A dream—and especially an emperor’s dream—can change the world. Nowhere is that truth more apparent than in the fateful dream of Constantine, which was to change the intertwined destinies of Christianity and Jerusalem forever. From a downtrodden minor religion, Christianity rose to become the future of civilization. And from a conquered, disdained city, Jerusalem transformed into the Christian Holy City, where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was to engender controversies of theology and power for eons to come.

The amply fortified city of Jerusalem would not have fallen to any man, but only to a war leader of exceptional skill. And such was David, but he was also much more: poet, musician, shepherd, and a lover of many women. A man of contradictions, David was a terror to the Philistines in battle, yet in his Psalms he yearns for peace. He built a magnificent palace for future kings, but not the Holy Temple of his dreams. David’s notorious adultery with Bathsheba tainted his name, yet he is still regarded as Israel’s ideal king. His conquest of Jerusalem marked its transformation into the City of David, which would someday become known throughout the world as the Holy City.

King Solomon is a name that conjures extraordinary images out of history and legend: A glittering court known throughout the world. A thousand harem princesses. Idolatry. A gift of divine wisdom. Demonic possession. And above all, the magnificence of the Holy City’s First Temple. From the bloody birth of King David’s wars came a golden age in Jerusalem, with a glory and mystery that would never be repeated.