Questions tagged [middle-east]
The Middle East typically refers to the region stretching from the northern part of eastern Africa all the way to Pakistan. The region is centered around the Arabian peninsula with the Persian Gulf being the critical component of the region.
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What were the main components in the Rise of Sunni Islam in the Middle East during the 20th century? [closed]
I am struggling to find articles regarding the rise of Sunni Islam in the Middle East during the 20th century. Frankly, it is most likely because that is a very broad subject. That is why I would like ...
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Why was Jean Chiappe given the job of High Commissioner of the Levant in 1940?
Jean Chiappe was a right-wing civil servant who got fired from his job as police prefect during a scandal in 1934. In 1940, the Vichy French gave him the job of high commissioner to the Levant, which ...
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Why did Ottoman Sultans prioritize the title of Sultan over that of Caliph?
Upon the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517 which led to the defeat of the Memluk Sultanate, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil III was captured and sent to Constantinople where he surrendered to Sultan ...
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Was the Seljuk Empire an independent empire or an autonomous sub-entity of the Abbasid Caliphate?
The Seljuk Empire was formally part of the Abbasid Caliphate, which means that the Seljuk Sultan, supposedly, should have been responsible in front of the Abbasi Caliph in Baghdad.
Nevertheless,as ...
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Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
I am asking this question as I remember reading somewhere that there was knowledge among the people living in one of those cities or the cities in vicinity which accurately traces back 6500 years ago. ...
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Why are Arabian Nights set mostly in Persia?
I liked the tales of Arabian Nights from childhood and re-read them many times through my life. What strikes me as odd, is that all the main characters are predominantly Persian. Moreover Arabs (e.g. ...
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What was the difference between the Sykes Picot and League of Nations Mandate? [duplicate]
I can't really understand. I read history that says the Sykes-Picot Agreement was this secret agreement and it is why the Middle East is the way it is today.
But then there's this other League of ...
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Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different people or the same people under a different name?
Were the Assyrians and the Akkadians different peoples, or were they one and the same?
I've noticed that the Assyrians didn't seem to have their own gods as far as I have read and are just worshiping ...
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When was Red Sea rig introduced into British Royal Navy?
Red Sea rig is a mess dress uniform variant. It is used by some naval officers in the (UK) Royal Navy and other navies, that inherited its traditions (Canadian, Indian, ...). In general, it is similar ...
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Who is 'Ebinichibel' mentioned in the Borgia Map?
Wikipedia:BorgiaMap page gives this detail,
The Borgia map includes a legend referring to Ebinichibel, who is described as "the Saracen Ethiopian king with his dog-headed people".
Is this ...
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Was there ever a male-equivalent to a harem in the Ottoman Empire?
I am currently doing research on Ottoman views toward homosexuality. I have also researched homosexuality relationships that Ottoman Sultans have had.
Seeing how there were harems, it made me wonder: ...
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Was there really a whale skeleton in Jaffa?
Was there really a whale skeleton in Jaffa or at least a common myth about it?
I cannot find any historical reference to it but still believe, from the way he wrote Moby Dick, that Melville did not ...
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What is the historic validity of "Nothing is real; everything is permitted" as the Assassins' motto?
"Nothing is true; everything is permitted" - I find this phrase, popularized by the game Assassins' Creed, quite confusing even as historic fiction.
Historically, the Hassansins (a.k.a the ...
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What is the association of the 4 playing card suits and the Mamluks?
As I understand it, playing cards made their way to Europe perhaps via China (paper) but most visibly by way of the Mamluks. One legend is the Mamluks and Tibetans defeated the Chinese once in battle ...
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What was the calendar used by ancient Palmyrenes?
An inscription found on one column in Palmyra, dated on April 252 AD, reads
"To Septimius Odaenathus […] in the month of Nisan the year 563" (April, 252)
Found on the book The Roman ...
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What is the (secular) history of Samaria?
What is 'the history' of the Samaria sub-region of the Province of Judaea from the Roman Empire days through the dissolution of the Empire up to the Middle Ages [roughly]?
I usually find what I'm ...
