Talk:Ancient Near East
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Merged with Ancient Orient. I changed the definition of the end of the period to "rise of the Persian empire" – "Ancient Near East" is not commonly used to include times contemporary with Classical Antiquity. If there are usages/definitions that require it to reach until the rise of Islam, we can put that back in, saying that definitions vary. dab 10:12, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)
[edit] WikiProject
see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near East dab 21:05, 21 Nov 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Excellent map.
Just thought I'd say so.--Rob117 02:14, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] ANCIENT OCCIDENT
Isn't the proper geographical designation as western, rather than eastern? Is this not the heritage of the Western, as opposed to Eastern world? Rhode Islander 07:51, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
- um, no? From the point of view of Europe (and the English language, as well as Latin and Greek, do have their vocabulary shaped from an European outlook, no NPOV policy is going to change that), the Fertile Crescent lies to the East. Of course, the "Near East" is to the West as seen from Iran or India. And yes of course, the Ancient Near East exerted more influence on the "Western" world than on the "Far Eastern" one. It's still influence flowing east to west via Hellenism and the Roman Empire. dab (ᛏ) 09:52, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
From a global, rather than eurocentric perspective, this article's title is in error. To counter systemic bias, this article should reflect the more encompassing and neutral view. Furthermore, it is decieving to present the Levantine, Arabian and Anatolian lands as geographically or culturally Oriental--except in ex-Seljuk/Ottoman Turkey's case, just because of a linguistic approach (or as seen from Rome's position on the map) and the mere fact that Asia was the name of Anatolia. The way Wikipedia uses its categorical language, suggests that the Mediterranean shorelines are divided between East and West. That is demonstrably false and it is horrible to exclude, encyclopediacally, the Hamito-Semitic places from the Atlantic world by categorizing them as Asian (just as it is wrong of the UN to call them Western Asia). Asia is not greater in size to accomodate the Holy Land, Mesopotamia or Egypt, nor is Africa part of the Oriental mindset. The East (Pacific Rim) is a world of India, Indochina, China, Oceania, etc. Culturally and historically, the lands of Alexander the Great are Western--especially the Semitic ones. Just how many Orientals have a Semitic name (John, Mary, Joseph, Abraham, Sarah, Muhammad, Ali, Adam, Daniel) independent of Western colonial influences? One good look at the Abrahamic religion article is enough to explain the geopolitical divisions through time. Who contends that Arabian desert peoples have more in common with Asia than Europe & Africa? Rhode Islander 11:08, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
- are you sure you know what you are talking about? Wikipedia has to choose its signifiants according to common usage in English. It cannot coin hyper-P.C but idiosyncratic terminology of its own. "Ancient Near East" is already the P.C. term for what used to be called "Ancient Orient". We could call it "Ancient [22-42 N; 27-52 E]", but then nobody would know what we are talking about, and we'd still be guilty of a Greenwich-bias, wouldn't we. en-wiki cannot but use terms that are "en"-centric. You may be interested in building jbo:, probably the only wiki free of such regional bias (but then 99% of its contributors are probably male white Anglo-Saxon nerds, so no luck again :) dab (ᛏ) 13:31, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
I am not coming at this from an anti-WASP vantage point, but an inclusive Western one. Local geographic terminology has been the custom for centuries; there is no doubt about the currency of its usage. I think that the Atlantic world article would be the best place for distinctions. Rhode Islander 20:55, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
