Quote:
Originally Posted by Malkuth
The area that presents a historical continuity from 3500BC until today is:
West of Zagros mountains, south from the Anatolian plateau, east of the Western Egyptian desert, and north of the gulf of Aden / Arabian sea.
Before ~1000 CE, Greeks and Romans were a significant to the region. During that period Persian states were more involved with europeans through Caucasus, Anatolia, and the modern Ukrainian steppe. This period is the 4/5th of the regions history, while...
Only after ~1000 CE, Persians (through the involvement of Mongols and Turks, as well as the expansion of Islam eastwards) entered the regional politics in a significant manner... therefore today the region is extended to include Iran, Caucasus, Turkey, and all north Africa.
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I see. That was the issue mostly.
My take was larger based on current maps that include Iran, Turkey, and Egypt to your region (though no farther).
However I still contend that those areas should be counted within the context of todays material. Especially Egypt and Iran due to their direct influences in the region. The Greek significance would have been less without the Persian influence, and the Persians did control most, if not all the Fertile Cresent somewhere around 600BC, prior to the Greek invasion under Alexander. The Persians again held the region as the Romans decined, prior to the introduction of Islam during the 7th century CE. Add to this the Egyptians movements through the region prior to the Persians taking of the region (~1500 - 600 BC). Both Persian and Egyptians having heavy impact in the region around the Jordan River. Both friendly and hostile during these periods of control, and likely the military campaigns that would have to go through that area to engage their opponents. Modern Israel was a crossroad between major powers for much of the time before Rome, and again after Rome. Though after Rome, it took on the heavy religious significance for the major powers involved due to event that took place under Roman rule.
Also the old definition would probably have been Near East, with the Middle East being Iran and India, and Far East being the Orient.
In this context, the "Near East" was the Ottoman Empire for European purposes....usually in context with the conflict between the Christian European powers and the Islamic Ottoman Empire around the Eastern Mediterranian Sea. It has since been dropped in favor of "Middle East" sometime in the early 20th century (after the fall of the Ottoman Empire). The Near East sometimes included Iran and Egypt, but always included Turkey. However the Near East also excluded the Arabian Pennisula, so that term is moot in any context with the present Middle East.