Overview

Why were people in the Victorian age fascinated with the archaeological mysteries of the Holy Land? In this engaging study, Allan Chapman shows how the Holy Land took on new meaning for Europeans during the Victorian era. Previously, most Europeans had viewed the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River as a literary backdrop for biblical narratives. During the nineteenth century, however, they began to take interest in this region as a literal, physical place. Technological inventions such as steam-powered travel, telegraphy, and photography made the Holy Land more accessible. In public museums, ordinary people could view artifacts ranging from Egyptian mummies to statues from Nimrud and Nineveh. In linguistics, translations of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Assyrian cuneiform broadened Europeans' awareness of myths, legends, and history. These discoveries in archaeology and linguistics brought new energy to nineteenth-century debates about whether the Scriptures were based on factual history. In addition to explaining how Holy Land studies changed during the Victorian era, Allan Chapman identifies key people who facilitated those changes. He introduces readers to a diverse demographic that includes adventurers, astronomers, missionaries, ministers, learned women of independent means, and Queen Victoria's eldest son. Driven by a wide range of professional and personal motives, these individuals had a powerful impact on the Victorian public's understanding of the Holy Land.

Full Product Details

9780802884091

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Written in an engaging, popular style without detailed footnotes or endnotes, the book includes helpful illustrations and a useful bibliography for each chapter. . . . Recommended."" --CHOICE ""This is a captivating and compelling volume: Disney-like at times, but never boring. It is well worth jumping on the coach."" --Church Times ""In chatty prose, Chapman brings to life a vibrant period of cross-cultural ferment that confirmed and sometimes challenged Westerners' views on Christianity. It's a revealing window into a vital period of change and discovery in the modern Middle East."" --Publishers Weekly ""Once in a while a book comes along that is too much fun to put down. This is one of those books. Allan Chapman is in fact an Oxford professor, teaching the history of science, and it shows throughout this book as he shows how scientific discoveries helped make possible the advancement of the fledgling science of Biblical archaeology. . . . Along the way we meet real scholars, quacks, interesting lay people, royalty and much more."" --The Bible and Culture ""As informative as it is entertaining, this book is filled with colorful accounts of brilliant scholars, rogue treasure hunters, and pious pilgrims. Chapman masterfully weaves a spellbinding tale of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern civilizations by modern western explorers. Fun and fascinating, this book is worth reading more than once."" --Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ""Allan Chapman's engaging style conveys detailed and comprehensive historical information in the form of an exciting narrative."" --Santha Bhattacharji, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford ""Allan Chapman is a great Oxford character whose lectures and books enthrall a large fan base, and this work on the explorations of the Holy Land has all his well-known beguiling characteristics of clarity, buoyancy, and the transmission of fascinating nuggets of information. Everyone can enjoy this exposition of an intriguing subject."" --Nigel Frith, Oxford Centre of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

""As informative as it is entertaining, this book is filled with colorful accounts of brilliant scholars, rogue treasure hunters, and pious pilgrims. Chapman masterfully weaves a spellbinding tale of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern civilizations by modern western explorers. Fun and fascinating, this book is worth reading more than once."" --Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ""Allan Chapman's engaging style conveys detailed and comprehensive historical information in the form of an exciting narrative."" --Santha Bhattacharji, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford ""Allan Chapman is a great Oxford character whose lectures and books enthrall a large fan base, and this work on the explorations of the Holy Land has all his well-known beguiling characteristics of clarity, buoyancy, and the transmission of fascinating nuggets of information. Everyone can enjoy this exposition of an intriguing subject."" --Nigel Frith, Oxford Centre of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Publishers Weekly ""In chatty prose, Chapman brings to life a vibrant period of cross-cultural ferment that confirmed and sometimes challenged Westerners' views on Christianity. It's a revealing window into a vital period of change and discovery in the modern Middle East."" ""As informative as it is entertaining, this book is filled with colorful accounts of brilliant scholars, rogue treasure hunters, and pious pilgrims. Chapman masterfully weaves a spellbinding tale of the discovery of ancient Near Eastern civilizations by modern western explorers. Fun and fascinating, this book is worth reading more than once."" --Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ""Allan Chapman's engaging style conveys detailed and comprehensive historical information in the form of an exciting narrative."" --Santha Bhattacharji, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford ""Allan Chapman is a great Oxford character whose lectures and books enthrall a large fan base, and this work on the explorations of the Holy Land has all his well-known beguiling characteristics of clarity, buoyancy, and the transmission of fascinating nuggets of information. Everyone can enjoy this exposition of an intriguing subject."" --Nigel Frith, Oxford Centre of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Author Information

Allan Chapman teaches the history of science at Oxford University. His scholarly interests include the history of astronomy and medicine, as well as the relationship between science and Christianity. He is the author of numerous academic and popular books, including Slaying the Dragons: Destroying Myths in the History of Science and Faith and Physicians, Plagues, and Progress: The History of Western Medicine from Antiquity to Antibiotics.

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