Mount Zion, on the Sides of the North

Some recent findings in the areas of Aleppo and Hama (Syria), dating back to the Neo-Hittite period (10th century BC), can be interpreted in a way that has the potential to shed a totally unexpected light upon the real sources of what the biblical story presents as the "e;United Monarchy"e; of David, Solomon and their purported successors.In opposition to the traditional "e;maximalist"e; school, which considers those stories as primary and reliable historical documents, but also to the more recent "e;minimalist"e; view that downplays the same stories as mere literary inventions, the book finds evidence to the possibility that the biblical narrative about the first kings of "e;Israel"e; does have a sound historical basis; but such a basis is not to be found anywhere near the Judean hills, where the later literary elaboration is set, but in the same Syrian, Neo-Hittite horizon of the archaeological findings cited above.Those traditions were most probably carried to Jerusalem during the late 8th century, in the wake of the Assyrian occupation of the Syrian area and of the massive displacement of population that it caused. A painstaking examination of the relevant biblical texts, and of all the extant extra-biblical sources, gives further evidence for that thesis.