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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Solomon]

Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of C�diz. The sarcophagus is thought to have been designed and paid for by a Phoenician merchant, and made in Greece with Egyptian influence

You have probably noticed the names of many different groups when following the news of various conflicts. Their historical background is not always clear.

The roots of most conflicts in the world run deep. Peoples are in dispute as the result of situations that arose in ouir distant past, even though they may be only vaguely aware of this.

I will start by mentioning a group from within which come the leadership of Syria.


The Alawites

The Alawites are a Middle Eastern sect of Shi'ite Islam prominent in Syria. The terms Alawī and Alevi, although they share the same etymology, refer to different religious sects, the latter based in Turkey.

The Alawi take their name from Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. The French recognized the term Alawī when they occupied Syria in 1920. Historically, the Alawites have been called Nusayrīs (Arabic: نصيريون), Nasiriyya, and Ansariyya. The term Nusayriyya became one of insult, and they themselves preferred to be called Alawiyya to show their reverence for Ali.

History
The origin of the Alawites is disputed. According to some sources, they were originally Nusayrīya, a sect that was an off-shoot of Twelver Shiites in the 9th century. The Alawites trace their origins to the eleventh Shia Imam, Hasan al Askari (d.873), and his pupil Ibn Nusayr (d.868). Ibn Nusayr proclaimed himself the Bāb "Door" (representative) of the 11th Imam. The sect seems to have been organised by a follower of Ibn Nusayr's known as al-Khasibi who died in Aleppo in about 969. Al-Khasibi's grandson al-Tabarani moved to Latakia on the Syrian coast. There he refined the Nusayrī religion and, with his pupils, converted much of the local population.

I disagree with all this, except that their history is disputed. Here is a hint as to why.

Why Kurdish Alawite do not eat rabbits?
Alawites have very different traditions that seem to be awkward in the dominant Islamic culture in Kurdistan. During my childhood I was constantly hearing that Alawites did not eat rabbits. The Sunni Kurds would go hunting rabbits in our villages because there were a great deal of rabbits in the Alawite areas. The Sunni Kurds would make fun of us as �Non rabbit eaters.� I did not know why we would not eat rabbits and the reasons why we would not eat rabbits were not satisfying at all. One of the reasons we would not eat rabbits was that �rabbits had long ears like donkeys.� Or �they would not digest their food� etc.

However, when one reads Leviticus 11, then one can see the real reason why Alawites do not eat rabbits: �The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: Speak to the Israelites people thus: These are the creatures that you may eat from all the land animals: any animal that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoods, and that chews the cud�such you may eat. �.the hare �although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is unclean for you.

I am of the opinion that this passage makes it clear why we Alawite do not eat rabbits. The degree of Jewish religion on Alawites has not been determined and it needs to be researched. Only then we would know how much we got from the Jewish beliefs and tradition.

Quite so. There is a connection between the Hebrews of old and the Alawites. That Islam came along millennia later disproves the more orthodox heritage.

The clue to their origin is their location in Syria. You will notice on the above map that their home is the small coastal area connecting Syria to Turkey. Turkey is, of course, a much more modern state formed by Turkic invaders. Geographically it is Asia Minor and was home to ancient Greeks and others, some of whose descendants remain.

Alawite:
...there appears to be deeper religious secrets that are revealed and practiced only by the inner circle, which has caused a number of rumors about their practices. Various sources claim that their rites include remnants of Phoenician sacrificial rituals, that they claim that women have no souls and that they drink wine (possibly a form of communion).

Ah, the Phoenicians.

Phoenicia:
Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon, Syria and northern Israel. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean during the first millennium BCE, between the period of 1200 BCE to 900 BCE. Though ancient boundaries of such city-centered cultures fluctuated, the city of Tyre seems to have been the southernmost.


