“Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History”, by William J. Hamblin and David Seely

224 pages, Thames & Hudson, ISBN-13: 978-0500251331

The Temple of Solomon, believed by many to be a place of communion between God and humanity, has been a continuing focus of profound reverence for more than three thousand years. Although its last successor was destroyed very nearly two millennia ago, it lives on still, as shown in Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History by William J. Hamblin and David Seely, a beautifully illustrated book that not only covers the Bronze Age background and historical reality of the ancient Israelite Temples, but also the afterlife of those temples (and particularly that of Solomon) in subsequent Jewish tradition, Christian thought, Islamic lore, and even through the Reformation and Freemasonry, from Renaissance painting to the politics of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem today. Damn, that’s a lot of ground to cover. Its traditional three sections were said to coincide with the tripartite structure of Moses’ wilderness tabernacle: the Writings were the outer court, the Prophets were the holy place, and the Law was the holy of holies. The Mishnah and the Talmud contain entire treatises on the measurements of the temple and its rituals, and about their meaning and function even in post-temple Judaism, and these texts are at the core of rabbinic studies still today. Moreover, many of the biblical psalms are temple hymns.

But in many ways, it is the Temple’s afterlife that is the most interesting part of the book, as, after the final destruction of the temple by the Romans in AD 70, it prompted Jews to turn away from the physical building that had been the focal point of their faith for so long and instead institute a kind of metaphorical “Temple of the Lord”. Its inspiration, however, never ceased to drive others to surpass the structure, however. Justinian’s great 6^th Century church of Hagia Sophia Constantinople was conceived as, in some sense, a recreation of the ancient Israelite shrine; when it was finished, according to the historian Procopius, Justinian is said to have exclaimed, “Solomon, I have outdone thee!” Likewise, Jerusalem’s 7^th Century Islamic Dome of the Rock were regarded by their builders as restorations of King Solomon’s great structure. Indeed, so great was Solomon’s Temple that many later legends ascribed that achievement to supernatural help, and many magicians sought to harness that power for their own ends (the six-pointed shield or Star of David seems to have originated in a magician’s hexagram called the Shield of Solomon). And this temple has persisted in the visions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim mystics, who have seen a celestial temple that mirrors the temple on earth, a place where divine secrets are revealed to humankind.

Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History tells a story that is every bit as fascinating, every bit as exotic and far ranging, as the tales spun by Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, with one great advantage: the story that Hamblin and Seely tell is true.

“Shakespeare”, by Michael Wood

352 pages, Basic Books, ISBN-13: 978-0465092642

So, it turns out that Shakespeare by Michael Wood is in fact a companion work to a televised special he did back in, oh, 2003 or so. That I didn’t see. But no matter: his book works just as well as a stand-alone work as it does as a companion piece (I imagine), so you won’t be wasting your money buying it. Wood’s biography of Shakespeare has a number of strong points: the images are numerous and very good, the writing is lively and the author spins a very engaging narrative. However (you knew a “however” was coming, didn’t you?), there are also some serious flaws: Wood conjures interesting possibilities and conjectures (his secret Catholicism, the identities of the Dark Lady and the young male subject of the sonnets, amongst others), which he then proceeds to write about as confirmed facts. I don’t fault him for the interesting ideas, but I find his treatment lacking in serious scholarship, a lack compounded by the absence of detailed notes on the sources of his provocative ideas. Good researchers should cite their research sources.

But perhaps that’s the reason, for many of Wood’s theories are, by now, old hat. The Life of Robert Southwell: Poet and Martyr by Christopher Devlin was published in 1956, and was the first work to speculate about his relationship with the Bard…not that Wood tells you that. Also, Shakespeare: The Lost Years by E.A.J. Honigmann was first published in 1985, and first brought to light many of the theories expounded upon by Wood…not that Wood tells you that, either. I won’t go on, but suffice to say this is more an assembly of facts that a piece of original work, one that does precious little to share the glory with previous authors (at least there is no Oxfordian nonsense here: Wood is satisfied that the man from Stratford-upon-Avon is the author of the plays, and not some spoiled Tudor aristocrat). Oh, well, it is what it is: a well-written conglomeration of facts and details made more interesting by all the pretty pictures and the convenience of having it all assembled in one book. I don’t regret the $7 I shelled out for it at all.

“Fortune’s Favorites”, by Colleen McCullough

878 pages, William Morrow & Company, ISBN-13: 978-0688093709

Fortune’s Favorites by Colleen McCullough is the third book in her “Masters of Rome” series and spans the years 83 to 69 BC. The series has a thesis (first introduced in 1939 by Sir Ronald Syme in his epic historical treatise “The Roman Revolution”): as Rome became more powerful within the Mediterranean world, the old ways of doing things – through the deliberation of various interests, mainly aristocratic and mercantile – became impossibly cumbersome. It became more and more difficult to govern an empire with institutions originally designed to administer a city-state. Certain powerful leaders (especially Marius, Sulla, and Caesar) tried to create a state in which they had autocratic power but also preserved the externals of the old ways. They were opposed by the conservatives (called the optimates by classical historians, though they themselves preferred the title boni or “good men”). The obtuse or simply ignorant resistance of these reactionaries, who are all (except for Cato) presented as degenerate or self-serving, made the creation of an autocracy necessary. The result was the birth of an imperial monarchy, and a radically different organization of power. Each book in the series features a detailed glossary, hand-drawn illustrations of the major characters, and notes by McCullough detailing her reasoning for portraying certain events in certain ways.

The first half of the novel focuses on the actions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla: his return to Italy in 83 BCE from war against Mithridates VI of Pontus, his successful civil war against the forces of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Gaius Marius the Younger, and his accession to the Dictatorship and subsequent constitutional reforms. The narrative emphasizes Sulla's failing health and deteriorated physical appearance, as well as his ruthlessness toward his enemies in taking control of the state, including the infamous proscriptions of Rome's wealthy commercial class, many of whom had supported his rival Gaius Marius. The novel also depicts the entrances onto the political and military scene of Pompey the Great, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Julius Caesar. They interact with Sulla and each other against the backdrop of Sulla's dictatorship, the Senate's war against Quintus Sertorius in Spain, and the slave revolt of Spartacus. The book concludes just after the first joint consulship of Pompey and Crassus in 70 BCE. The book's title is a reference to an often repeated theme in the series, and expresses the Roman belief that Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck, would take a hand in the lives of those who please her, helping them along when they needed it most.

With this book, Colleen McCullough continues her wonderful, fascinating, and so-very-important series, as Masters of Rome breathes life into history, giving us the details of daily life to the broad scope of battles which determined the fates of so many. Fortune’s Favorites is another sprawling novel, covering as it does the significant events taking place in different parts of the Roman Empire. So we spend time seeing military campaigns in the East and time in the West on the military campaigns there. As ever, McCullough brings life and lucidity to these scenes; she also shows us the Spartacus wars – fascinating stuff indeed, including how Spartacus was actually a soldier, not a Thracian, and how the gladiators began and then carried out their revolt. FYI. Are there any flaws to the book? Well, yes: McCullough’s language could be better (the characters say "Oh!" a lot), and she seems to be a too biased towards Caesar, a man who can do no wrong; hence the reader feels her delight when Pompey gets his comeuppance, as he does now and then. But these are minor problems, and one could hardly expect an author to write so much when she did not love her hero. The research is fabulous, and one gets a great taste of what Rome was like. Not only is the book entertaining, but it is important, for these people and their decisions have had a huge impact on the world and our thinking.