Arabia – Listorati https://listorati.com Fascinating facts and lists, bizarre, wonderful, and fun Sun, 17 Nov 2024 23:10:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://listorati.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/listorati-512x512-1.png Arabia – Listorati https://listorati.com 32 32 215494684 Top 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Lawrence Of Arabia https://listorati.com/top-10-things-nobody-tells-you-about-lawrence-of-arabia/ https://listorati.com/top-10-things-nobody-tells-you-about-lawrence-of-arabia/#respond Sun, 17 Nov 2024 23:10:15 +0000 https://listorati.com/top-10-things-nobody-tells-you-about-lawrence-of-arabia/

Although most people know him as the hero and leader portrayed in David Lean’s 1962 epic film Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas Edward Lawrence was a far more complex and intriguing character than many people realize. His individualism, eccentricity, and profound intellect brought him both trials and tribulations which most people are unaware of. Here are 10 surprising things about Lawrence of Arabia which you won’t learn by watching the movie.

10 He Was Short

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Lawrence was a small man, yet Peter O’Toole, who portrayed him in the 1962 film, stood at a full 188 centimeters (6’2″). In reality, he was only 165 centimeters (5’5″) and therefore not the towering figure which he is often believed to be.

Even Robert Pattinson, having recently played Lawrence in Werner Herzog’s film Queen of the Desert, is far too tall at 185 centimeters (6’1″) to give a good idea of the man’s true height. Once again, this warps people’s perspectives.

Thanks to his diminutive size, Lawrence was known as “shortarse” among his colleagues. Even so, Lawrence reportedly had astonishing endurance and was improbably tough. Such strength has been attributed to a strong mental determination to overcome his unimpressive stature, spurred on by the fact that his brothers were much taller than he was.

9 He Might Have Been Gay

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Lawrence’s sexuality is a sensitive matter that remains the subject of constant speculation. Some claim that his marriage proposal to Janet Laurie—an old family friend—is proof that he was heterosexual. Supposedly, he also had a mistress to whom he sent regular, secretive payments.

Others argue that Lawrence was probably gay, especially given his close relationship with Dahoum, an Arab water boy. Dahoum is often considered to be Lawrence’s “personal motive” for leading the desert revolt which Lawrence mentioned in his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Furthermore, his book was dedicated “to S.A.” These are the initials of Dahoum’s real name, Selim Ahmed, thus adding fuel to the speculation.

It is clear from such disagreement that nobody actually knows what Lawrence’s sexuality was. But it is an irrelevant factor when considering the achievements and flaws of this war hero.

8 He Built His Own House In His Family’s Garden

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A perfect example of what made Lawrence an unusual person is the bungalow he built for himself in his family’s garden. As a student, he was an introvert who spent little time with his fellow pupils. Growing up with four brothers and both parents in a relatively small Victorian house wasn’t easy, either.

As a result, Lawrence and his father built a small, single-story house for him in the garden, where he could work in peace, away from his brothers and other distractions. During his time in this bungalow, he claimed to have pushed himself to the limits, once going 45 hours without food or sleep.

Both his family home and the house in the garden are still standing, proof that Lawrence did not go about his life the way most people do.

7 He Introduced Explosives To The Middle East

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In 2016, we are all too familiar with the use of IEDs (“improvised explosive devices”) and suicide bombers in the Middle East, both of which are used by terrorists. Lawrence may have played a large role in giving such tactics to the terrorists.

With a man named Herbert Garland, Lawrence made widespread use of explosives to disrupt the Turkish railway lines in Arabia. This strategy had devastating effects and contributed massively to the success of the revolt. His ingenious ideas were used by Vietnamese generals during the war with America.

Since then, they have been copied by revolutionary groups and terrorists across the world. Perhaps that explains why the writings of Lawrence are on the recommended reading list of US forces engaged in combat in the Middle East.

6 He Walked Across Syria Alone

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As a young man, Lawrence decided to walk the length of Syria alone—and he promptly did. Only 21 years old, he traveled over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi) on foot across the desert and through many of the world’s oldest cities, regardless of the dangers he faced. His reason for the trip was related to his university degree in history, so he spent his time photographing and studying crusader castles.

However, Lawrence did much more than look at castles. He learned about the political and geographic conditions of the region and the customs of the local people. In addition, he learned to speak Arabic. The things he discovered in Syria would be invaluable to his campaign to aid the Arab revolt. And the sheer audacity it took to walk across a dangerous, foreign country on foot speaks volumes about Lawrence as a man.

5 He Was Born Out Of Wedlock

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Being born to unmarried parents in the Victorian era was scandalous. But that is the story of Lawrence. His father, Sir Thomas Chapman, left a wife and four daughters to be with the family’s governess, Sarah Junner. They soon adopted the name, Lawrence. Once again, this put them in conflict with a deeply patriarchal Victorian society, which expected children to have the surname of their father.