Map of Phoenicia Prima, the Phoenician Colonies, settlements and trade posts that shows the names of Phoenician cities around the Mediterranean and the Atlantic (partically)

Who are the Alawis? :
"Alawi" is the term that Alawis usually apply to themselves; but until 1920 they were known to the outside world as "Nusayris" or "Ansaris". The change in name, imposed by the French upon their seizure of control in Syria, has significance. Whereas "Nusayri" emphasizes the group's differences from Islam, "Alawi" suggests an adherent of Ali and accentuates the religion's similarities to Shi'a Islam. Consequently, opponents of the Assad regime habitually use the former term; supporters of the regime use the latter.

Alawis today number approximately 1.6 million, of which about 1 million live in Syria. They constitute some 12 percent of the Syrian population. Three-quarters of the Syrian Alawis live in the northwestern province of Latakia, where they make up almost two-thirds of the population.

The mountainous areas of Syria have always been a safe haven for minority groups seeking security. Three Islamic sects found refuge there: the Assassins (Nizari Isma'ilis) and the Druze who were direct offshoots of the Isma'ili Sevener Fatimids of Egypt, and the Alawis who were based on extremer Twelver Shi'a thought mixed with syncretic Christian and pagan influences. The Alawi are one of several groups of extremist Shi'a sects known as the Ghulat (exaggerators). While most Shi'a groups revere Ali and his family, the Ghulat have gone beyond veneration, considering Ali to be the very manifestation of God.

The Alawis are a tribal people, divided into four main tribe. They are a closed society and they see themselves as a persecuted and despised people, who actually are the chosen people of God, the only ones to have seen the light in a world of darkness. While maintaining their beliefs they pretend to adhere to the dominant religion present in order to escape persecution.

So you see that their collective name is a political choice, to make themselves appear to be of a branch of Islam. The secret lies in the pagan influences.

The orthodox history fails again in not mentioning that Alawites were not regarded in the Islamic world, until recently, as at all Islamic. This was with reason: they were not and like many others, adopted some of the appearance of being Islamic, for reason of security.


Soldiers of the Alawite Battalion at Crac des Chevaliers

This is why I have a sneaking admiration for the Alawites. They have survived. In Syria, though a very small minority, they have thrived.

Solomon

[Bart]

My son is currently in Lebanon, and will return home in late July, I look forward to hearing his fristhand account of life there. It is a strange world we liive in, and it's occupants sometimes behave even more strangely. Many things happening in the world today can be traced way, way back to the Mideast and it's history.

Bart -*

The NGM Study "Who were the Phoenicians" and the Return of the Phoenicians1,2

Proving history through science
 
   "The Phoenicians are returning." That is what DNA research tells us through recent studies. Historical credence to their existence and their history is being restored through scientific means. What has been discovered indicates that the genetic make up of the Lebanese, especially those of the coastal areas, is Phoenician. Further, it was discovered that various percentages of the inhabitants of the islands of Malta, Sardinia, as well as parts of ancient Carthage in Tunisia, Gibraltar, Spain and the islands of the Aegean are of Phoenician origin, also.

What's it all about?

   Genetic research underway in Lebanon and other locations around the Mediterranean basin proves that the Lebanese carry Phoenician genetic identifiers and belong to both Muslims and Christian sects of the country. Further, preponderance of these identifiers is predominant among the people of the coastal areas. What is also evident is that there were three major genetic "waves" that had an impact on the population of Lebanon. These waves were European through the Crusades, Arab through the Conquest of Islam from the Arabian Peninsula and Turkish through the Seljuk Turks invasion from Central Asia.

   There are unique and specific genetic distinctions that are evident in some regions or towns in Lebanon where their Christian or Muslim population maintained distinctive genetic identifiers.

   The study is not, as yet, complete and is headed by Dr. Pierre Zalloua, geneticist at the American University of Beirut. His project is sponsored by the National Geographic Magazine to explore the truth about the origin of the Phoenicians.

