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
The general Levant area is historically a really important region strategically/geopolitcally. It is situated between 3 continents (Europe, Asia and Africa). It has a big coastline with plenty of natural harbours. It is surrounded by big mountain ranges and deserts, which make it very defensible from the outside. It is near important trade routes such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Silk Road and controls their passage into the Mediterranean. It has relatively fertile soil and plenty of access to drinking water, while the East Mediterranean provides a very good source of seafood. It has some amount of oil and minerals. So whoever controls the whole of it can easily exhert a very strong influence in the region economically, politically and militarily. Hence it’s always been a big target of imperialist/colonialist powers.
It’s no wonder that only 2 local peoples managed to ever be in charge for a significant amount of time, throughout history: The Phoenicians in ancient times and the Arabs in Medieval times. Someone always tries to conquer it, because just by looking at a map can tell you how important it is.
The Levant itself is crisscrossed by deserts and mountains, with a very sparsely populated interior, so whoever conquers it always has trouble holding it for long. Since Roman times, the suppression tactic of conquerors has always been to divide and conquer. The geography and importance of the region means there’s a bunch of ethnically, religiously and culturally different people who live together in and near the big population centers. These divisions have historically been taken advantage of to pit them against each other and prevent their unity.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is just the effects of the last attempt by the so-called Great Powers to keep the region divided. The way they split it up after accepting to abandon their colonial governance of it and then the accession to Zionists to colonize it, has created what we see now.
The Ottomans had been trying something similar with Syria in the 1800s (pitting the previously friendly Christian and Muslim population against each other), which they tried to revert unsuccessfully shortly before losing it to France and England after WW1 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_civil_conflict_in_Mount_Lebanon_and_Damascus).
Nice analysis. I see in Wikipedia there’s the “historical” levant, the 20th century usage of the term, and 21st century.
In which sense do you use the term?
You said many, many interesting stuff.
3 out of 4 main religions come from this area, it cannot be coincidence
Is you have any more material about (books, vídeos, articles), please share.
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!!