The writing is clever, with the right zest of irony. The book is sparkling, with the right cocktail of erudition, trivia bits, political analysis and text criticism. My intention was to browse this short volume just to find the dates and facts I needed, but I found myself reading it almost cover to cover (chapter 10, "Archeology and Imperialism", was too English-centered for my taste, and the last chapter, "The Temple is ours!", failed to teach me something new).
The main contribution of the book, in my view, is to put the historical facts in a much broader perspective -- the influence of the destruction of the Jewish Temple on modern political discourse, for example, is disserted in a truly fascinating chapter.
Goldhill (great name, since the Temple was located on Jerusalem's most sacred hill!) excels in clarifying the biblical text and in explaining the motivations behind it. The Koran gets the same analytical treatment. The book includes lots of illustrations (black and white, alas), some I've never seen before. If you're looking for an intelligent commentary on the Temple of Jerusalem thru history, don't look any further.

There is plenty of information about the Temple of Jerusalem in this short book. We see a plan of the Temple Mount in the time of the Herodian Temple, as well as a plan of Herod's Temple itself. And we see a plan of the earlier Solomon's Temple.

The significance of the Temple is shown through the ages. We see it the Temple on a Bar Kochba shekel (from the second century AD), with a lulav and and etrog on the other side of the coin.

Then we jump to the Christians. We read a comment from Saint Jerome about Jewish pilgrims to the Western Wall, "they are not worthy of pity." By the way, disparaging comments such as this one were so typical of Christian saints that it may make the word "saint" more of an insult than a compliment. In any case, Goldhill explains how the Christians went from an initial conclusion that "there was a need for no building" on the site of the Temple Mount to a later conclusion that a big beautiful building would be a good idea after all.

The author does not forget about the Muslims (my ancestors!) and their connection to the Temple Mount. And he does discuss the Dome of the Rock. I found that especially interesting, given that I've been to the Dome of the Rock and even touched the Rock.

What's missing from all this?

Well, first, I think we're missing a couple of perspectives about the Temple Mount. The Dome of the Rock is a pretty structure, but it has political significance. Its words are a direct insult to Christians. Its location is a direct insult to Jews. These insults are central in nature: the fact that some Jews and Christians do not feel insulted by it does not change the challenge to Christian doctrine nor the fact that Judaism is a Temple-based religion without a Temple.

The fact that the majority of Jews do not wish to rebuild their Temple does not change the fact that some Jews do wish to do so. And I think that in the long run, those who wish to build a Temple will be very hard to stop. That will be all the more true if they pick a different location than the Temple Mount, but it may be true in any case. It is similar to the case of a girl who wants to get married. Suppose only 14 of the 84 local eligible bachelors want to marry her. What do you think her chances are? Awfully good. If only one out of six (or fewer) Jews were interested in building a new Temple, I suspect they would succeed. And the book's discussion of the Temple scroll makes it clear that a Temple is by no means a minor or peripheral element of Judaism.

So I think the Temple Mount has a potential for being a source of trouble not only in the past and present, but in the future as well. And this may be true just for nationalistic reasons, not merely for religious reasons. Not only that, I think that solemn assurances by a few Jewish leaders that the Jews will never rebuild their Temple anywhere would just make matters worse. I suspect such assurances would just make Judaism look inferior, less trustworthy, and more threatening.

Of course, there is another badly missing perspective. Three of the four most famous Deities associated with this place are simply overlooked. The Temple Mount in Aelia Capitolina was the site of the Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. I think the author ought to have discussed Them.