The "curse" and the paradox

   Among the historical trivia regarding the mysterious Phoenicians is, though they invented the alphabet and spread it around the ancient world, their written works were mostly lost. What the world knows about them is through their enemies or competitors � the Greeks and Romans.

   Maybe, because of their lost records and to break that "curse", a new alphabet came about to resurrect them. That is through a different alphabet, the molecular letters of DNA. This special alphabet reads the Y chromosome.

The research study
 
   Dr. Pierre Zalloua, who came up with the idea, and his research partner, National Geographic Emerging Explorer Spencer Wells started work two years ago on this study sponsored by the National Geographic Magazine with $1,000,000. The objectives of the study pursue the precise reading of the genetic makeup of the Lebanese and populations from the Mediterranean basin where they established colonies. The study, that extends over five or six years, attempts to prove the genetic relationship between Phoenicians of the colonies of Carthage, Malta, Sardinia Cadiz, Marseilles and others with those of the homeland of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos or the Phoenician homeland. Further, the study aims to prove that all these Phoenician Canaanites belong to the same genetic origin and are those that settled the eastern Mediterranean 5,000 years ago.

   The way through which the objectives will be achieved is through tracing part of the Y chromosome that does not mutate. Men transmit it to their sons, generation after generation without any change. It is a fixed marker that does not break throughout history.

Points of reference

   The reference of the genetic prototype for the Phoenician makeup is based on human remains discovered in Turkey, as well as a human jaw�perhaps up to 4,000 years old�found in a mountain cave at Raskifa, Lebanon. Additional human remains are used, as well, for constructing a clear image of the Phoenician genetic point of reference. What is known at this point is that haplogroup J2 (M172) is this point of reference. Haplogroup J2 is found frequently in Lebanon, Greece, Turkey (aboriginal not Seljuk), Italy, and the Caucus region6,7,8,9,10.

   Zalloua and Wells had to go to the Turkey National Museum to get DNA samples from a Phoenician sarcophagus, since Lebanon�s National Museum shamfefully denied their request for a sample. Dr. Zalloua had to admit that he was disappointed in the lack of cooperation he received from the archaeologists in Lebanon. �They did not believe in our cause, that we are all one or at least have a common ancestral background, and hence, should not fight about that.�

Some details

   This genetic work is relatively simple even though it is going to take many years to analyze after having gathered blood samples exclusively from males of the said population. Up this point, Dr. Zalloua has taken 2,000 blood samples of men in Lebanon in the coastal areas, on one hand, and from the mountains and the Beqaa, on the other hand.

Consequently, based on the bones of the ancients and the DNA of the living the texts of history are about to be verified.
Results and surprises

   One of the biggest surprises discovered till now is the genetic relationship between the people of Malta and the people of the Lebanese coast. Genetic similarities between the two groups are so high that they are a cause of amazement and surprise. What this has proven, so far, is the validity of the accounts of Phoenician history, on one hand, against the results of genetic studies in geographical areas of Phoenician colonies, on the other.

   Genetic studies underway will clear the mystery of the Phoenicians, and perhaps, embarrass many others. It is going to address a struggle over the history and ancestry of Lebanon which used to be thought of as a struggle over myths.

The AUB Bulletin Today (May  2005, Vol. 6 No. 6) -- official news publication of the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
   '"Because of his experience in and close connection to the Phoenician genographic project, Zalloua was then asked to participate in a much bigger multimillion-dollar global genographic project, which is being funded principally by National Geographic and IBM.* This genetic study, which will incorporate the entire world, was officially launched in Washington, DC, on April 12, 2005, and will entail installing ten bases of research around the world.

   "Lebanon, through the AUB Medical Center, was chosen as the center for genetic studies on the indigenous populations of the Middle East and North Africa and Pierre Zalloua was selected at its head. As he explains it, the global genographic project will look into population migration throughout history and the world. 'Human history can also be traced through genes,' he says.