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Why was the king of Judah referred to as "the king of the House-of-David"?
In the famous Tel Dan Stele it says, likely in the name of Hazael, king of Aram:
"… קתלת.אית.יהו[רם].בר [אחאב.]מלך.ישראל.וקתל[ת.אית.אחז]יהו.בר[.יהורם.מל]ך.ביתדוד …"
"… killed Jeho[ram]...
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Was the Reagan administration particularly known for studies?
In the book "Oil Money - Middle East Petrodollars and the Transformation of US Empire, 1967 - 1988" by David M. Wight which covers the US policy and decisions dealing with world events ...
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Where was Arielis?
In his book Panarion, Epiphanius of Salamis writes about a Jewish sect called the Osseans. Among other bits of information, he writes:
"ἀπὸ τῆς Ναβατικῆς χώρας καὶ Ἰτουραίας, Μωαβίτιδός τε καὶ ...
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Where can I find primary sources about the 1973 Arab oil embargo? Specifically from a non western perspective?
I'm trying to compare U.S/British media portrayals (newspaper articles, speeches, etc.) to ones coming from the Middle East at the time, but it's very difficult to find the latter, especially ...
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How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
A couple decades after Sputnik, how advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War, and how did U.S. intelligence completely miss the mobilization of Arabian armies?
I have read a few ...
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What was the reason Jesus allowed Christians to eat pork? [closed]
Pork prohibitions date back to ancient Mesopotamia where for some cults consumption of pork was banned.
Many people speculate if the bans against pork was to protect against trichinosis, which turns ...
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What were the dimensions of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem? [duplicate]
I think I remember reading somewhere that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem - either Solomon's temple, the Second Temple, or Herod's Temple - was very tall overall. What I seem to remember was that its ...
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Did people in the area the Virgin Mary is said to have lived wear headdresses at the time?
⁹I'm an artist trying to figure out what Mary really would have looked like supposing she was a real middle eastern Jewish person, because I know nothing about the type of cultural dress or ethnic ...
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Where can I find the original Arabic version of bin Laden's 1996 fatwa?
For a paper in my Arabic class, I would like to cite from bin Laden's 1996 fatwa "إعلان الحرب ضد الأمريكيين الذين يحتلون أرض الحرمين الشريفين"
In English: "Declaration of War Against ...
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Anyone have an e-text of the Doctrina Jacobi in Greek?
I have been trying to find an e-text of the Doctrina Jacobi in its original language. Does anyone have the Doctrina Jacobi (The teaching of Jacob) ( text form) in the original Greek.
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Was there a stated reason for the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip?
In 2005 the Israeli disengagement from Gaza took place. During this process of disengagement, the Israeli settlers within the Gaza strip were taken out of the Gaza strip (by command or by force).
In ...
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Was climate a factor in the spread of Islam?
Pasted below is a google maps image that spans much of Europe, Asia and Africa. Note the lack of vegetation in a belt cutting across this image.
The question now is as follows. Why are the places with ...
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From 1200 B.C. until 100 A.D. did people in the Middle East sit on mats or mainly on chairs? [closed]
Did people sit on mats in the Middle East from 1200 B.C. until 100 A.D. (like some Arabic cultures nowadays) or did they sit mainly on chairs?
But maybe the term 'Middle East' is too broad and can ...
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What is the earliest history of Middle Eastern women wearing veils for modesty while in public?
The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, Christian Old Testament) recorded women wearing veils as early as Rebekah in Genesis (Breshith). See Judaism stack exchange
However, there is debate over whether women wore ...
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What is the origin of the names of planets in Arabic?
The names of the classical planets in Arabic (Mercury to Saturn) are not based on the usual Roman deities nor on the the classic elements like in East Asian countries. What is the origin of their ...
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How would the Israelites have girded their loins?
I stumbled upon the Art of Manliness guide to girding their loins earlier. However, their source is a Historyzine article which doesn't have any references. Also, on Youtube, you can find an ...
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Did Saladin speak any European languages?
