Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 44409-h.htm or 44409-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44409/44409-h/44409-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44409/44409-h.zip) Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). [Illustration: Map front endpaper "Palestine Before the War, 66 B.C.E."] "For a thousand years in thy sight, are but ... as a watch in the night" Psalms, xc, 4. [Illustration: JERUSALEM BESIEGED BY TITUS. (See page 167.)] A THOUSAND YEARS OF JEWISH HISTORY From the Days of Alexander the Great to the Moslem Conquest of Spain With Illustrations, Maps and Notes. By the REV. MAURICE H. HARRIS, A. M., PH. D. Author of "People of the Book." "History of the Mediæval Jews" "Modern Jewish History" "Selected Addresses," etc. SIXTH EDITION. Revised and Enlarged New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 40 East 14Th St., 1914. Copyright, 1911 By Maurice H. Harris Press of Philip Cowen New York INTRODUCTION "Wenn es eine Stufenleiter von Leiden giebt, so hat Israel die höchste Staffel erstiegen; wenn die Dauer der Schmerzen und die Geduld, mit welcher sie ertragen werden, adeln, so nehmen es die Juden mit den Hochgeborenen aller Länder auf; wenn eine Literatur reich genannt wird, die wenige klassische Trauerspiele besitzt, welcher Platz gebührt dann einer Tragödie, die anderthalb Jahrtausende währt gedichtet und dargestellt von den Helden selber?" --ZUNZ: _Die Synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters_. When the impatient youth demands, like the heathen from Hillel, a definition of Judaism, bid him "go and learn" the history of the Jew. Let him follow the fascinating story from hoar antiquity, when the obscure Hebrews, "leaving kindred and father's house," took a bold and new departure for the land that God would show--the land that would show God. Point to the colossal figure of Moses on Sinai, "greatest of the prophets," who gave the first uplifting impulse with his Ten Words of Faith and Duty. Trace with him the soul struggle of this "fewest of all peoples" to reach the truth of divinity--beginning with a crude conception that became steadily more exalted and more clarified with each successive age, until, at last, the idea is realized of an all-pervading Spirit, with "righteousness and justice as the pillars of His throne," the "refuge of all generations."