   "Zalloua believes the worldwide project will benefit AUB in many ways. �AUB is the project�s only representative in the Middle East and North Africa and consequently will receive substantial publicity as such. The project will hold its general meetings at AUB, and the University will also receive publicity through the publications we expect to issue. In addition, many post-docs, scientists, and research assistants in the field of genetics will come to AUB to participate in the work.�

* Site Editor's Note: Search for the Scientific "Adam," the Genographic Project (GP) study from which geneticist Spencer Wells confirms that Thomas Jefferson, third President of the USA, had Phoenician blood.
Shameful Lebanese Official Indifference

   What remains to be ruminated with impunity is why do the authorities of Lebanese National Museum* continue to shamefully ignore Phoenician heritage, at the same time, the Lebanese Ministry of Culture continues to ignore the mission of the National Geographic Magazine and the work of Dr. Zalloua? In addition to declining to give Dr. Zalloua access to Phoenician DNA samples at the National Museum while the terms Phoenicia and the Phoenicians continue to remain anathematized by all official Lebanese government circles.

Acknowledgment

   I am personally indebted to Mr. William Serfaty of Gibraltar, author of "Gibraltar, The Pillars of the Phoenicians," who, through my intervention, was so obliging as to assist the National Geographic team and crew in identifying and visiting Phoenician points of interest on Gibraltar. Sadly, William was not recognized by the team or the documentary film crew.

Related PBS documentary

   PBS aired a documentary on October 20, 2004, that was shot alongside collecting materials and photographs for the said issue by the National Geographic team.

* Shamefully, the word "Phoenicians" is banned anathema from the Lebanese National Museum where artifacts are dated and referrenced according to millennia or ages but never using the "forbidden name."

Older Mediterranean Substratum Genetic Origins of the Lebanese3,4

The research

   Researchers from the Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, H. 12 de Octubre, at the "Universidad Complutense", from Madrid, Spain, and Tissue Typing Laboratory Institute of Blood Transfusion, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, conducted the first genetic research on a number of groups of people from various areas around the Mediterranean, the Near East and Africa. Though their study focused on the Macedonians vis-�-vis other population, the result of the study brought about interesting and remarkable results regarding the origins of the Lebanese.

   HLA (Human Leucocyte Antigens) alleles have been determined in individuals from the Republic of Macedonia by DNA typing and sequencing. HLA-A, -B, -DR, -DQ allele frequencies and extended haplotypes have been for the first time determined and the results compared to those of other Mediterraneans.

Samples studied

   The study used the following samples for their calculations: 172 unrelated ethnic Macedonians from Skopje; 98 Moroccans; 98 Berbers; 94 Moroccan Jews; 176 Spaniards; 80 Basques; 228 Portuguese; 179 French; 102 Algerians; 91 Sardinians; 284 Italians; 80 Ashkenazi Jews; 80 non-Ashkenazi Jews; 135 Cretans; 85 Greeks from the Aegean; 95 Greeks from Attica; 101 Greeks from Cyprus; 59 Lebanese from Niha el Shouff; 93 Lebanese from Kafar Zubian; 100 Iranians; 228 Turks; 105 Armenians; 101 Egyptians from Siwa; 83 Oromo; 98 Amhara; 38 Fulani; 39 Rimaibe; 42 Mossi; 77 San (Bushmen); 192 Senegalese; and 86 South African Blacks.

Conclusion

   The major conclusion reached that relates to the Lebanese indicates that they belong to the "older" Mediterranean substratum. This means that the Lebanese share the same genetic identifiers like the Macedonians*, Iberians (including Basques), North Africans, Italians, French, Cretans, Jews, Anatolians (aboriginal Turks), Armenians and Iranians.

