Under Jerusalem

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A sweeping history of the hidden world below the Holy City-and how the quest to unearth biblical relics lit a geopolitical fire that continues to burn today. In 1863, a French senator and adventurer arrived in Jerusalem to dig for buried treasure from the days of the Bible. While searching deep underground, he opened an ancient grave that he claimed belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find spread across the world, launching fierce competition among explorers from Britain, Germany, and Russia to expose Jerusalem's storied past. Their excavations became central to the European effort to dominate a city that lay at the heart of the Ottoman Empire, even as it sparked protests and riots by angry Jews and Arabs, who feared desecration of their sacred sites. In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn treasure hunters, missionaries, and archaeologists eager to probe beneath its streets and shrines for remnants of its biblical past. Israelis continued what the Europeans began. Their effort to retrieve Jewish heritage-and to consolidate their newfound hold over Jerusalem--periodically led to unrest among Palestinian Arabs as well as Orthodox Jews. The digs ultimately played a key role in the collapse of peace talks at the turn of the millennium. Today, the earth beneath Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above. Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City, populated by the colorful characters who explored and continue to work within its subterranean landscape. Their discoveries have contributed to some of the bloodiest chapters in the city's recent history, but they also have shed light on the ancient past. In this sweeping account, journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how a century and a half of digging has defined modern Jerusalem-and could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to coexist in this hotly contested place.