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Show 222 MADELYN CANNON STEWART SILVER southern Turkey, ancient capital of Syria, mission center for early Christianity. Antioch, captured by the Crusaders, formed a part of the Levant States, and in 1955 was part of the United Arab Republic (Syria). II The Silvers moved south down the Mediterranean coastal valley west of the Lebanon Mountains to Beirut, capital of the Lebanese Republic. Beirut, not yet destroyed by the devastating bombings of recent years, was the site of the American University and sported elegant gardens, cliff restaurants, play grounds, hospitals, and beautiful homes. The prominent Mansour family entertained the Silvers and "filled them in" on the region. While they were in Beirut a political parade turned ugly, a foretaste of what was to come. With a country divided between Muslims and Christians, there was tension that fre quently erupted into violence. Just outside of Beirut, to the north, was the mouth of Dog River (Nahr-El-Kelb], which was where the last spike was driv en linking London and Cairo by railroad. The river got its name from the time of Nebuchadrezzar, when a dog barked at the approach of an enemy and saved the city from surprise attack and certain defeat. On the rocks of Nahr-El Kelb Madelyn saw the seals of the many foreign troops that passed through that corridor on their way to or from Egypt over a period of 4,000 years: Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, French, and British. "On the banks of this river," Madelyn wrote, "is a short history of the world." The region had been a corridor for conquests and occupation since neolithic times. Further north was Byblos (Gebal), for which the Bible was named. This ancient Phoenician and Canaanite port, often referred to as "the oldest city in the world," was famous for its stonemasons and carpenters who helped construct Solomon's Temple and whose craftsmen built ships that traveled to the edges of the known world. By 1,250 B.C., when the Hebrews left Egypt for their Promised Land, these and other Phoenicians who were trading with the Iberian Peninsula and Dardanelles, |