Sources:

"Who were the Phoenicians." National Geographic (October 2004)
Bazzi, Yousef, Al-Mustaqbal, Tuesday, September 12, 2004, Number 1721 page 1 (adapted translation)
"Are We Phoenicians After All?" The AUB Bulletin Today (May  2005, Vol. 6 No. 6)
Stojkovski, Dragi, Macedonian Herald, November-December, 2001, Toronto
Arniaz-Villena, et al. "HLA genes in Macedonians..." Tissue Antigens, February 2001, volume 57, issue 2, pages 118-12
Cinnioglu, C. et al. (2004), Excavating Y-chromosome haplotype strata in Anatolia, Human Genetics 114(2):127-48.

Semino, O. et al. (2004), Origin, diffusion, and differentiation of Y-chromosome haplogroups E and J: inferences on the neolithization of Europe and later migratory events in the Mediterranean area, American Journal of Human Genetics 74(5):1023-34.
King, R. and Underhill, P.A. (2002), Congruent distribution of Neolithic painted pottery and ceramic figurines with Y-chromosome lineages, Antiquity 76:704-714

Di Giacomo, F. et al. (2003), Clinal patterns of human Y chromosomal diversity in continental Italy and Greece are dominated by drift and founder effects, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 28(3):387-95.

   Nasidze, I. et al. (2003), Testing hypotheses of language replacement in the Caucasus: evidence from the Y-chromosome, Human Genetics 112(3):255-61.
* Note: The Macedonians (of what today is considered part of Greece, i.e. not the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) consider themselves a race separate and different from the Greeks, Bulgarians or Slavs. Parts of historical Macedonia were taken over by Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania. To learn more about the subject follow the link History of Macedonia.org, a site dedicated to the history and struggle of the Macedonian nation and/or to register any objections regarding this statement.

Additional Reading

Additional related material on the origin of the Lebanese and the Y chromosome in Spanish, please see the GEN�TICA Y ANTROPOLOG�A RACIAL DE LIBANESES -- Anthropology and genetics of the Lebanese in this site.

[Bart]

   Below is an ink sketch of King Hiram of Byblos (our word "Bible" is derived from Byblos, ancient Gebal) in Phoenicia, seated on a "Cherub throne" according to the late Professor William Foxwell Albright, who dates Hiram to the 10th century BCE and world of King Solomon. The king holds a Lotus in his hand.  The scene is from his stone sarcophagus. In Egyptian tomb art, the righteous dead are frequently shown seated on a chair, holding a Lotus near their nose. * For the Egyptians, the Sun-god was born each day and arose from a giant Lotus. By showing a Lotus in their hand, they expressed a conviction or hope that they too would be reborn from the giant Lotus each day and enjoy immortality. (for the ink sketch cf. p. 96. William Foxwell Albright. "What were the Cherubim ?" G. Ernest Wright & David Noel Freedman. Editors. The Biblical Archaeologist Reader. Chicago. Quadrangle Books, Incorporated. 1961)

*Unless it known historically that King Ahiram's nose was on one or both of his shins, this contention makes no sense. Were the Lotus stem not limp, it still appears the lotus would never come close to his nose. Perhaps there is something here I just don't understand. 



   Below, King Hiram of Byblos, on a Cherubim Throne  -the bas relief is from his sarcophagus- The Cherubim have been identified as Winged Sphinxes (p. 127. Sabatino Moscati. The Phoenicians. Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri Bompiani, Sonzono, Etas S.p.A. Milan. March 1988).

Please note that Moscati dates the sarchopagus to the 13th-12th century BCE

   "The oldest and most famous Phoenician sarcophagus, that of King Ahiram (as its inscription states) belongs to the Syro-Palestinian area. The work dates back to the 13th-12th century BC, while there is some doubt as to whether the inscription is contemporary or later." (p. 293. Moscati. 1988. The Phoenicians.)