Since Chapman never divorced his first wife, the Lawrence family moved around constantly to escape detection. As a result, all five sons were born in different countries. T.E. Lawrence was born in Wales. Since he grew up in England, his mother was Scottish, and his father was part Irish, T.E. Lawrence ended up as something of a combination of all the different countries that make up the United Kingdom.

4 He May Have Fabricated His Own Torture

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In Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence writes of being captured, tortured, and sexually assaulted by Turkish soldiers. These events, which reportedly took place in Deraa, were reproduced in David Lean’s film.

However, some people contend that this was entirely made up by Lawrence for a variety of reasons, both political and personal. Forensic analysis of the journal that Lawrence kept during the war suggests that he was not where he claimed to be when the torture took place.

However, it is known that torture, both orthodox and sexual, was a common practice in the Ottoman Empire, especially against captured officers like Lawrence. When Seven Pillars of Wisdom was published, topics such as sexual assault were taboo. Thus, his decision to include the passage would not have been taken lightly.

As with much of Lawrence’s life, the truth is unclear but remains hotly contested.

3 He Was Multilingual

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Lawrence was a polyglot. Having supposedly learned to read at age four, he started to learn Latin at six, displaying early signs of linguistic proficiency. Before age 30, he was fluent in French, German, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Syriac, English, and Latin.

He translated Homer’s The Odyssey from ancient Greek to English—perhaps reflecting his own epic journeys—and this was subsequently published. Furthermore, he was part of the Arab delegation to the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, acting as a translator between the various heads of state. This role allowed him to speak personally with many of the world’s most powerful people, such as Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, and David Lloyd George.

2 He Was A Photography Pioneer

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Few people are aware that Lawrence was an avid photographer, perhaps surprising for a man who was so often on the other side of the lens. Inspired by his father, Lawrence took photographs throughout his life—from class pictures at school to detailed images of archaeological finds in the Middle East.

Some of his photographs were very important because he was involved in a project to photograph and map large parts of uncharted Palestine. This material would become hugely important during World War I. Even after retreating from the public eye and joining the Royal Air Force, Lawrence became part of a recently founded School of Photography, where he excelled and developed new techniques for photographing planes.

1 He Hated Fame

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Lawrence hated his fame and could not stand the media attention he received. As one of the heroes of World War I, his achievements were widely praised. He became arguably the world’s first media celebrity, with the press constantly reporting on him.

Yet he wanted anonymity, even enlisting in the Royal Air Force under a fake name to get away from his fame. But within months, the press had discovered his identity and published it. Despite having written Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Lawrence didn’t have it published in his lifetime because he was desperate to avoid the attention it might bring him.

The reason for this aversion to popularity is believed to be a deep sense of guilt about his achievements. This was evident in his letters because he thought the Arab revolt was a failure. After all, the Imperial powers simply carved up the Middle East for themselves after World War I. So he considered himself to be a failure, despite public opinion to the contrary.

+ Further Reading

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If you are still hungry for more information on Lawrence of Arabia and others like him, be sure to take a look at some of these earlier lists:

10 Reverential Biopics That Accidentally Insulted Their Subjects
10 Historical Battles Hollywood Got Completely Wrong
Top 10 Things The British Empire Got Right
10 Astounding Fish-Out-Of-Water Stories From History

Thiago is from a flat place with a big sky. Gotta fill all that sky with something, so he filled it with his dreams.

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10 Fascinating Facts About Ancient Arabia https://listorati.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-ancient-arabia/ https://listorati.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-ancient-arabia/#respond Fri, 14 Jul 2023 14:24:51 +0000 https://listorati.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-ancient-arabia/

Today the religiously and socially conservative nation of Saudi Arabia is not only located in the middle of the world geographically, but in the middle of horribly charged controversies. For instance, airstrikes against Yemen, its neighbor on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, have killed an estimated 24,000 people and deeply implicated allies such as the United States in crimes including destroying school buses. Arabian business interests have become deeply involved with and publicly clashed with all sorts of American enterprises from the Professional Golfers Association of America to World Wrestling Entertainment.  

Can any answers how this country got in such a bizarre position be found by looking at its origins? Not the modern founding of the nation of Saudi Arabia in 1932, but in ancient times. At least a millennia ago. Back in days when the Arabian Peninsula was climatologically a very different place, when the seeds of the society we see today were sown. 

10. Art on the Rocks

Although artistic depictions of animals and people are prohibited under Islamic doctrine, go back a few centuries before the Prophet and there are areas in Saudi Arabia where such work was all the rage. Unquestionably the largest surviving ancient collection is the Bir Hima, located about thirty kilometers north of the city of Najran in Southeastern Arabia, near the border with Yemen. The site is so lush with artwork that a 1952 expedition said a person could stand in one area, turn around 360 degrees, and see more than 250 murals. 

