Solomon

Solomon was the biblical king who succeeds David and is associated with wisdom, wealth and the First Temple in Jerusalem. His reign is described as a period of building, diplomacy and commerce, but also taxation, forced labour and dynastic tensions that precede the division of the kingdom.

In Noah Gordon’s The Jerusalem Diamond, the jewel is believed to have passed through Jewish history from the age of King Solomon, and its disputed ownership draws Harry into a world of collectors, religious claims, archaeological speculation and international intrigue. Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord places Solomon within a narrative shaped by political ambition and government, crime, espionage and covert power, and court politics and dynastic power.