King Solomon, the Bible's wisest king, also possessed extraordinary wealth. He built a temple at Jerusalem that was said to be more fabulous than any other landmark in the ancient world, heavily adorned with gold from Ophir. The precise location of this legendary land has been one of history's great unsolved mysteries. Long before Rider Haggard's classic adventure novel "King Solomon's Mines" produced a fresh outbreak of gold fever, explorers, scientists and theologians had scoured the world for the source of the king's astonishing wealth. In this book, Tahir Shah takes up the quest, using as his leads a mixture of texts including the Septuagint, the earliest form of the Bible, as well as geological, geographical and folkloric sources. Time and again the evidence points towards Ethiopia, the ancient kingdom in the horn of Africa whose imperial family claims descent from Menelik, the son born to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tahir Shah's trail takes him to a remote cliff-face monastery where the monks pull visitors up on a leather rope, to the ruined castles of Gondar, and to the churches of Lalibela, hewn from solid rock. In the south, he discovers an enormous illegal gold mine, itself like something out of the Old Testament, where thousands of men, women and children dig with their hands. But the hardest leg of the journey is to the accursed mountain of Tullu Wallel, where legend says there lies an ancient shaft, once the entrance of King Solomon's mines. Tahir Shah's account of his journey in search of the facts behind the fiction is almost as exciting as Rider Haggard's.

About the Author

Tahir Shah was born into a respected Afghan family and educated in England. He has lived in Japan, India and the United States and East Africa, and his books include 'Sorcerer's Apprentice', 'Trail of Feathers' and 'Beyond the Devil's Teeth'. He lives in London with his wife and young daughter.

Reviews

Adult/High School-Studying an old map he purchased in the Jerusalem bazaar that supposedly showed the location of King Solomon's mines ignited in Shah a dormant interest in actually finding them. Arriving in Ethiopia, he hired a taxi driver who rapidly became interpreter, guide, historian, companion, Christian missionary, and more. They visited legal and illegal gold mines, explored ancient sites, and identified and visited areas important to their goal. They experienced total immersion in the cultures of Ethiopia. Transportation became the biggest challenge whether in the form of buses, vans, on foot, or by mule, for roads were often little more than beaten-earth pathways filled with rocks, holes, and other hazards. Tired of various modes of travel, they hired a car, whose driver chewed qat, a mildly addictive and narcotic leaf that manifested itself in the form of erratic driving, and resulted in an impressive amount of roadkill. Snatches of humor helped to alleviate the constant scenario of poverty just as the generosity of the Ethiopians soothed some of the rigors of the trip. Students interested in adventure, history, African culture, or biblical history will find themselves caught up in the book's excitement and drama.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

"A sublimely silly sub-Saharan yarn - a hybrid of Indiana Jones and Herodotus - that works very well." -- The Sunday Times "Jaw-droppingly, dreadfully funny." -- The Times "Freewheeling and uproarious." -- Justin Marozzi, The Spectator "An extraordinary adventure, vividly described." -- Wilfred Thesiger "Simple and elegant, subtly self-deprecating and often hilarious - worth its weight in gold." -- Time

Rightfully called the Indiana Jones of contemporary archaeological expeditions, Shah was born into Afghan nobility but grew up in England. Here he sets out to find the mysterious mines of Ophir, where King Solomon, the Bible's wisest king, was supposed to have buried a fortune in gold. Tantalizing biblical passages, one florid novel, and two movies have turned these mines into the stuff of legend, and Shah boldly takes readers on his own journey of discovery. According to his reckoning, the mines should be in modern-day Ethiopia, so he set out on an adventure of a lifetime with a shifty bookseller named (no kidding) Ali Baba. Along the way, readers are treated to his accounts of everything from the California gold rush to a sadistic Sultan. Does he find the mines? If you were told, it would spoil the enjoyment found on every suspenseful, hilarious, and rollicking page of this literary treasure worth just as much as anything King Solomon could have found. Essential for public libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Santa Maria, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Travel writer Shah (Sorcerer's Apprentice; Trail of Feathers) paid 600 shekels in a Jerusalem souk for a dubious map of the route to King Solomon's mines; he admits, "I have an insatiable appetite for questionable souvenirs." The London-based writer is also fond of danger: "As soon as there's a bomb, an earthquake, a tidal wave or a riot, I call the travel agent and book cut-price seats." But the ultimate thrill is a challenging mission, and this time, it's finding the biblical land of Ophir, legendary source of the gold for King Solomon's Temple and perhaps of the Queen of Sheba's riches as well. History and geography point to Ethiopia. In Addis Ababa, Shah hires a vocally Christian taxi driver who becomes his guide, and the two set out on the quest. They wander rural Ethiopia, sleeping in brothels, slipping into illegal mines, walking through deserts in camel-led caravans and finally, riding mules to the alleged source of Solomon's gold. Along the way, Shah learns loads of useful things: prostitutes require customers to wash themselves with Coca Cola to avoid AIDS; the hyena-man of Harar feeds the hyenas nightly to keep them from carrying off the village children; gold miners fear disembowelment by thieves trying to extract the nuggets they've swallowed on the job. Does Shah get the gold in the end? Well... he's more Don Quixote than Indiana Jones. Shah is so entertaining, most readers won't realize that while walking on the wild side, they've also just done a quick course in Ethiopian history. 16 pages of b&w photos, one map. (May) Forecast: Given the rave reviews for Shah's previous books, this one should get good media attention, and Arcade plans a 15,000-copy first printing. Shah is a Pashtun Afghan, although his nationality isn't related to anything currently topical. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.