This is the first Atlas of the whole Bible to treat its subject geographically rather than historically. The ancient Hebrew people have been called the people of the book. To this description we must add another, which is at the heart of the present Atlas, that they were also the people of the land, the land of the Bible. The book opens with a description of the Bible as a unique literary and religious phenomenon, how it came to be composed and how it has been transmitted to us through medieval manuscript copies and modern printed translations. The second section provides an outline of the historical background to the Bible, from the time of Abraham to the close of the New Testament period, accompanied by illustrative maps. The third and principal section discusses in detail and in turn the main geographical regions (roughly corresponding to the territories of the Twelve Tribes in Old Testament times) and the sites within them. The text, accompanied by regional maps and illustrated by generous use of colour photography and artwork, describes the history and main features of each region and site, and refers to incidents connected with them in the Old and New Testaments. This is a new approach to biblical history which is ideally suited to the format of a cultural atlas. Special features focus on such themes as biblical warfare, other contemporary religions, Herod's temple at Jerusalem, Jerusalem as Jesus knew it and the topography of the Passion. For ease of reference the book is equipped with a Chronological Table, Bibliography, Gazetteer and Index. Many of the splendid aerial photographs in this book are published here for the first time and have been selected from the unique collection of Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History), Jerusalem.