<![CDATA[
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
The Lebanese are composed of many ethnic, and religious groups. Ethnically, a
mixture of Phoenician, Assyrian, Aramaic....., and other Semitic peoples, Persian,
Greek, Byzantine, Crusader, and of course Arab. Throughout the ages there has
been an influx of Arab tribes, and families from the desert. From the 7th century
onward, Lebanon became a refuge for persecuted Christian, and Muslim sects. The
Lebanese government recognizes 17 religious sects in Lebanon. Arabic is the language
of the Lebanese. There is strong evidence that Arabic has been spoken by the Lebanese
as early as the 10th century, and maybe earlier. It has been definitely the lingua
franca of the Middle east since the Muslim Arab occupation of the region. For
many centuries Aramaic, with its many dialects, was the lingua franca of the whole
region, including Lebanon. Syriac, which was high Aramaic, is still used in the
liturgy of the Maronite church, Syrian Catholic, and Syrian Orthodox churches
today. Greek, which was introduced by the invading armies of the Macedonian conqueror,
Alexander the great, was also spoken, but mostly in the cities. The Phoenicians,
also known by their ancient neighbours as Canaanites (merchants), arrived in Lebanon
about 3000 BC. Their original homeland, according to traditions, was the region
of the Persian gulf. They were traders, and colonisers, and by the second millennium,
they had already extended their influence along the Levant coast line, Anatolia,
Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and they colonised a large area of north Africa,
Carthage, whose great general Hannibal 247-182 BC defeated the Roman armies in
many great battles, and threatened their capital Rome. Phoenicia was invaded by
the Egyptians in the 16th century BC. They established suzerainty over much of
Phoenicia, which was lost in the 14th century BC. In the 9th century BC The Assyrians
took control, then the Persians in 538 Bc. The country was latter taken by Alexander
the great, and in 64 Bc by the Romans. The Phoenician language was closely related
to Hebrew, and Maobite. It was spread to all its colonies, and its Alphabet became
the ancestor of the Greek alphabet, and all western alphabets. The Phoenician
Language was superseded by Aramaic in the 1st century BC. Constantine the great
306-337 AD moved the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople. Christianity became
the official state religion. Phoenicia became a part of the eastern Roman Empire,
(Byzantine empire). The Byzantine empire was more Greek in culture, and language
then Latin. Greek was widely spoken in the cities of Phoenicia, "it is still presently
used in the liturgies of the Melkite Orthodox, and Melkite Catholic churches in
Lebanon, and the rest of the Arab world". Aramaic was the language of the majority
of the populace. The great Profit Mohamed received his prophetic call 610 AD,
by the time of his death in 632 AD, he had gathered together a large part of Arabia,
and the Islamic Ummah (nation) was increasing in number, and strength while Christian
sects were fighting each others, accusing each others of being heretics. Byzantine
emperors fuelled the Quarrels, using their military forces to support different
factions. Islam came as a saviour to many from the Byzantine tyranny, while others
sought refuge in the Lebanese mountains from both the Byzantines, and the Muslims.
Many of those refugees were Arabs, Anbaat (Arab town dwellers from Syria, and
surrounding region). The Mardaites, Indo European people related to the Iranians,
and inhabited the Amanos mountains in present day Hatay province of Turki, were
ordered by the Byzantine emperor to occupy the area, which forms present day Lebanon,
and part of Palestine, to form a defence line against the Islamic invaders. The
Mardaites succeeded, until Justinian II betrayed them, 12000 of their fighters,
and their families were removed from Lebanon, and dispersed in Anatolia, What
remained of them merged with the rest of the inhabitants of the Lebanese mountain,
who were followers of a Syrian hermit, Saint Maron. Led by their Patriarch Saint
John Maron they routed the Byzantine army of Justinian II at the battle of Amioun
694AD. The Abbasids Arab dynasty moved Arab, Iranian, and Turkic Muslim tribes
into some areas of Lebanon to counter the Maronite threat to the borders of their
empire. The Mamluke Sultans of Egypt later did the same by moving a large number
of different Islamic people, including Arabs, Turks and others into the south
western area of Lebanon to prevent the Crusaders, whom they expelled from returning.
The crusaders left behind many of their people, who merged with the Maronites
in the Lebanese Mountain. The Ottoman Turks, after defeating the Mamlukes, and
taking over the Sultanate, brought with them a large army of Muslim Albanians,
and Circassians ( were also a part of the Mamluke Army, and Many Mamlukes were
Circassians). All these People contributed to the Lebanese Genetic pool. Members
of religious sects in Lebanon married partners from their own sects, and very
seldom intermarried with the other sects, even at present. The Lebanese, Muslims,
and Christians genetic pool is very rich, and diversified, which makes of the
Lebanese people a tough, highly intelligent, and very industrious people indeed.
<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "UA-3900301-3";
urchinTracker();
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3900301-1");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>
</body>
]]>