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Lebanon’s Tripoli Begins 2024 Celebrations as Arab Culture Capital

The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Lebanon’s Tripoli Begins 2024 Celebrations as Arab Culture Capital

The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The flags of Arab countries flutter in Tripoli, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Lebanon’s Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati kicked off the “Tripoli the Capital of Arab Culture” celebrations at a formal event held at the Rashid Karami International Fair in Tripoli.

Attendees included Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, and Mohammad Wissam Mortada, Minister of Culture.

Ministers, deputies, ambassadors, and other notable figures also were also present at the ceremony.

Mortada told Asharq Al-Awsat that he believes the celebrations to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Lebanon and Tripoli.

“This is our chance to uncover Tripoli’s treasures in terms of people and landmarks. I’m stunned by the human and natural potential here. You’ll witness what makes Tripoli unique, and we’re doing it all with no funding,” said the minister.

Despite no budget, workers are determined to succeed. Young volunteers are eager to overcome obstacles and make the event a hit. Some see the coming months as Tripoli’s big chance to shine, while others feel funding issues should have delayed the festivities.

“Tripoli has suffered, but now, with activities starting, people will see what they've missed out on for years,” Mortada affirmed.

This year promises a packed schedule of cultural activities, some already underway for months. Organizations are competing to host programs, but the highlight could be cultural weeks organized by several Arab countries.

Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco, Syria, and Oman have confirmed plans.

For Mortada, the aim is for more than just temporary celebrations; he wants to establish Tripoli as a permanent cultural capital of Lebanon.

The minister is not just dreaming; he's building on reality.

Tripoli boasts the Rashid Karami International Fair, a stunning architectural marvel. Spread across 70 hectares, it features unique conference halls, integrated buildings, and an experimental theater.

UNESCO recognizes its significance but also flags maintenance challenges and development threats.

Tripoli’s vibrant markets and river make it a unique destination. Its port is crucial for trade, with an economic zone stretching to Europe.

Mortada believes Tripoli could become Lebanon’s cultural tourism hub, generating revenue for the country.

“Tripoli is ready to play a vital role,” he asserted.

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Study Firms up Date of Famous Ancient Shipwreck off Cyprus 

Amphoras and grain mills are seen in a museum dedicated to the ancient Kyrenia merchant ship that sank off the coast of Cyprus, at Kyrenia Castle in Cyprus, February 9, 2024. Adam Dunham/Handout via Reuters
Amphoras and grain mills are seen in a museum dedicated to the ancient Kyrenia merchant ship that sank off the coast of Cyprus, at Kyrenia Castle in Cyprus, February 9, 2024. Adam Dunham/Handout via Reuters
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Study Firms up Date of Famous Ancient Shipwreck off Cyprus 

Amphoras and grain mills are seen in a museum dedicated to the ancient Kyrenia merchant ship that sank off the coast of Cyprus, at Kyrenia Castle in Cyprus, February 9, 2024. Adam Dunham/Handout via Reuters
Amphoras and grain mills are seen in a museum dedicated to the ancient Kyrenia merchant ship that sank off the coast of Cyprus, at Kyrenia Castle in Cyprus, February 9, 2024. Adam Dunham/Handout via Reuters

When scientists in the 1960s excavated the wreck of an ancient Greek merchant ship off the northern coast of Cyprus, what they found was an amazing time capsule from a pivotal period in the Mediterranean world following the death of Alexander the Great.

But determining the date of the Kyrenia shipwreck with any sort of precision has proven difficult, and some previous scientific dating yielded conclusions that conflicted with the archeological evidence. Researchers have now calculated this timeline with new precision using improved techniques that they said can be applied to date other ancient shipwrecks as well.

By analyzing organic material from the wreck, including the vessel's wooden timbers, almonds from its cargo, and a gaming piece called an astragalus made from animal bone and used like dice, they concluded that the ship went down around 280 BC. That is a bit later than prior scientific dating estimates but a better match for the archeological evidence.

Sturt Manning, a Cornell University professor of classical archaeology, called the Kyrenia vessel an "iconic ship from the early Hellenistic period, central to the history of ancient maritime technology."

The ship, about 46 feet (14 meters) long, was built of wood with lead sheathing, with one mast bearing a square sail, and likely carrying a crew of four. It sank about a mile (1.6 km) off the coast. Aboard were nearly 400 amphoras - large two-handled pottery storage jars - some filled with almonds and others apparently with wine, along with heavy millstones as ballast.

"Likely it was going to or from Cyprus, and the cargo - amphora types - suggest it was trading in the Aegean and east Mediterranean area. The main cargo comprised amphora of a type associated with the island of Rhodes in the southeast Aegean," said Manning, lead author of the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Using various lines of evidence, the researchers determined that the ship had been constructed between about 345-313 BC and sank between about 286-272 BC.

The death in 323 BC of Alexander, who had conquered wide swathes of the Mediterranean region and beyond, led to regional scrambles for power. Cyprus became a contested area pitting successors of Alexander ruling in the Aegean region versus those in Egypt, with the latter winning control of the island.

The Kyrenia ship's remains are displayed at a museum in Cyprus.

"Ancient shipwrecks hold several unique sources of information for archaeologists to reconstruct the human past. In underwater sites like where the Kyrenia was buried, archaeological materials decay much more slowly. As a result, organic materials like wood, seeds or rope can be much better preserved than on land," said University of Georgia anthropology professor and study co-author Brita Lorentzen.

The discovery of a deepwater shipwreck off the coast of Israel, dating to roughly 1300 BC, was announced just last week.

"Ships were a critical source of transportation in the ancient world, which allowed people to move from one place to another, create social networks, and exchange trade goods and ideas. A shipwreck's contents can tell us specifically which items were being traded or exchanged, where and how people were moving around by sea, which groups of people were in contact with one another, and how they were impacted by these early social and economic networks," Lorentzen said.

This ship's timbers were embalmed decades ago using the chemical compound polyethylene glycol (PEG) to preserve the wood on land. This complicated the use of radiocarbon dating, a technique for determining an object's age based on the decay over time of a radioactive form of carbon.

"Adding PEG prevents ship timbers from drying out, shrinking and turning to dust out of the water. But it also contains petroleum, with lots of carbon from long-dead organic remains," Lorentzen said.

The researchers devised improved methods to remove PEG so radiocarbon dating could be used for the timbers. They also used radiocarbon dating on the almonds and astragalus.

Analysis of annual growth rings in trees also helps govern the dating of ancient wooden artifacts. The researchers found a discrepancy in a scientific standard used in analyzing wood from this time period to convert radiocarbon measurements into calendar dates for the northern hemisphere, and updated it.

"The work here is relevant to ancient shipwrecks generally," Manning said.