[Solomon]

The Pyrgi tablets
Golden artifact made circa 500 BC, found in Italy. It records an Etruscan chief named Thefarie Velianas. The inscription is bilingual, written in both Etruscan and Phoenician, and was made to commemorate the building of a temple to honour the Semitic goddess Ashtarte

-  the genetic make up of the Lebanese, especially those of the coastal areas, is Phoenician

- Genetic research underway in Lebanon and other locations around the Mediterranean basin proves that the Lebanese carry Phoenician genetic identifiers and belong to both Muslims and Christian sects of the country. Further, preponderance of these identifiers is predominant among the people of the coastal areas.

- The reference of the genetic prototype for the Phoenician makeup is based on human remains discovered in Turkey

This lends weight to my Alawite-Phoenician hypothesis.

It is natural that the inhabitants would adopt the religion of successful invaders and occupiers, so that some are now Christian and others Muslim.

My hope I that one day, people will feel free to chose their own belief system. Islam is structured to deter this.

Phoenician language:
Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Pūt in Ancient Egyptian, Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and Phoenicia in Greek and Latin. Phoenician is a Semitic language of the Canaanite subgroup, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. This area includes modern-day Lebanon, coastal Syria, and northern Israel. Its speakers called their own language (dabarīm) Pōnnīm/Kana`nīm "Punic/Canaanite (speech)".

- it was discovered that various percentages of the inhabitants of the islands of ...are of Phoenician origin

Malta
As I mentioned earlier, I discovered in Malta the largest known Punic-Roman villa. Phoenician lives on there.


Phoenician Tomb at Tal-Wej, Mosta

Malta�s Role in the Phoenician, Greek and Etruscan Trade In the Western Mediterranean
Malta must have played a significant role in the development of Phoenician commerce in the western Mediterranean, as well as in the impact of this trade on, and its rapport with, the Greek and Etruscan commercial activities in the same region.

The Phoenician Language as Spoken Today in Malta and Lebanon
Both countries share a common heritage, not the least being the spoken "Phoenician" language...

Solomon

[Solomon]

Druze woman wearing a tartur, Chouf, 1870s

Here is another group that those of us foreign to the Near East merely read about in the news, especially when it concerns Israel and Lebanon.



Druze
The Druze (Arabic: درزي, derzī or durzī, plural دروز, durūz; Hebrew: דרוזים, Druzim; also transliterated Druz or Druse) are a Middle Eastern religious community whose traditional religion began as an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies. Druze consider themselves theologically as "an Islamic Unist, reformatory sect",[6]. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid ("People of Monotheism") or al-Muwahhidūn ("Monotheists"). The origin of the name Druze is traced to Nashtakin ad-Darazi, mistakenly believed to be a leader of the Druze, when, in fact he was an enemy.



Druze history goes back to the middle ages when the Druze religion began to develop. A noted traveler Benjamin of Tudela wrote about the Druze in his diary in 1167. He describes the Druze as "Mountain dwellers, monotheists, [who] believe in soul transfigurations and are good friends with the Jews".

In the 11th century CE, Druze religious thought further developed through the Ismaili sect, a sub group of Shia Islam. The religion did not attempt to change mainstream Islam but to create a whole new religious body influenced by Greek philosophy and Gnosticism, including a form of reincarnation, where Druze reincarnate as future descendents. They keep their theology secretive, although it is known that they believe in one God and seven prophets - Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. They revere Jethro and make an annual pilgrimage to his tomb at the Horns of Hittin.

Their recorded history may go no further than C11, but I would be reasonably sure that the existence of the Druze predates that by a millennium or two, or more.

Notice that their religion became part of Shia Islam, as did the Alawites. Also that their theology is secretive, also like the Alawites. To my mind, this is for a purpose.

Just a guess, but my tuppence-worth says that the core is, or was pagan.

Genetics
According to DNA testing, Druze are remarkable for their high frequency (35%) of males who carry the Y-chromosomal haplogroup L, which is very rare in the Mideast. (Shen et al 2004). This haplogroup originates from around prehistoric India.

Solomon