Palestine Across Millennia: A History of Literacy, Learning and Educational Revolutions

Palestine, of all countries on earth, is one of the most densely saturated places of cultural and religious significance. Situated in the middle of the Fertile Crescent– the ‘cradle of civilisations’ – and ancient trade routes, Palestine and the Palestinians were closely associated with the early alphabetical writing and many of the intellectual revolutions of the past four millennia. Yet Palestine’s remarkable history of scholarship and education has been overlooked and replaced by the perception – often advocated by Zionist narratives – that for centuries the country was a ‘black hole’ of nothingness, devoid of literacy and education. In this magisterial cultural history of the Palestinians, Nur Masalha illuminates the entire history of Palestinian learning with specific reference to writing, education, literary production and the intellectual revolutions in the country. The book introduces this long cultural heritage to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a ‘holy land’ for the four monotheistic religions – Islam, Christianity Judaism and Samaritanism – rather, the country evolved to become a major international site of classical education and knowledge production in multiple languages including Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. The cultural saturation of the country is found then, not solely in landmark mosques, churches and synagogues, but in scholarship, historic schools, colleges, famous international libraries and archival centres. The unique book introduces these renowned institutions, movements and multiple historical periods together for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement and not disconnected periods of educational excellence. In doing so, this multifaceted intellectual history transforms the orientations of scholarly research on Palestine and propels current historical knowledge on education and literacy in Palestine to new heights.