ABSTRACT
The centuries-long search for ancient Israel appeared to be on the verge of realisation. Etheria, a Christian pilgrim from Gaul had visited Jerusalem in the fourth century ce before travelling to Sinai in search of the Israelite camp and the route of the Exodus. The search took on further importance within Judaism as part of a religious and national quest following the foundation of the modern state of Israel in 1948. The multitude of reviews of historical scholarship in the West from the 19th century to the present illustrates the myriad of claims and counter-claims which give substance to Gillie's notion of an 'essentially contested idea'. The changes in approaches to reading the Hebrew Bible as a result of the rise of literary studies in the 1970s and 80s, has undermined for many the assumption that it provides a useful source for the history of the period.
