Master Hiram and King Solomon — Christian Jacq

980 B.C. Having succeeded in bringing peace and prosperity to his people, King Solomon, the son of David, is determined to build a magnficient temple on the rock of Jerusalem. A temple where the sacred Ark of the Covenant could be housed. A temple to rival in splendour the great pyramids of Egypt: a land he both loathed and admired. As no Hebrew craftsman could succeed in such an enterprise, Solomon summoned an expert mason from Phoenicia: Master Hiram, a strange, solitary man well-versed in the innovative techniques of Egyptian architecture. So began an uneasy friendship between the King and the craftsman. A friendship which bridged two very different cultures and civilisations. A friendship thrown in turmoil when the two men fell in love with the same woman: Balkis, the beautiful Queen of Sheba.