About A History of Palestine

A History of Palestine is a place where we focus on the history of the area which traditionally has been known as Palestine.

The area roughly fits the borders of modern-day Israel/Palestine, including some areas of modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.

The period in focus begins in the bronze age and continues up to the end of the British Mandate of Palestine. In order to have some organization, the periods are arranged according to the following:

Ancient Palestine:

1 – Ancient Israel (Bronze Age to Iron Age) from the 4th millennia BCE until beginning of the Persian conquest of the Near East in the 6th century BCE).

2 – Levantine under Persian Rule (from the 6th century BCE until Alexander the Great in the 330’s BCE).

3 – Hellenist Palestine (from the 330’s until the Roman conquest in 63 BCE).

Palestine during Antiquity:

4 – Roman Palestine (from 63 BCE until Constantine I in the 4th century CE).

5 – Byzantine Palestine (from the 4th century CE until the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE).

6 – Late antiquity Islamic Palestine (from the Islamic conquest in the 7th century CE until the Abbasid dynasty in the 8th century CE).

Islamic Palestine:

7 – Early Medieval Palestine (from the Abbasid in the 8th century CE until the Crusades in the late 11th century CE).

8 – Palestine during the Crusades (from the beginning of the Crusades in the late 11th century CE until the siege of Acre in 1291 CE).

9 – Late Medieval Palestine (from the end of the Crusades in the late 13th century CE until the beginning of the modernization of the Middle East in the 19th century CE).

Modern Palestine:

10 – The beginning of the modern period of Palestine (from the Egyptian invasion of Palestine in the 1830’s CE until the British Mandate in 1917).

11 – The Mandate of Palestine (from 1917 to the creation of Israel and the Palestinian Naqba in 1948).

Please note that this is an ongoing project and as such there will never be a final article, which “closes the book”. The mission is to delve into the history of the area to share insights and understandings of a contested area, which has been suffering under imperial policies from the onset of history until our days. It is a history of the people who have been inhabiting the area, the various religious cultures, the development of cultures, and languages spoken.

It is not only a history of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, but of Samaritans, Nabataeans, Idumeans, Kaananites, and many more. No ownership of the land is claimed. On the contrary, it’s the lands’ ownership of the people who lived here, which is presented and represented.

Please note that the use of “Palestine” in this context is not connected to the modern political concept of the same name and does not attempt to make a claim for or against the cause of the people who identify themselves as Palestinians.

Disclaimer:

We do make use of AI for the writing process. We use it as a tool, not as the “creative” force behind the content. The ideas, the subjects, the themes, are all decided by the people behind A History of Palestine, as is the knowledge provide. The writing process consists of the creation of a text based on the ideas and knowledge of the creators, which is then reviewed and edited, ensuring that the content lives up to the expectations of the people behind the website. 

This ensures that we save time, which we then can use to improve the website, the experience, and the development of new material and content. We are not shy about acknowledging this, and believe that AI plays an important, but not decisive, role in the creation of content, allowing people to focus more on what matters; the promotion of knowledge and interest in the subject.