A. Royden D'souza

The story of ancient Israel/Judea/Palestine is not a simple unfolding of a single ethnic or national destiny. Rather, it is a layered fabric of continuous habitation, punctuated by migrations, elite manipulation of ritual and genealogy, and a protracted, contested fusion of indigenous and external traditions.

We think we know how civilization began. The evolution story is taught in every history class: after the last ice age, humans learned to farm. Surplus food allowed people to settle in villages. Villages grew into cities. Cities gave rise to kings, priests, scribes, and laws.

Where have America's eagle-wearing soldiers been deployed since 2003? They have been in Iraq—ancient Babylon, the land of Nimrod's original kingdom. And the military occupation began approximately one month after archaeologists announced the discovery of what they believed to be the tomb of Gilgamesh in that very region.