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Is This Ancient History's Most Important Resource?
🕑 Added 2024-08-17 18:00:07 +0000 UTCBefore I went to Lebanon I knew nothing about the Cedars of God. I didn't know why that was their flag, and I'd never heard of the forest of God. Now I bring them up with almost zero prompting. They're so cool, and such an incredible place to be able to visit. What a spectacularly dense history this region has.
As cool as they are to see, though, perhaps the best part about them was how they helped fill gaps in my head about the how and why of generic Mediterranean and middle eastern history. It's crazy that we don't learn about this stuff in school, because I feel like focusing on something like this would have really kicked people into paying better attention.
Today's episode is the zeroth episode in an ~eight part series that will at the end of this season be combined into a feature-length 1:30-2 hour episode (like we did in Bosnia, with just as many life or death interruptions to the filming, unfortunately). But unlike the Bosnia season, I've written slightly more into the smaller episodes to give them a bit of a more standalone feel. Hope you like it!
With much love and endless thanks,
Evan (and Kata)
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In le Plessis Robinson just outside Paris, there's a giant cedar tree striking from inside a roundabout over a downward slope. I think the mayor from ~30 years ago orchestrated planting that tree? In other towns that I have once lived, there's a Lebanese bakery called Cedar Bakery. It's very clear where the name came from. But I saw a real cedar tree for the first time in France. It looked old and wise and strong and beautiful.