For historians, the art was invaluable as an unintentional timeline through the use of carbon dating. The most popular subject matter for the glyphs was domestic animals. Since the earliest glyphs date to circa 7000 BC, it was determined the locals had already domesticated cattle by that period. There were images of cattle possessing stripes and other patterns on their hides providing intriguing hints of long extinct species. There are also ostriches and other species no longer to be found in the area, and on the other end of the spectrum it was approximated when now commonplace camels arrived. Consequently, in 2021, the site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site

9. The Ancient Banning of Veils

Although women covering themselves with burqas and other veils is generally associated with Islam in many cultures (though how far the Quran dictates these measures should be taken is highly debated), the practice again predates the arrival of the Prophet in the Middle East by millennia. It also stretches far beyond the Middle East, so that even in ancient Indian cultures there was a wide use of veils for centuries before Christ. 

In Arabia, this practice acquired a curious wrinkle. Since the veil was associated with modesty and purity, it was believed that it should be reserved for the higher classes. Consequently, there was a period where it was banned for prostitutes and other lower class women to wear a veil.  

8. Ancient Coffee

Before large petroleum deposits were discovered in the Arabian Peninsula on March 3, 1938, the most prominent product exported from Saudi Arabia was coffee. According to Dynise Balcavage’s 2001 book Saudi Arabia, the practice of consuming coffee began around 800 AD when a goat herder named Khalid was looking for a way to keep up his energy in the head. When he observed his goats eating coffee beans, they seemed unusually spritely, and so he shared his findings with his fellow bedouin.

Some sources claim that it took several centuries for coffee to reach its modern form, so that around 1300 AD it was confirmed that roasted and brewed coffee was being prepared as a drink, the technique first being adopted in or near Yemen. For the longest time the most common use for coffee, whether the beans were chewed or brewed, was to keep Muslim worshipers awake and alert during religious observances. So perhaps it’s unsurprising that while Arabians were using coffee to analyze texts, Catholic churches were initially declaring it the drink of infidels. 

7. Islam’s Birth Control Origins

Birth control of all forms is still a controversial subject matter, particularly in fundamentalist religious countries. Saudi Arabia is no exception, as its government banned birth control in 1975, particularly the importation of Western pills for this purpose. Even such seemingly benign methodology as the rhythm technique is often frowned upon. 

This would be quite surprising for many ancient Saudi Arabians, even long after Islam became the dominant religion. As explained in Vern L. Bullough’s 2001 Encyclopedia of Birth Control, Arabic scholars were still recording and sharing texts on how to both prevent conception and even how to perform abortions in the 10th Century. This attitude was undoubtedly influenced by the close proximity of such prominent scholars as Muhammad Ibn Zakariya Al Razi and Ibn Seena in Persia who approved of birth control sufficiently to compile as many as20 contraceptive methods over their careers. So widespread was knowledge of birth control in Ancient Saudi Arabia that many of the techniques were exported to Europe. It is notable that the Quran itself was generally considered vague on the subject matter, so that even some more conservative Muslim communities would allow abortions into the fourth month.  

6. European Slaves

One of the more ignominious aspects of Arabian history is the slave trade, which historians generally place as running from the 7th Century to 1900 AD. In the beginning, according to Professor Tidane N’Diyae, the Arab Slave Trade mostly imported European slaves. This came to an end as Muslim conquests into Europe lost momentum, and gradually transitioned to importing slaves from East Africa. The historical record on how these European slaves were integrated into larger Arabian society is spotty, though it is noted that Muslim armies would incorporate European slaves for units such as the Rumi or the famous Mamluks.

One thing that is fairly well-confirmed is that Arabs did not long create plantations of European slaves. That was because in 869 AD, the slave revolt broke out which became known as the Zanj Rebellion, which would last until 883 AD. Although it took place in modern day Iraq rather than on the Arabian Peninsula and the slaves were African rather than European, the message of what disasters could result from amassing large, segregated populations of slaves was received loud and clear by the broader Middle East.  

5. The Malleable Monotheism

Although the ostensibly monotheistic belief in the God of Abraham was prevalent by the arrival of the Muhammad, many Arabians were very flexible when it came to the number of gods that they were willing to worship. Authors Huseyin Abiva and Noura Durkee of A History of Muslim Civilization explained how many Arabian tribes would pick and choose gods from other religions as they saw fit. For example, there was a temple south of the City of Makkah itself devoted to the Roman goddess Venus herself. Muhammad’s own grandfather professed to believe in both Allah of Ibriham and the totally unrelated moon god Hubal despite the inherently sinful nature of worshiping multiple gods according to Allah. The prevailing excuse seemed to be that Allah had simply delegated some authority to fellow deities.  

