Product Description

980 B.C. Having succeeded in bringing peace and prosperity to his people, King Solomon, the son of David, is determined to build a magnficient temple on the rock of Jerusalem. A temple where the sacred Ark of the Covenant could be housed. A temple to rival in splendour the great pyramids of Egypt: a land he both loathed and admired. As no Hebrew craftsman could succeed in such an enterprise, Solomon summoned an expert mason from Phoenicia: Master Hiram, a strange, solitary man well-versed in the innovative techniques of Egyptian architecture. So began an uneasy friendship between the King and the craftsman. A friendship which bridged two very different cultures and civilisations. A friendship thrown in turmoil when the two men fell in love with the same woman: Balkis, the beautiful Queen of Sheba.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116966 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Born in Paris in 1947, Christian Jacq first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world's leading Egyptologists. He is the author of the internationally bestselling RAMSES series, THE PLACE OF TRUTH series and the stand-alone novel, THE BLACK PHARAOH. Christian Jacq lives in Switzerland.

Customer Reviews

Stick with the Egypt stories
I really can't recommend this book to anyone. I'm a big fan of Christian Jacq and bought it to add to my collection but wish I hadn't bothered.

There's very little good to say as far as I could see; the story is slow, the characters are hard to warm to and some of the translation is a joke. I've never come across this before with his books, maybe they got someone new to do the translation. It took me a while to figure out that when the story refers to copper scissors, it should actually be chisels. There are dozens of smaller errors in the translation, it often seems to be written in pigeon English.

My advice is to get the novels based in Egypt, he seems to write with far more passion and imparts a huge amount of information through them.

Leave this one in the warehouse.

A Most Unique and Tested Friendship
In 980 B.C. King Solomon, son of David, reigns over the kingdom of Israel. His main goals are to maintain peace among his people, make Israel a viable nation and build a magnificent temple on the rock of Jerusalem which will house the Ark of the Covenant. Solomon's guiding light is his great wisdom in the religion of Yahweh.

Israel has always loath Egypt, but Solomon has much admired it. He knows that to really establish peace a friendship must be sought with the Egyptian Pharaoh Siamun. To seal the agreement Solomon becomes the first foreign King to ever marry an Egyptian Princess.

King Solomon realizes that Israel does not have the means to build the temple of his dreams. Israel does not have the treasury needed to fund such a project. Israel does not have one skilled architect to design and build the temple. Here lies another opportunity for the Pharaoh Siamun. Siamun in order to keep a watchful eye on Israel and to induce Egyptian influence he sends his Master Mason Horemheb renamed Hiram to build the temple for Yahweh. Master Hiram a student of the House of Life (Egyptian architectural techniques) since he was twelve felt his appointment by the Pharaoh was like an exile, but he dare not object.

Unknowing that an Egyptian was building his temple Solomon develops a unique respect for this Master Mason. The two men come to an understanding of the position they must play in the world and the values that drive them. However, their friendship will be tested many times, but none other than when a beautiful woman named Balkis enters their life. Balkis is the Queen of Sheba.