I was reading this now and I almost felt as if I was reading about the current Israel Palestine conflict.
It seems that what the Jewish did to Palestinians in 1948 is similar to what Jewish suffered in 66 CE.
I wonder how much of what we see today is just a copy and paste from stuff 2000+ years old.
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I don’t get what in this region people are still in tribal hate. Is it due to the geography of the place, or some factors we have no idea of?
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according to Wikipedia, this was what resulted in separating christianism from Judaism. I never knew they were close together. How interesting!
Thanks for any ideas
Generally what I have in mind as the Levant is the area from Syria to Sinai and from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates river. I’d include Cyprus in it as well due to the proximity and historical ties.
My knowledge comes from a lot of different sources. I’d suggest History of the Arab World by Albert Hourani for a good primer. If you want look up books by the Soviet historian Michael Rostovtzeff. His works focus more on Greek and Roman history, but they have a lot of overlap on the Levant. He uses historical materialism very well to analyze history, and breaks down his reasoning quite well, which is excellent training for learning any history.
In general though, try looking up the history of the place since ancient times (Phoenicians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans). You’ll see a lot of the same trends being repeated over and over, and you’ll understand a lot more about its geopolitics just by learning the events and causes that precipitated them.
Wow, thanks so much for the book indication!
Do you mean “a history of the Arab people’s”?
So you have something pre-islam, or pre-judaism?
Yes, sorry. I read it translated to my language. Wasn’t sure of the title in English.
What era are you looking for exactly? Pre-Islam might stretch back to before the Bronze Age. Pre-Judaism can go as far back as Hellenistic times.
I’d like to have it long enough so I can saw those wars as being not caused by religious differences between the main religions of today.
So, ideally something before Judaism became strong in the region
Sorry, it took me a while to compile this list
Going All The Way by Jonathan Randal: focuses mostly on Lebanon and describes the political situation up to the 1980s. Really great detail on cultural divides in the area. But be warned it was published before Hezzbolah came to prominence, so might feel a bit dated.
1117 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline: Describes the relationships of ancient people (bronze age) in the region and the importance of geography. Focuses on the Sea People and other destructions at the time that caused a collapse of all civilizations except the Egyptian. Although mostly an archaeology book, it is a great read for understanding the constant factors in the geopolitics of the region.
Jerusalem Besieged by Eric Cline: Similar to the other book but focuses on Jerusalem from ancient times to today. Helps to understand religious divides in the region.
Cypria by Alex Christofi: focuses on Cyprus since Ancient times. A lot of the history in the area revolves around control of the island. Contains information on how the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot populations were pitted against each other by British colonialists towards the end. It goes into good detail regarding power struggles in the area from ancient times to today.
The Chronicles of the Logothete by Unknown: a Medieval text describing the history of the wider region from a Roman Greek perspective.
Hope these serve as a good primer. Pick up threads from here and follow them to see where they take you.
Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate your effort a lot!!
I’ll read or at least skim thru the books as I find time!
Thank you so much again!!