Scholars Unravel Middle East

►Before Monotheism, what were the big religions of the ancient Middle East? ►What are the 4 constitutive elements of religion? ►In polytheism, there is no individual choice or belief. Regardless, polytheism is tolerant. ►Does the term 'religion' make sense in the context of Ancient Middle East? ►Does the term God make sense in the context of Ancient Middle East? ►Monotheism is very much ti...

►Why do Jordanians protest about water? ►Does Jordan coordinate its budget with the U.S.? ►How do protests in Jordan compare to other countries, such as protests in Iran or the U.S.? ►Why does the government of Jordan promote images of stability and instability? ►Why are cartoonists getting arrests in Jordan for alleged terrorism? ►Is Jordan essentially a U.S. protectorate? ►Is Jordan forever on t...

►Were the Hashemite royal family foreigners in Jordan? ►Did Jordan’s Hashemites belong to a larger, transnational royal family? ►How does the Hashemite royal family’s history impact Jordan’s national identity and nation-building efforts now? ►Why Jordanian protesters and cartoonists poke fun of King Abdullah II’s Arabic ►How were tribal protests in Jordan during Ottoman and British rules different...

►Iranian women before the 1979 Revolution: rights in marriage, education and the right to vote ►Iran's society of two cultures before the Revolution ►The Shah's White Revolution and clergy's protest ►How everyone is having sex in contemporary Iran. 🚩 About my guest: ⁠Dr. Janet Afary⁠ is a professor of Religious Studies in UC Santa Barbara. She is the Mellichamp Chair of Religion and M...

►pre-Islam hijab was a status symbol ►Islam adopted the norms of the civilized world - including the hijab ►Reza Shah of Iran forceably unveiled women ►Khomeini was against women's right to vote, until he realized their voice may help his revolution. ►Iranian love poetry was homoerotic, not heterosexual love. ►Iranian love poetry was homoerotic, not heterosexual love. 🚩 About my guest: Dr. Ja...

►Did Christians see Europe differently than Muslims? ►Were Middle East Jews and Christians pro-"West" and Middle East Muslims anti-"West"? ►Are Muslims more tolerant of other religions than Jews and Christians are? ►How did Arab Christians fare under Muslim governments? 🚩 About my guest: ⁠Dr. Ian Coller⁠ is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine - UCI. ...

►When did the "West" begin to perceive the Middle East as a troubled region? ►Have Sunni and Shi'a Muslims always been at war? How about Jews and Muslims? ►Why did France invade Egypt? Hint: it was not entirely about geopolitics. ►Have Europeans fought more wars than Middle Easterners? ►Can you think of any wars in the Middle East that match the scale of WWI or WWII? ►Was the de-Chri...

►Do Arab Americans have powerful political lobbies? If not, why not? ►Can Arab American impact the outcome of the 2024 election? ►Are Arab Americans united about the ongoing conflict in Palestine? ►Are Arab Americans loyal to America? ►What is the population of Arab Americans? ►Was assimilating into America's culture particularly difficult for Arab Americans? ►Did American politicians categori...

►When did Arabs begin to immigrate to America? ►Were early Arab immigrants to America from wealthy families? Did they come here for economic, political or religious reasons? ►Did Arab immigrants to America have anything in common? Do they have anything in common now? ►Did Western politicians and historian believe Arab Americans have anything in common? ►When did Arab Americans begin to form politi...

►How could this possibly happen - Crusaders attacking a major Christian city? ►Why did Crusaders detour to Constantinople? ►Why did the Pope excommunicate the Cruaders? ►Was Constantinople the only Christian city sacked by Crusaders? ►What happened after the sack of Constantinople? ►What were European memories and later perceptions of this terrible event? ►Was there shame among Europeans? ►How was...

►Were the Crusades the Christian equivalent of Islamic jihad? ►Could the Crusades be explained as the battle of civilizations? ►What motivated Europeans to make the journey to the Middle East for war? ►Who were the Europeans that joined the Crusades? Were they rich? Poor? Middle class? ►What is the relationship between the medieval Crusades and the problems of the modern Middle East? ►Did Middle E...

►How much of the stories in the Bible about the Jewish people is myth and how much of it is real history? Are the two in conflict at times? ►Did Jews leave their homeland in stages and over time? ►Did Jews become refugees? ►Initially, how far away from their homeland did Jews settle? ►Assyrian Empire's massive invasion of the Levant and displacement of peoples, including Jews ►Jewish revolts a...

