A Concise History of the Middle East

6 • 1 INTRODUCTION eatables have been naturalized over longer periods: apricot, artichoke, gin¬ ger, lemon, lime, orange, saffro ...

Some Descriptive Geography ••• 7 is "east" for France and Italy is "west" for India and China. Logically, we could say "Southwes ...

8 • 1 INTRODUCTION been found in the western Sahara. What happened? It seems that as the polar ice caps (from the last, great Ic ...

Some Descriptive Geography • 9 tive isolation; invading "barbarians" were first tamed and then absorbed into China's political s ...

10 • 1 INTRODUCTION Yemen, and Iran. On the other hand, frequent invasions have brought new races and folkways into the Middle E ...

Conclusion ••• 11 through the historical narrative, do not be put off by the names of deserts and mountains, rivers and seas. Th ...

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TWO The Middle East Before Muhammad When does the history of the Middle East start? At what point should this supposedly concise ...

16 • 2 The Middle East Before Muhammad and culture had already shifted to the eastern Mediterranean, where it would last for alm ...

Persia and Rome ••• 17 B.C.E. He had taught the existence of a supreme deity, Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord"), creator of the material ...

18 • 2 The Middle East Before Muhammad just as people did in the fourth century and long afterward. Even now, when Arabs, Persia ...

Persia and Rome ••• 19 Dissident Christian Sects One Christian group, the Arians, which arose in the early fourth century, taugh ...

20 • 2 The Middle East Before Muhammad Do you rind this issue petty? Some modern historians think that mate¬ rial motives caused ...

The Arabs • 21 translated into the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) language, to trade, and to col¬ lect scientific and technical lore. ...

I l 0 200 400 600 800 kilometers MAP 2.1 Byzantine and Sasanid empires circa 600 ...

The Arabs • 23 stubbornness and spitefulness is ill deserved. Our jokes and songs about camels reveal our ignorance, not their c ...

24 • 2 The Middle East Before Muhammad belligerent and zealous in defending their honor, on which their freedom depended. Tests ...

The Arabs • 25 Southern Arabia During the time when Rome and Persia seemed to dominate the Middle East, there was actually a thi ...