The U.S. Has Managed to Force a Stalemate in the Syrian Civil War, at Least for Now
A quagmire for the Russians.
July 3, 2020
Piecing Together an 8th-Century Letter from a Jewish Merchant in China
What might be the earliest extant document in modern Persian.
The ancient city of Dandan-Uiliq, abandoned centuries ago, is located in the Xinjiang region, where Communist China is currently carrying out one of its most brutal campaigns of persecution. Once the city was an important stop along the Silk Road. In 1901, an excavation of the ruins of a Buddhist monastery there revealed an ancient letter written in Hebrew script. At the time of its writing, Persian-speaking Jewish merchants were involved in trade across Eurasia, from southwestern Russia to the Chinese heartland. Ursula Sims-Williams explains how another recent discovery helped make sense of the document:
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Login or SubscribeJuly 3, 2020
The EU’s Feeble Attempts to Stop Funding Palestinian Terror, and the Outraged Palestinian Response
A sense of entitlement.
How the Campus Crusade against Israel Suppresses Freedom of Speech and Open Inquiry
A cheap ploy made life hellish for a Jewish professor.
For Religious Ritual to Confront Death, It Must Step Outside of Reason
Finding the rationale for the nonrational.
Piecing Together an 8th-Century Letter from a Jewish Merchant in China
What might be the earliest extant document in modern Persian.