[Book review] Les Relations entre les cites de la cote Phenicienne et les royaumes d`Israel et de Juda by F. Briquel-Chatonnet

Abstract

This book constitutes one of those rare instances in the field of contemporary research of the ancient Levant, when the reader is faced at one and the same time with something which reads both like an interesting novel and as an excellent work of reference to which one can profitably return a number of times later on. Briquel-Chatonnet sets out to investigate the relationship between the land of Israel and Phoenicia from the tenth century B.C. up to the exile of Judah in 587 B.C. The main point is that this period is characterized by a total absence of declared war and hostilities between Tyre and Israel, as well as by alternating periods of strong links and the relaxation or the loosening of such ties (p. 226). These links permeated virtually all aspects of civilization.