Perched between three continents — Africa, Asia, and Europe — the Levant is a crossroads of world history. Presently the domain of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians, with Turkey on its northern margins, the Levant epitomizes cultural complexity and geopolitical turbulence. This book surveys the pageant of peoples, armies, empires, and regimes that have featured in the Levant’s dramatic story since Pompey came from Rome chasing pirates more than 2,000 years ago.

The completely revised edition includes a special chapter on the convulsion in Syria since 2011, which has made the largest country in the Levant a theater of horror.

Other updated chapters include the latest events in Isreal/Palestine (including the  recent Gaza War) Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey. the ISIS and the new role of the US.