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Middle Eastern History
What Are the Origins of the Sasanian Empire?
In the ancient world, three dynasties of Persian speaking peoples created vast empires across central Asia and the Near East: the Achaemenid (559-330 BC), the Parthian (ca. 247 BC-AD 224), and the Sasanian (AD 224-651). Although each of the Persian… Read More ›
How Did Sargon of Akkad Influence Ancient Mesopotamian History?
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What Caused the Rise of Agriculture?
The rise of agriculture is a complex topic but from what we do know the earliest region to witness the domestication of plants and animals was in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, western Iran,… Read More ›
Why Were the Philistines and Israelites Enemies?
Today, the term “Philistine” has become synonymous with any person or people deemed uncultured, uncouth, and boorish. The word is repeated with little thought to its origin with few people knowing that it is derived from a maligned and often… Read More ›
What Were the Financial Benefits of the Crusades?
Of all the events, inventions, and personalities that defined the European Middle Ages, none did more so than the Crusades. Beginning in the late eleventh century, the many kingdoms of western Europe awoke from their collective slumber to assert their… Read More ›
Did the Biblical Exodus Actually Happen?
The Old Testament Book of Exodus has played an essential role in world history. It represents one of the most fundamental aspects of Jewish religion and early history and is also recognized as an important event by Christians and Muslims…. Read More ›
The strange case of British Colonel Cyril Wilson and the Jihadists
From OUP Blog by Philip Walker the author of Behind the Lawrence Legend: the Forgotten Few who Shaped the Arab Revolt (Oxford University Press, 2018): The aftermath of the Arab Revolt of 1916-18 and the settlement in the Middle East after the… Read More ›
What Was the Importance of Pyramids in Ancient Egypt?
The pyramids of Egypt are among the most recognizable and enduring monuments of the ancient world. Long after they were built, other ancient peoples, such as the Greeks and Romans, wrote about them with as much awe as people do… Read More ›
The holiday village run by Israeli spies
From the BBC by Raffi Berg: “Arous on the Red Sea, a wonderful world apart,” the glossy brochure says, pronouncing it “the diving and desert recreation centre of Sudan” Illustrated with pictures of putty-coloured chalets on a Sun-drenched beach, a smiling… Read More ›
The British, Irish and Lebanese have all claimed descent from the ancient Phoenicians, but ancient Phoenicia never existed.
From Aeon by Josephine Quinn author of In Search of the Phoenicians: Modern nationalism created history as we know it today: what we learn in school, what we study at university, what we read at home is all shaped… Read More ›
What Are the Origins of Egyptology?
Today, Egyptology – the study of ancient Egyptian history, culture, and language – is a worldwide discipline studied and taught at major universities on nearly every continent. It has evolved from a more esoteric study known only to elites in… Read More ›
America’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ – Wendell Phillips
From History Today by Sarah Rijziger: Arabia Felix, or ‘Happy Arabia’, as the Romans called what is now Yemen, has always attracted explorers, despite being – or perhaps because it was – one of the most inaccessible places in the… Read More ›
The Iraq War and the Inevitability of Ignorance
From The Atlantic by James Fallows author of Blind into Baghdad: America’s War in Iraq: There’s a specific reason it is so hard to be president—in normal circumstances—and why most incumbents look decades older when they leave the job than… Read More ›
What Was the Importance of Ziggurats in Ancient Mesopotamia?
The people of ancient Mesopotamia practiced a religion that modern scholars are only just now beginning to understand and the physical focal point of their religion were the monumental, triangular structures known as ziggurats. Today, many people like to compare… Read More ›
Did the US fund Muslim Clerics’ involvement in 1953 Coup of Iran?
From National Security Archive: A passage from a recently declassified document on the 1953 coup in Iran alleges that senior Iranian clerics received “large sums of money” from U.S. officials in the days leading up to the August 19, 1953,… Read More ›
6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire is one of the largest empires in history. In existence for 600 years, at its peak it included what is now Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Macedonia, Romania, Syria, parts of… Read More ›
The True History Behind The Looming Tower: How the Story Began
From Time by Lawerence Wright The new Hulu series The Looming Tower, premiering on Wednesday, is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, by Lawrence Wright — a book that TIME selected as one of the All-TIME 100 best nonfiction books,… Read More ›
How did Sharia Law develop?
Sharia is an Arabic word, literally meaning “the right path”. It commonly refers to the traditional Islamic law, derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran[1]and the Hadith[2]. Islamic law or the Sharia is therefore the expression of… Read More ›
