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With all that is going on at the moment in Syria, as citizens struggle peacefully for a life of dignity, I thought I would take a few moments to remind us all that, far from being the "Axis of Evil," Syria is the cradle of civilization and an Ancient Motherland to Europeans as well as people of the Levant.
In his brilliant book, The Seven Daughters of Eve, which I recently finished reading, geneticist Bryan Sykes portrays the seven clan mothers of all Europeans alive today. One of them, whom he names Jasmine, is the Syrian clan mother, ancestress of 17% of modern Europeans including many Spanish, Portuguese, Cornish,Welsh and Scottish people.
As a key home of the Neolithic Revolution, Syria is the place where wheat and lentils were domesticated and also goats and sheep. It is the home of the delicious pistachio nut, a staple food of Jasmine's people. Syria is the land of the Great Mother Atargis or Astarte, origin of the Greek Aphrodite and Roman Venus. Many of the world's great religions have deep roots in Syria. Jews lived in present-day Syria from the time of King David on. Later, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the Sephardic refugees found safe haven in Syria.
Antioch of Syria was one of the first homes of the Gentile Christian community. Indeed, Luke states that it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians ( Acts 11:26). Great saints such as John Chrysostom flourished in Antioch. And Syria was one of the earliest places where Islam flourished and spread. Under the reign of the great Ummayads, Damascus was capital of a land that spread from Andalusia to the Indus. The Ummayads were enlightened rulers, tolerant towards Christianity. Jews too were protected by the Ummayads, and arts and sciences flourished.
Whether we are Christians, Jews, Muslims, worshipers of the Mother or Humanists, we are in some sense children of Syria, cradle of civilization, land of the Ancient Mother. Every time we bite into a piece of bread or sip some milk, we are enjoying gifts that originally came to us from Syria. Today, as our brothers and sisters in Syria struggle for freedom and dignity, receiving bullets in return for cries of, "Peaceful, peaceful," let us remember the debt we owe to the Great Grandmother of civilization-- and pay it in solidarity for her Syrian children.