Category: History

Mercenaries?

 Dear Mr. Spencer: I am tardy in responding to your interesting comments about the historical role of Gurkha units in the British Indian Army. In referring to the Gurkha as “mercenaries”, I most assuredly did not intend to impugn their honor or integrity in the slightest — or, in particular, the steadfast loyalty that they …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/04/750/

Lebanon (1890-1900)

Thanks Fadwa.  What a beautiful country!  Whenever I see pictures like these and read accounts from the same time period, I wish I could have walked the countryside paths and ridden on four-legged beasts instead of whizzing around in noisy cars and airplanes.  Imagine the time they had back then, to think, to see and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/18/lebanon-1890-1900/

Gravitation toward exlusiveness

 Arthur C. Clarke came to mind when reading your post.  Whether or not this has anything to do with your thesis is probably open to debate, but I think you will find Clarke’s comments entertaining if not enlightening… The quote that made me think of Sir Clarke:  “Sometimes I think we’re alone in the universe, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/03/30/gravitation-toward-exlusiveness/

Inky wretch

    —–Original Message—– From: [Jacques d’Nalgar] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:34 PM To: ‘[email protected]’ Subject: Word games   Dear Apologist for Evil, I can’t say it was wholly a pleasure to read your calculated mischaracterization of recent remarks related to unpleasant observations of the happily departed German bishops during their late great visit to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/03/15/inky-wretch/

Baptists in Levantium

 Interesting history.  Thank you very much.  I’m curious, because it wasn’t mentioned in the article and perhaps wasn’t germane, but how much Baptist work in Israel/Palestine is with Jewish (secular and confessing) persons and how much is with non-Jewish (i.e., Arab Christians and Muslims and non-Arab visiting pilgrims/tourists) persons?  What are the ratios?  Maybe I’ve …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/03/10/baptists-in-levantium/

Political catechism

I had always wondered how our nation’s founders (terrorist insurgents that they were) argued the merits of their rebellion to a profoundly Christian population, so I did a little Googling on the subject.  Turns out to still be a pretty hot topic (732,000 hits).  Anyway, I came across an interesting essay at http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=40.  Near the end …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2005/12/30/political-catechism/

Lines, lines, everywhere lines

I noticed the other day that the border between Israel and the Sinai is not a straight line.  About halfway across, between Gaza and Aqaba, the border has a couple of protrusions into the Egyptian side (there are other places, but these are the most noticeable).  Does anyone know the history of how this border …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2005/12/10/lines-lines-everywhere-lines/