ABSTRACT
The relationship of historical memories to what actually happened in history varies from situation to situation. Awareness of historical events varies everywhere. History is entangled with myth, a term that in its broadest sense includes real historical events that are deeply embedded in popular culture and memory. Much of what happens in the contemporary Middle East—and particularly the discussion of such matters—would be incomprehensible to anyone lacking knowledge of history. Those who want to play down their Arab and Islamic heritages have attempted to evoke ancient times, making the modern Middle East partially understandable as a field in which the ancient is invoked against the medieval in struggles to determine the shape of the modern world. The Arab/Islamic conquests also eventually brought into being two changes that determine the identity of most people in the Middle East and much of the rest of the world.
