BortmanBlog: History, history everywhere

Imagine you were having a problem with the water not draining out of your bathtub. After checking with your plumber that your pipes weren't clogged, you called the sewer department. After (what I'm sure would be) a lot of back and forth arguing, they finally agree to send someone out to check on it. The guy they send out ends up stumbling into a 1000 year old secret tunnel that the Knights Templar used to sneak holy land pilgrims from the port to their fortress. Certainly couldn't happen in America but did happen in Akko (or Acre), Israel. And not in the old days -- in 1993.

That is the way things are here. This small stretch of land has been trod upon, traversed and fought over for so long by so many people that you can't throw a cat without hitting some interesting, unbelievable artifact. As Dara mentioned in the last post, we went and saw the ruins at Zippori. 2000 years ago, the Romans had a nice little town here. The main street was well paved and lined on both sides with columns. Behind the columns were sidewalks made of beautiful mosaics. There was an amphitheater overlooking the valley and an aqueduct that brought in fresh water. It made me feel like I was walking on the set of the History of the World, Part I movie. Ari kept on saying, "Put a few columns out in front... turn any hovel into a showplace!"

I guess that since in school you learn history sequentially, I just figured that the Egyptians came first, then faded away, then the Greeks ruled during their Golden Age, then they faded as the Romans came to rule the world. By being here and seeing the places and learning about it, I have started to realize that it is much more complicated than that. Maybe this is obvious to others, but not to me. It was not nice and neat with the great civilizations taking turns, one at a time. Yes, the Egyptians came first, but they rose and fell and rose and fell over the centuries and were still going strong even while Socrates and his buddies in Greece were inventing democracy. And the republic in Rome was prospering during this time, too, then becoming an empire. Throw in the Phoenicians, Persians, Seleucids and many others and you end up with a web of plot lines that make soap opera writers jealous. I suppose that is why they keep it simple in middle school and leave the complicated stuff for PhD's.

And in Israel, that is just the middle of the ancient history! In Pennsylvania, if a house is 200 years old, it is really old.

The day after we went to Zippori, we visited the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa. Now, to really throw me for a loop, we jump to recent history -- the Baha'i religion is only about 150 years old (as they say, the newest of the world religions) and the gardens were started about 20 years ago and completed in 2001. After the gardens, we went to Akko which, although it has older and more recent history, too, is mostly know for its Crusader days.

So that is the way Israel is. This tiny piece of land has seen so much history, with documented cities, rulers, civilizations, wars, etc. back 6000 years at least, (the oldest thing we've seen so far was from around 300 BC) that it is hard to believe the whole country isn't a museum. But it certainly isn't. There is hustle and bustle and all the signs of modernity all around, even mixed in with the ruins and antiquity. So please excuse me as I jump around from the old to the new to the not so old to the not so new. We've been in Israel for 3 days so far and have packed in a ton of stuff, even though we've been going slowly. The next 11 days are going to be even more packed.

Our new favorite town - Zichron Yaakov - quaint shopping/restaurant pedestrians-only street. Every meal we had was delicious...and the weather so perfect we ate outside each night.