As the leader of a large coalition force I'm aware he was multilingual, speaking at least Kurdish and Arabic (one site added Turkish) but a European language seems like a longshot. If he did speak one,...
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How are Kurds and Chaldeans related?
The German Wikipedia-site states the following with regards to the ethnogenesis of kurds:
"Bereits Wilhelm Gesenius versuchte die Chaldäer (Chardim) mit den Kurden (Kard) in Verbindung zu ...
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Did Hezbollah kidnap Russian diplomats, and Russia subsequently dismember Hezbollah family members?
I heard this story several years ago, I don't recall the exact details, and I don't even know if the story is real or not (if it is real, I'm guessing it may be exaggerated). Can anyone confirm this ...
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How many civilians died in Sabra and Shatila massacre?
Wikipedia gives a wide range of between 460 and 3,500 civilians. Is this range still accepted by modern historians? maybe this is a better phrasing: What parts of the disagreement still remains after ...
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Why did many Hellenic or Hellenized names in antiquity end in -bazos or -dates?
Ancient names ending with bazos (or bazus), eg megabazos(great-x), Artabazos (again great-x), Pharnabazos.
And Dates (Mithradates, Tiridates).
I know Mithra was a deity, what does the second half of ...
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Why did Allied Command maintain passive, especially Indian units in Middle East during the years 1942 and 1943?
I have found, going through stack exchange questions, a pair of links that speak about the presence.
Those links are: Statistics on the number of divisions during WWII and the deployment of a (mostly ...
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Were Israeli-Arab conflicts in the Cold war testing grounds for NATO and Warsaw Pact equipment?
During the Cold War, Israel and it's Arab neighbors often came into conflict with each other and fought a number of wars during which Israel often used weaponry from the West (USA, UK and France) ...
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What exactly were the dealings of Ea-Nasir ("The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC")?
I recently came across an article in Forbes by Kristina Killgrove titled Meet The Worst Businessman Of The 18th Century BC.
I know that cuneiform does not probably translate fluidly to English, and ...
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Did the Buyids emerge as allies of the Abbasid Caliphate?
The Buyid dynasty were Shia sympathizers. However, I might have read somewhere that the Buyids came to power as allies of the Abbasids. This would have been as an anti Tabaristan or anti Ziyarid ...
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Historical examples and numbers for the value of ‘Jizya’ levied by Muslim states
Context
From the early Islamic conquests in the seventh and eighth centuries, down to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, under Sharia law, Muslim rulers generally allowed non-Muslim subjects ...
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Why did conquered countries after WWII recover, but countries conquered later continue suffering? [closed]
Nations damaged severely in WWII (suffered major economic collapse and civilian casualties) such as Japan, Germany and Poland have not only recovered but are doing better than ever before. Most of ...
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Why does the Balfour declaration refer to Palestine, as opposed to the Land of Israel or the Holy Land? [closed]
The Balfour Declaration states that
His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to ...
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What was the reason the Maronites lobbied for a state of Greater Lebanon?
I'm currently reading A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered (1988) by Kamal Salibi. In the first chapter he argues that it was initially the Christian minorities of historic ...
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Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
Looking at the list of the world's ten oldest surviving human constructed buildings, many are in Europe while the oldest building in what (with a generous interpretation of the concept) could be ...
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What did the ancient Eastern world think of the ancient Greeks?
The opinions of the Greeks the Eastern world which notably included the Persians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Indians and Egyptians are known to all. They elaborated at length through their literature ...
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Who was Ahmad al-Barbir al-Tarabulusi, and did he write about an old number-based middle-eastern joke about homosexuality?
While reading the book From one to zero. A universal history of numbers by the French historian Georges Ifrah I came across a retelling about an old joke about homosexuality but I cannot find any ...
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Was early Mari Sumerian or multicultural?
Mari was a multicultural Semitic and Sumerian city in central Mesopotamia. Despite its rich history during the historical period, I have found almost no discussion of the earliest period. This was ...
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What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
The walls of old Jericho have been dated to around 8000bc. This is thousands of years before the nascent civilisations of Babylon and Egypt built similar fortifications and thousands of years before ...
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