Serge Janouin-Benanti
Crimes in the Bible
Volume 4: TRANSITION
400 BC to AD 25
The Bible describes many crimes, ranging from the most common, such as theft, deceit or betrayal, to the most horrendous, such as rape, murder, war crimes or genocide.
Between the two testaments lies a rich period of four centuries, crucial for the evolution of the Jewish people and religious dogma. Numerous manuscripts document this period. However, Jews and Protestants retain none of them, these texts are for them apocrypha. On the other hand, the Catholic, Orthodox, and Ethiopian churches all include more or less of these stories in their Bibles. To transport you into this rapidly changing world, the author has used all available sources.
In the course of a captivating story, you'll discover characters driven by their faith or their thirst for power, often by both. Terribly human and complex, they alternate ambition and piety, bravery and perfidy, audacity and weakness, goodness and barbarism, indulgence and intolerance. To realize their plans or defend their ideals, they intrigue, multiply assassinations, spill the blood of the people…
In this fourth volume, Alexander the Great, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Augustus shape the destiny of Judea and the Jewish people. The fascinating epic of the Maccabees and the bewildering reign of Herod the Great were at the root of nationalist and religious struggles, accompanied by conspiracies, betrayals, and astonishing crimes.
A fascinating and original reading of the Bible.
