I decided to take the long way home over the HNC Spring break….  & headed over to Israel to take in sites I’ve long wanted to visit. Before doing so, though, I sat down and read the 1100+ page mega-novel by James Michener, The Source, which tells the story of the Jewish people and Israel.  That’s obviously quite a complicated history, with periodic subjugation at the hands of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Ottomans and the British, amongst others – with more than a few ‘scorched earth’ purges, including wholesale killings and/or delivery into slavery.

Michener tells that story in an engaging fashion, however, using an archaeological dig at a ‘tell’ – a mound built up by layers of refuse from residences, formed over millennia – to offer a framework for stories about life during periods found in the individual strata. 

I’ve been a big Michener fan ever since reading Tales of the South Pacific (which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948), and which served as the basis for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway show & movie. His 1992 autobiography, The World is My Home: A Memoir, tells the story of a fascinating life – close to ideal, in my mind, when he would choose a site to visit; move there & conduct thorough research; and then sit down and write a novel about it.

Hall of Columns in the Hospitaller Fortress, Akko

His fictional Israeli tell was located eight miles east of the coastal town of Acre (Akko in Hebrew) – headquarters for the Crusades, until falling to Muslim slave soldier Mamluks in 1291 – and a visit to historical remains in that town were definitely enhanced by the key role they played in the novel.  One particularly fascinating relic is the Hospitaller Fortress, a stronghold housing a monastic military order that cared for the sick and guarded European pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The order moved its headquarters from Jerusalem to Akko in 1191 when King Richard the Lionhearted reconquered the city, and remained there for a century until the Muslim takeover.  The fortress’ Hall of Columns, excavated in the 1960s, is considered the most impressive in a series of Knights Halls, and served as the order’s dining hall.

An especially interesting real-life Israeli tell, however, was Tell es-Sultan in the West Bank city of Jericho.  Jericho claims to be the oldest city in the world – dating back to 10,000 BCE…. literally near the beginning of the Holocene Epoch.  Its walls from the Neolithic age (about 8000 BCE) were about 12 feet high, and a 30 foot tower — a veritable skyscraper at the time! – can still be seen in the ruins. 

Tell es-Sultan in Jericho

Other site visits included Caesarea, built by Herod the Great to honor the Roman emperor; and the ancient port of Jaffa (part of today’s Tel Aviv) which fell to Napoleon in 1799 in a particularly brutal battle.  The French general came up short just a few weeks later when, after eight assaults, he failed to capture Acre – subsequently identified as a key turning point in his Egyptian campaign.

The riveting history of this place was readily evident, even before considering the prime reason that most folks visit the Holy Land: the powerful role of Judaism, Christianity & Islam (& even the Bahá’í faith in Haifa & Acre), as noted in the Jerusalem posting above.