A nomadic people, a cradle of civilization
6,000 years of the Middle East and Judea in one volume!
★ History YouTuber 'Justice's' Book ★
★ Popular channel with 154,000 subscribers and 28 million cumulative views ★

We're back with a story about Middle Eastern history from the historical YouTube channel 'Justice', which boasts 154,000 subscribers and 28 million cumulative views.
A comprehensive book, 『Justice's Deeper World History (Middle East Edition)』, which allows readers to read the vast history of the Middle East and the world history of the Jews, which could not be fully captured in video, has been published.

This book unfolds 6,000 years of Middle Eastern history through exciting storytelling, starting with the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, considered the first civilizations of mankind, and continuing through Babylon, the Persian Empire, the Islamic Empire, and the Ottoman Empire.
At the same time, it also sheds light on the history of the Jews, who started in Palestine and scattered across the world to Spain, the Netherlands, England, India, the United States, and China, forming a vast network.
The Middle East was the cradle of human civilization and the stage of world history, and the Jews were the ones who changed the world even during their history of wandering.
『Justice's Deeper World History (Middle East Edition)』 divides these two axes of story into 'Middle Eastern History' and 'Jewish History' and weaves them together chronologically, vividly reviving the decisive moments in the flow of world history.

The author builds on the content covered on his YouTube channel, but supplements the historical context that was not covered in the video and improves the accuracy of the expression.
Additionally, the text is richly illustrated with photos, illustrations, and maps, helping readers understand more intuitively and deeply than videos.
Let's journey through the 6,000-year history of the Middle East, the origin of human civilization and a stage for endless conflict, all in one volume.

The first urban civilization known to mankind is the Mesopotamian civilization, which began around 3500 BC.
Mesopotamian civilization is a collective term for several city-states (civilizations) that originated in the plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq.
The Sumerian civilization in the southernmost part, along with Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria, built empires and ruled over Mesopotamia.
Therefore, the Sumerian civilization is considered to be a predecessor civilization that served as the root of the Mesopotamian civilization, and can be considered to be included in the Mesopotamian civilization.
The Sumerian civilization refers to the city-states that developed based on agriculture thanks to the fertile plains and rainfall in the Mesopotamian region, located in what is now southern Iraq.
As the Sumerian civilization (nation) formed in this way developed, numerous important cities were formed, which later became the foundation of Mesopotamian civilizations such as Akkad, Babylonia, and Assyria.
--- From "The Birth of Mankind's First City"

In the midst of this chaos, the ancient Babylonian kingdom was founded around the end of the 19th century BC.
The Babylonian kingdom was centered around Babylon, a small city in southern Mesopotamia.
Initially it was little more than a city-state with little influence, but by the 18th century BC it had undergone major changes under the rule of its sixth king, Hammurabi.
Hammurabi conquered surrounding city-states one after another with his outstanding military and diplomatic strategies, and made Babylonia the center of Mesopotamia.
Hammurabi established the Code of Hammurabi to unify the conquered regions into a single legal system.
The Code of Hammurabi is a code of laws that governed the life of ancient Mesopotamia, including civil law, criminal law, commercial law, and family law.
--- From "Babylon, the Center of the Ancient World"

When Alexander the Great attacked Persia, Persia was already a great empire that had ruled over a vast territory, preserving its traditions and culture for over 200 years.
On the other hand, Macedonia, led by Alexander the Great, was a newly emerging power that had just unified Greece and had no special strengths other than its strong military.
Against this backdrop, the claim that Greek culture took root deeply throughout the Middle East in a short period of time may be an exaggeration, based on an assessment from a Western-centric perspective.
Alexander the Great's conquests were essentially aimed at the military expansion of Macedonia.
It was also an inevitable choice to maintain the rapidly expanded military power during the Greek unification process.
--- From "A New World Blossomed at the Crossroads of Civilization"

The Arabs, who had amassed wealth through intermediary trade, had a desire to oppose the Sassanid Empire, to which they had previously submitted.
However, because they were scattered across several tribes, it was difficult to resist powerful foreign powers.
Therefore, a powerful ideology, a religion, was needed that could unite the scattered Arab forces.
Muhammad created Islam, which was easily accepted by Arabs, using the monotheistic concepts of Christianity and Judaism, which were already prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula.
Afterwards, Islam formed a powerful Islamic empire by conquering other peoples and taking their property under the name of 'jihad'.
In this way, Islam transcended the level of a simple religion and developed into a powerful political and military tool to unite the various tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and fight against external powers.
--- From "The Quran and the Sword, Why Islam Conquered the World"

The Ottoman Empire has a complex history, straddling tradition and modernization, and is key to understanding modern history in the Middle East.
The wars and conflicts taking place in the Middle East today often stem from ethnic and sectarian conflicts.
However, the Ottoman Empire once established a framework for various religious and ethnic communities to coexist while maintaining their own autonomy and identity through the millet system.
In this way, the Ottoman Empire embraced diversity through harmony and compromise rather than oppression, and survived for hundreds of years.
Today's Middle East also needs to revisit the principles of inclusion and coexistence in this historical legacy.
--- From "From the Age of Sultans to the Age of the Republic"

Jewish history reached a turning point around 135 AD with the Second Jewish-Roman War.
After this war, the Jews left Palestine and began a life of diaspora (scattered people) scattered throughout the world.
This means that the Jewish people are no longer confined to the regional framework of the Middle East, but have exerted a diverse influence across various civilizations, including Europe, North Africa, and Asia.
Therefore, the latter part of Jewish history needs to be viewed in the context of world history, not just Middle Eastern history.
--- From "Reinterpreting Jewish History"

In conclusion, Jewish merchants played a vital role as intermediaries and facilitators of trade networks between Europe and Asia from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.
Their activities transformed the consumption structure of the European economy by supplying Asian products to European markets, and also served as a conduit for European goods and technologies to spread to Asia.
The international trade in which Jewish merchants were active can be evaluated as having played a significant catalytic role in deepening the interdependence between the two continents and contributing to the formation of the early modern world economy.
--- From "The Vanguard of Trade: The World Created by Jewish Networks"

The founding of Israel stemmed from the Zionist movement that began in the late 19th century.
Zionism is a national movement of the Jewish people seeking to establish an independent nation-state in Palestine, which they consider their historical homeland.
In the late 9th century, as persecution of Jews increased in Europe, the Zionist movement spread widely among Jews.
In August 1897, the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, under the leadership of Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl.
Jewish representatives from around the world gathered and adopted the Basel Program, which aimed to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, including the Holy Land of Jerusalem.
It is the starting point of the movement to establish the modern state of Israel.

--- From "The Promised Land of Israel: The Seed of Conflict Called Nation-building"