There are quite a few songs from the early 20th century Vaudeville Days that feature the Middle East. Did you know that Cleopatra had a jazz band? Feel free to sing along. Here is the Youtube video ..read more

In a non-academic website called Atlas Obscura, there is an article with the entertaining title: “Before Drinking Coffee, People Washed Their Hands With It.” The article was written by Nawal Nasrallah, an Iraqi scholar who has published excellent work on classical Arabic recipe books. However, this particular article is anything but sound scholarship. Her main argument is that a “mysterious ingredient” very similar to coffee was known five centuries before the documented appearance of coffee, known in Arabic as “bunn“, as a drink. “However, instead of bunn, it was called bunk, and rather than ..read more

Yemen, your body lies crushed beneath the rubble that was the home where you were born your blood floods the land where sorghum supplied every need your breath is a raging wind, a gasp in the swirling dust but despite all odds you cling to life, you sing, you dance, you will not be denied. Sanaa, your towering buildings bow down in prayer for the dead the saila swells with your tears Bab al-Yemen closes its eyes blinded in dark nights more dense than locusts devouring all they see but as the bombs flash hope shines through the alabaster carved by your grandfathers’ hardened hands. Yemen, your ..read more

To access these books, click here ..read more

This is an excellent Youtube talk by Ahmad al-Jallad on the evidence from the rock inscriptions and graffiti from the Arabian Peninsula. Also check out his excellent book on religion and ritual in the Safaitic graffiti ..read more

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My podcast with Ahmed AlMaazmi and Tamara Fernando is posted online on the New Books Network ..read more

On April 9 the Middle East historian Jere Bacharach, emeritus professor at the University of Washington, passed away. He was an amazing individual, great scholar and friend. He will be missed. For the department memoriam, click here ..read more

This is a beautifully illustrated text, a copy of a text first written in the 14th century. You can examine it at https://smarthistory.org/the-ardashirnama-judeo-persian-manuscript/?fbclid=IwAR2HraOscVYdt03-zK8A8967wCODwd12JfPuRi25Y2uSW1H0Dt9eDdO7v20 ..read more