For those that didn’t feel any allegiance to Allah at all, the number of gods could become extreme indeed. For example, one surviving temple from the pre-Islamic period that became Kaaba, the most holy site before Islam, hosted idols for a variety of gods. For perspective, ancient Greek mythology lists 12 deities in its pantheon. There were 360 gods worshiped at Kaaba, including by the prophet himself before he received word from Allah. These idols were all destroyed with the arrival of the new dominant religion.    

4. Allah’s Rose Scent

In addition to the cherished scent of freshly brewed coffee, the rest of the world owes Saudi Arabia a great deal in terms of making civilization more aromatic. While the Egyptians had been filling chambers with myrrh for centuries and Ancient Rome had been using lavender to give homes that fresh feeling, Arab chemists (though at the time they referred to themselves as “alchemists”) introduced the practice of incorporating alcoholic distillation into creating fragrances. With the decline of perfume industries in Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, this left a hole in the market that granted Arab traders a prolonged, veritable monopoly. Lucrative trade routes to Europe started following the Crusades, though presumably many Arabs would not have considered them worth the trouble. 

Despite the potential for seeming decadent, these scents were heartily endorsed by Muslim clerics, who claimed that they represented the “wisdom and purity of Allah.” When the aforementioned physician Avicenna applied alcoholic distillation to roses, he created a product which would become a household staple for centuries. Initially, though, it was distributed to pharmacies for its supposed curative properties. Ultimately it became commonplace to leave a bowl of rosewater for families to use to perk themselves up.

3. Al Ardah

People possessing a passing familiarity with Islam are probably most aware of the early, swift conquests of Muslim armies. War had been deeply ingrained in Arab culture long before the birth of Islam, and one of the more distinctive ways this manifested was a ritual called the Al Ardah (“to show”). The most popular and enduring form of this ritual is the Najd Ardah, named for the region of its origin. The Bedouin nomads are generally credited with originating the dance. 

For a classic Ardah, two lines of troops would line up. A verse of poetry would be recited, then in unison, the men would perform a highly choreographed dance to either show off their skills with swords or to hype themselves up. The movements were accompanied by music performed on flutes, clarinets, trombones, and a type of drum called the takhmeer. These dances could become quite elaborate, with as many as 50 lines of poetry being read between dance routines. In a concession to modernity, many performances will feature the dancers having a handgun holstered in their belts. The dance is of sufficient cultural significance today that presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, George W. Bush, Francois Hollande, and Donald Trump have performed it.      

2. Musical Pioneers

Ancient Arabs were also making momentous changes to the music world away from the battlefield. Most significantly, there was the rabab, which is the first known instrument which incorporated the use of a bow, and thus it has been nicknamed the “arab fiddle.” Its exact date of invention is not known, but it is well-documented how Arabs both introduced the instruments to Europe through Islamic Spain and how it was the direct inspiration for the European knockoff, the rebec, which was itself the predecessor for violas and violins.  

Arabian music theorists attempted to formalize and standardize music. In the Ninth Century AD, a system of written musical notation was invented. In the 10th Century, Ab? al-Faraj al-I?bah?n? wrote the “Book Of Songs” which was an authoritative compilation of music and customs from the era. However, according to the 1999 book World Music: Africa, Europe, and the Middle East by Orla Duanne and James McConnachie, most Arab musicians didn’t bother to check with any sort of sheet music at all, preferring to memorize the songs by ear and perform them as memorized. Considering that there was popular Arab folklore at the time that the lute had been invented when Adam’s grandson Lamak took the leg of his dead son and fashioned it for a song to lament his dead son, it’s not surprising this was a community that generally rejected an academic approach to music. 

1. The Nabateans

Large amounts of ancient Arabian history are not documented in depth, but there’s a particularly intriguing cultural mystery at the heart of the region even by its murky historical standards: Who were the Nabateans? As far as written history is concerned, we largely have to rely on secondary sources. Roman and Greek documents say they were a group that acquired such wealth through the incense trade that they were able to create staggeringly beautiful stone monuments such as Petra (most likely familiar to readers from the final act of the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

Then the Romans conquered them and absorbed them into the empire in 106 AD. Aside from a bunch of cryptic pieces of graffiti scattered about their monuments, that’s about it. That is very little for a nation that was roughly the size of Belgium and which left behind architectural wonders. A campaign to correct this major historical oversight was begun in 2019 with 60 experts. Considering that they have more than 2,000 square miles of area to study, they presumably still have a large amount of work cut out for them. 

When not looking into the past, Dustin Koski looks into the future when he writes horror comedies like Return of the Living, a novel about the afterlifes of ghosts after the apocalypse. 

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