A History of Palestine, 634-1099 (review)

Abstract

126 SHOFAR Summer 1993 Vol. 11, No.4 of first-century Greek. Within the upper strata, even common function words may be used by archaizers in deliberate and conscious ways, and may in fact not always be topic-neutral. In historiography, for example, the so-called KCXt paratactic style may emerge when the topic is remote history, while the hypotactic subordinating style may manifest itselfwhen the topic is contemporary history. Relevant here may be the so-called Herodotean and Thucydidean passages in Josephus' Antiquities. As for bilingualism, a speaker of Hebrew (or more likely Aramaic) in writing Greek might tend to overuse common prepositions after certain verbs where a native Greek would not. Within the limits imposed, the book is a welcome addition to the Josephan literature. When combined with traditional methods, William's stylometric approach will stimulate new insights into old problems. David J. Ladouceur Department of Classical and Oriental Languages University of Notre Dame A History of Palestine, 634-1099, by Moshe Gil. Translated from the Hebrew by Ethel Broido. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 968 pp. n.p.l. Moshe Gil is one of Israel's leading and most original historians of the medieval Islamic and]ewish world. His numerous articles and monographic studies have dealt with such specific institutions as Jewish pious foundations in the Geniza, free thinkers and sectarians, Muhammad and the Jews of Medina, the exilarchate, and the Radhanite merchants. His magnum opus, however, is a monumental three-volume work on the history of Palestine from the Muslim conquest until the establishment of the Latin Kingdom ofJerusalem by the Crusaders.l In a review of the original work, I expressed the "fervent hope that there will appear an English translation in the not too distant future so that Professor Gil's work will have the wide readership it deserves.,,2 That wish was not disappointed. 'Eretz-Yisra'el ba-Tequfa ha-Muslimit ha-Rishon£l (634-1099) (Tel Aviv, 1983), 3 vots. 10UrrJ£ll of the American Oriental Society 109 (1989), p. 141. Book Reviews 127 The book under review is a revised translation of volume one of the original, which was Gil's narrative text. (Volumes two and three were Arabic and Hebrew Geniza documents.) Gil presents a magisterial survey of events leading up to the Muslim conquest, the process of the conquest itself, and the highlights of Umayyad, Abbasid, Tulunid, Ikhshidid, and Fatimid rule. He also paints a portrait of the diverse communities and of the socioeconomic life in the country. The historical tableau painted by Gil is at one and the same time finely detailed and sweeping in scope. It is based upon a wealth of printed and manuscript Christian, Jewish, and Islamic sources in a wide array of languages including Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, and Jewish Aramaic. Both in the extensive notes and in the body of the narrative, Gil exhibits a keen sensitivity to the numerous inherent problems in his sources. He also demonstrates considerable historical skill, acumen, and no little imagination in bringing together disparate and at times contradictory strands in order to attempt to construct a coherent and often persuasive whole. Gil is a provocative and revisionist historian. Throughout the ten chapters (or "studies," as he prefers to call them), he continually calls into question prevailing opinions. One of his initial points is that the conquest ofMuslim Palestine was not a rapid process, at least not as most historians present it. He questions the picture presented in later Muslim sources and repeated in much of modern scholarly literature that there was a general collaboration by the native population ofJews and Monophysite Christians with the invaders. The conquering Arab tribesmen wreaked havoc upon the agricultural village population. It was at this time, Gil believes, that many Byzantine synagogues and churches were actually destroyed. The Caliph CUmar's famous visit to Syria was not merely to accept the surrender of the holy city ofJerusalem, but to put an end to the wanton destruction and killing. Indeed, according to Gil, perpetual insecurity remained one of the chief characteristics of the entire four and a half centuries of Islamic hegemony as Palestine became the scene for endless inter-tribal conflicts...