Middle East

Charles Chenevix Trench finds that, as Governor of Equatoria and then Governor-General of the Sudan from 1874-1880, one of C. G. Gordon’s chief concerns was suppressing the slave-trade.

Sherman Johnson unravels the legends surrounding the author of the shortest and, possibly, earliest of the Gospels in the New Testament.

Geoffrey Grigson examines the treatment, by artists and poets, of the "three wise men" of Christian scripture.

Just over a thousand years ago Chinese printers completed the publication of the Confucian Classics—an event as important in the history of civilization as the printing of the Gutenberg Bible. By Adrian L. Julian.

Britain’s involvement in the Middle East between the wars proved a rich seam for authors of adventure stories which, in turn, helped to reinforce the imperial mission.

Roger Howard recalls a moment when Israel was rocked by exaggerated claims of a threat posed by Egypt.

Christian Byzantium and the Muslim Abbasid caliphate were bitter rivals. Yet the necessities of trade and a mutual admiration of ancient Greece meant that there was far more to their relationship than war, as Jonathan Harris explains.

David Footman on the conspiracies that surround the Order of Assassins.

Christopher Sykes delivers a historical backdrop to mid-20th century tension on the Persian Gulf.

Sir Julian Huxley examines the debates and mysteries that surround humanity's earliest moves towards mass society.