►Origin of the Jewish people, according to scholarship ►When did Judaism become a religion? ►Judah & Israel - how were these kingdoms different? ►How did Jewish kingdoms fit within the geopolitics of the region? 🚩 About our guest: Dr. Pytlik is a professor in Anthropology and Judaic Studies, Director of Judaic Studies, and Director of the Cis Maisel Center for Judaic Studies at Oakland, Unive...

►Whos is Shulgi? ►What is so special about the 3rd Dynasty of Ur? ►Why did civilization start? ►Could ancient women exercise a different religion than their husbands? ►Why do have 60 mins in an hour? ►Can a king be in two places at once? 🚩About My Guest: ⁠Dr. Tonia Sharlach⁠ is professor at Oklahoma State University. Her fields of research and expertise include Ancient history, Sumerian and Babyl...

►Who eats the food that is offered in temples to gods? ►Was separation of church & state even conceivable to ancient Mesopotamians? ►Ancient climate crisis: abandoned regions and religions ►How do we know so much about ancient Mesopotamia - from epics of gods to chronicles of kings to everyday lives of ordinary people? ►Did women have property rights in ancient Mesopotamia? Could women obtain...

What lessons does Iran glean from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a country that voluntarily gave up its nuclear power! What is the logic behind Iran's nuclear program? And how has that logic evolved from the time of the Shah to Iran's 9-year war with Iraq, to Iraq's fall to the U.S. military in 2003, to Iran's present military involvement in places like Lebanon and Syria. In this episode, we'll als...

Today Baghdad, Tomorrow Tehran! This was the mantra and mentality of very high ranking officials of the Bush White House after the swift fall of Baghdad to the US military in 2003, which was the same year that Iran sent a secret letter to the U.S., offering to negotiate about... well, just about everything! In this episode, we'll also talk about why the Obama White House drew parallels... betw...

Our Holy Land and only Our Holy Land! What does this mean to you? My guest scholar explained to me that the Crusades is an example of what happens when outsiders come in and make exclusionary claims on Palestine. As she told me, the history of the Crusades is not forgotten by the People of Palestine, because they draw sharp contrasts between Christian Europeans' conquest of Jerusalem in 1099,...

Would it surprise to hear a Palestinian, in fact, a scholar of Palestinians and their history, to assert that there was NOT a distinct people called Palestinians. Instead of Palestinians, my guest scholar prefers the "people of Palestine". And as it turns out, there is a huge difference between these two terms, a considerable distinction that belies our common misunderstanding of the peo...

Spanish explorers and colonizers spoke in Christian terms and with religious zeal - calling for another crusade against the Muslims. And when describing the Americas, they referred to Montezuma as a Sultan, America's structures as mosques and Native women's dresses as Moorish. 🚩About My Guest: ⁠Dr. Alan Mikhail⁠ is a professor of history and chair of the Department of History at Yale Univ...

The Ottomans didn't explore the Americas because they didn't need to. The Ottomans were much wider polity than merely being a Turkish Empire. And the ambitions and life story of one Ottoman Sultan explains how the Ottomans became the custodian of Islam's holy cities. These are the short answers to the questions posed in the title. But the long answer is way more interesting. The Ottoma...

►How did the mighty Sasanian Persian Empire fall to the Muslim Arabs? ►What happened in the Persian Empire on February 9, in the year 628? ►How did the Sasanian royal attempt to retake Iran from the Muslims? ►Where is the tomb of the heir to the Sasanian throne - the last Sasanian King of kings, the last pre-Islamic Shah of Iran? 🚩About My Guest: ⁠Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani⁠ is a lecturer and a senio...

Were the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires Persian or Iranian? What's the significance of these terms in the context of the past? How about now? Or in the 20th century, when Persia officially changed its name to Iran? Were ancient tribes of Ukraine an Iranian people? 🚩About My Guest: Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani is a lecturer and a senior research fellow at Leiden University. He is a historian of Glo...

Habits, health, beer parties, careers, raising kids, and personal crises – stories of ancient Mesopotamians told through more than half a million clay tablets. They say, “The past is a foreign country.” This is true. Also true are the similarities of modern and ancient people. 🚩About My Guest: ⁠Dr. Amanda Podany⁠ is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, including...

Before powerful empires could conquer faraway lands, the Middle East was a peaceful region, where sophisticated diplomacy averted wars with neighbors and established trade between distant kingdoms. And the absence of foreign intervention contributed to peace in the ancient Middle East. 🚩About My Guest: Dr. Amanda Podany is a professor of History at Cal Poly Pomona. She has authored many books, in...