Levantines enjoying Levantine life. Anonymous photo, date unknown. (Credit: Levantine Heritage Foundation archives)
They are everywhere and nowhere at once. Greek in Smyrna, French in Constantinople, Italian in Alexandria, Armenian in Beirut: The Levantine changes language, name, and sometimes even identity depending on where he finds himself. Neither fully European nor entirely “indigenous,” at once a product and a beneficiary of the Ottoman Empire’s opening to Western powers, he became a figure of the in-between. For decades, he embodied an urban world shaped by ports, commerce, and European influences. But what, exactly, does it mean to be Levantine? Read the first episode of our historical series: The Levant: Myth of a lost paradise.Ernest Giraud was a prominent member of Constantinople’s French community and a man of many hats. In the mornings, he would head to the city’s chamber of commerce to ensure French interests in the empire were properly...
They are everywhere and nowhere at once. Greek in Smyrna, French in Constantinople, Italian in Alexandria, Armenian in Beirut: The Levantine changes language, name, and sometimes even identity depending on where he finds himself. Neither fully European nor entirely “indigenous,” at once a product and a beneficiary of the Ottoman Empire’s opening to Western powers, he became a figure of the in-between. For decades, he embodied an urban world shaped by ports, commerce, and European influences. But what, exactly, does it mean to be Levantine? Read the first episode of our historical series: The Levant: Myth of a lost paradise.Ernest Giraud was a prominent member of Constantinople’s French community and a man of many hats. In the mornings, he would head to the city’s chamber of commerce to ensure French interests in the empire were...
Israel resumes demolitions, artillery shelling in south Lebanon, sets fire to olive groves near Bint Jbeil