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Caesarea Maritima's Role in the Roman Empire
Caesarea Maritima, the city Herod the Great (r. 37-4 BCE) built for Rome on the southeastern coast of the Mediterranean served as the Roman Empire's powerbase of operations both commercially and militarily. With Rome's ultimate goal of adding...

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Inscriptions and Petroglyphs at Jabal Ikmah
Jabal Ikmah, often referred to as an ‘open-air library’, contains hundreds of inscriptions and pictograms engraved and carved in relief on the rock faces and boulders of a gorge, not far from Dadan, the seat of the Dadanite and Lihhyanite...

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Interior of a Nabatean Tomb at Hegra
The interior of a tomb at Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at modern AlUla, Saudi Arabia, ancient Kingdom of Nabatea, 1st century BCE to the early 2nd century CE.

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Barzan Palace by Gertrude Bell
A photograph by Gertrude Bell (l. 1868-1926) of the Barzan Palace, Hai'l, Saudi Arabia. Taken in the winter of 1913-14. (Gertrude Bell Archive)

Definition
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is an eyewitness account of ancient travel to Africa and India via the Red Sea written by an unknown Greek-speaking Egyptian author in the 1st century CE. In this detailed account, the conditions of the...

Definition
Kingdom of Nabatea
The Nabatean Kingdom was a powerful political entity which flourished in the region of modern-day Jordan between the 4th century BCE and c. 106 CE and is best known today for the ruins of its capital city of Petra. Although it is clear that...

Definition
Ridda Wars
The Ridda Wars or the Wars of Apostasy (632-633 CE) were a series of military engagements between the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate (632-661 CE) and the renegade tribes of Arabia. The rebels had renounced their allegiance with the nascent...

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A Gallery of Dogs Through the Ages
Dogs have been a constant of the human condition for thousands of years. Footprints of a young child and canine dated to 26,000 years ago have been found in the Chauvet Cave in France, showing them walking side by side, and, long before then...

Definition
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic-monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (l. 570-632 CE, after whose name Muslims traditionally add “peace be upon him” or, in writing, PBUH). Alongside Christianity and Judaism...

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Mavia's Revolt & the Christian Question
In 378 CE the Tanukhid queen Mavia (r. c. 375 - c. 425 CE) of the Saracens led a successful revolt against the Roman Empire, pitting her forces against the armies under the emperor Valens (364-378 CE). Launching her insurrection from the...