THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE: 1453

THE END OF BYZANTINE [Christian] RULE

A small volume: with encyclopedic information about the Christian Crusades.

Steven Runciman’s history of the Crusades reads more like a “memoir”.

Under Roman rule, Palestine was known as Syria Palaestina. During the Byzantine era, the “Holy Land” was known as Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Salutaris. The Ottoman Empire referred to this land as FILISTIN.

VESPERS: evening prayers

It is the story of the gradual suicide of the grandest conception of the Middle Ages, the universal papal monarchy. It was the Pope [heir to St. Peter] who was empowered to perform the crowning of the Emperor.

It is the story of the Mediterranean world in the second half of the 13th century with the VESPERS as its central point.

The bells of PALERMO were ringing for Vespers, when the Sicilian townsfolk crying ‘Death to the French’ slaughtered the garrison of their Angevin King Charles: King of Sicily, Jerusalem and Albania—Count of Provence, Forcalquier, Anjou and Maine—Regent of Achaea—Overlord of Tunis—Senator of Rome— Grand Vicar of Tuscany—uncle of the King of France and protégé of the Pope.

King Charles was on the point of sailing from Sicily to sack Constantinople, to subject the Eastern Empire to himself and its Church to that of Rome.

FIVE ARTICLES OF FAITH:

Belief in one God

Belief in Angels

Belief in the revealed Books

Belief in the Prophets

Belief in the Day of Judgment

THE FALL OF THE OTTOMANS; 1922

The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state (Caliphate) with Sunni Islam as its official religion. The CALIPH—leader of the Muslim community—was the supreme political and religious authority.

The REPUBLIC OF TURKEY was founded October 29, 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [1881-1938] with ANKARA its capital.

CONSTANTINOPLE was “rechristened” ISTANBUL.

Anyone who has read “oriental” travel books of the post Great War would have concluded that The Road to Oxiana: from Persia to Afghanistan by Robert Byron [July post] was the icing on the cake. Rose Macaulay’s Turkey travel tale reads like a strawberry soufflé!

ROSE MACAULAY [1881-1958]

Author of 35 books—23 of them novels—Rose was one of the eccentric geniuses of English literature. An upper-middle-class maiden lady, she was a relative of Lord Macaulay, the historian.

THE TOWERS OF TREBIZOND is a travel book—a tale of pure fiction/fantasy/a roman a clef/from—ISTANBUL to legendary TREBIZOND.

THE INVENTION OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL:

FROM HOLY LAND TO HOMELAND

GENESIS 25:19—JACOB and ESAU: twin boys

The story of how first-born Esau sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for a bowl of lentils is well-known.

GENESIS 27—JACOB gets Isaac’s “BLESSING”

This is the story of how Rebekah, their mother, connived having Jacob, her favorite, receive Isaac’s blessing. It seems that Isaac had been unaware of the exchange—the sale of birthright—because on his deathbed he asked for Esau to come. Rebekah overheard the conversation between father and son: about “food”. As the story unfolds, Rebekah’s craftiness (deceit) worked: fooling Isaac to believe that Jacob WAS Esau. And that’s how Jacob WAS “blessed/anointed”: the heir of Isaac the Hebrew. [Genesis 32:28—your name will no longer be Jacob, but ISRAEL]

The Book of Deuteronomy: 27—The altar on Mount Ebal

“Build there an altar to the Lord your God,

an altar of STONES.

Do not use any---- IRON TOOL ----upon them.”

According to the Torah, Moses lived in the BRONZE AGE [1450 BCE].

How is it possible that Moses talks about IRON TOOLS?

“TALK PEACE and CREATE FACTS on the GROUND”

Between 1931-1948 Zionist paramilitary terror groups operated in Palestine. The Haganah/Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946. The Deir Yassin massacre in 1948; the “gangs” were absorbed into the Israeli Defense Forces in 1948. Some of their leaders became prominent politicians.

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

BEN GURION (lion) was born DAVID GREEN in Plonsk Poland in 1886. He became first prime minister and defense minister of ISRAEL—in 1948.

[In my opinion this is not a “flattering” biography]

STAY TUNED

Formerly Qatar was a British protectorate. Since circa 1850 the Al-THANI family ruled Qatar. In 1996, AL JAZEERA, pan-Arab network, was launched. The U.S. has a base at SAILIYA. Qatar and Iran share NORTHFIELD, the world’s biggest single gas reservoir.

Qatar’s aim: power projects that expand ENERGY FOOTPRINT.

The Hijaz and the Quest for Identity in Saudi Arabia [founded in 1932]

Mai is the daughter of Ahmed Zaki Yamani of OPEC.

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