
Ali and Fatima’s descendants are known as the Sherifs (Ashraf)
and as sayyids.
CRUSADER KINGS OF JERUSALEM 1099–1291
Ruling kings and queens are in bold capitals; consort titular kings are in roman capitals
THE HASHEMITE (SHERIFIAN) DYNASTY 1916–
Rulers are in capitals; dates refer to the dates of their reigns
Notes
PREFACE
1 Aldous Huxley quoted in A. Elon, Jerusalem 62. G. Flaubert, Les Oeuvres complètes 1.290. Flaubert on Jerusalem: Frederick Brown, Flaubert 231–9, 247, 256–61. Melville on Jerusalem: H. Melville, Journals 84–94. Bulos Said quoted in Edward W. Said, Out of Place 7. Nazmi Jubeh: interview with author. David Lloyd George in Ronald Storrs, Orientations 394 (henceforth Storrs). For my introduction I am indebted to the superb discussions of identity, coexistence and culture in Levantine cities in the following books: Sylvia Auld and Robert Hillenbrand, Ottoman Jerusalem: Living City 1517–1917; Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean; Mark Mazower, Salonica: City of Ghosts; Adam LeBor, City of Oranges: Jews and Arabs in Jaffa.
PROLOGUE
1 Josephus, The New Complete Works, ‘The Jewish War’ (henceforth JW) 5.446–52. This account is based on Josephus; the Roman sources; Martin Goodman, Rome and Jerusalem: the Clash of Ancient Civilisations (henceforth Goodman), and also the latest archaeology.
2 JW 5.458–62, 4.324.
3 JW 4.559–65.
4 JW 5.429–44.
5 JW 6.201–14. All biblical quotations from the Authorized Version: Matthew 8.22.
6 JW 6.249–315.
7 JW 9. Tacitus, Histories 13. This account of the archaeology is based on: Ronny Reich, ‘Roman Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE: Flavius Josephus’ Account and Archaeological Record’, in G. Theissen et al. (eds), Jerusalem und die Länder. City peculiar, bigotry: Tacitus 2.4–5. Jews and Jerusalem/Syrians/death agony of a famous city/Jewish superstitions/600,000 inside: Tacitus 5.1–13. Jerusalem before siege: JW 4.84–5.128. Titus and siege: JW 5.136–6.357. Demolition and falclass="underline" JW 6.358–7.62. Titus’ prowess: Suetonius, Twelve Caesars 5. Prisoners and death: Goodman 454–5. Josephus saved crucified and friends: Josephus, ‘Life’419 and JW 6.418–20. One-third of population dead: Peter Schäfer, History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World (henceforth Schäfer) 131. Arm of woman/burnt house: Shanks 102. Escape of Christians: Eusebius, Church History 3.5. Escape of ben Zakkai: F. E. Peters, Jerusalem: The Holy City in the Eyes of Chroniclers, Visitors, Pilgrims and Prophet from the Days of Abraham to the Beginning of Modern Times (henceforth Peters) 111–20. Ronny Reich, Gideon Avni, Tamar Winter, Jerusalem Archaeological Park (henceforth Archaeological Park) 15 and 96 (Tomb of Zechariah). Oleg Grabar, B. Z. Kedar (eds), Where Heaven and Earth Meet: Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade (henceforth Sacred Esplanade): Patrich, in Sacred Esplanade 37–73.
PART ONE: JUDAISM
1 Ronny Reich, Eli Shukron and Omri Lernau, ‘Recent Discoveries in the City of David, Jerusalem: Findings from the Iron Age II in the Rock-Cut Pool near the Spring’, Israel Exploration Journal 57 (2007) 153–69. Also conversations with Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron. On population and shrine-castles over springs: conversations with Rafi Greenberg. Richard Miles, Ancient Worlds 1–7.