Supporters
Discovering the Levant, North Africa and the Arabian Gulf on the Island Sky
THURSDAY 4 FEBRUARY
Theatre 1
Time: 3.00pm
Title: Discovering the Levant, North Africa and the Arabian Gulf on the Island Sky
Speaker: Canon Dr Anne Davison
Company: Noble Caledonia
The Mediterranean Sea, Arabian Sea and Arabian Gulf all offer a wealth of places to visit. In some cases these destinations have only recently become accessible to tourism and one of the best ways to visit is on a small cruise ship.
The Mediterranean Sea provided a route for trade and the exchange of ideas between the peoples of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and the Phoenicians of present day Lebanon.
The first Christian monasteries were established in the deserts of Egypt and from Egypt the monastic tradition spread to Greece and Europe. Later the Byzantine emperors of Constantinople converted pagan temples into Churches, built new monasteries and huge basilicas across the entire Eastern and Southern Mediterranean regions.
The arrival of Islam in the 6th century led to the Crusades resulting in the building of crusader castles along the coasts of modern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.
The Arabian Sea was important for trade between India, the Far East, Egypt and the Levant and the Arabian Gulf provided a link between the Arabs of Arabia and the many Persian dynasties from the time of Cyrus the Great.
All these great civilizations have left their mark, both on the landscape and within the culture of the peoples. From ancient Egyptian tombs built 3,000 years ago to magnificent marble mosques of Abu Dhabi there is so much to discover and to delight, not to mention the gardens of Shiraz in Iran.
