vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Yemen
Yousef or Dhu Nuwas ( the one with sidelocks ) as known in Arabic literature , believed that Christians in Yemen were a fifth column . Christian sources portray Dhu Nuwas ( Yousef Asar ) as a Jewish zealot , while Islamic traditions say that he threw 20,000 Christians into pits filled with flaming oil . This history , however , is shrouded in legend . Dhu Nuwas left two inscriptions , neither of them making any reference to fiery pits . Byzantium had to act or lose all credibility as protector of eastern Christianity . It is reported that Byzantium Emperor Justin I sent a letter to the Aksumite King Kaleb , pressuring him to `` ... attack the abominable Hebrew . '' A tripartite military alliance of Byzantine , Aksumite , and Arab Christians successfully defeated Yousef around 525 -- 527 AD , and a client Christian king was installed on the Himyarite throne . The
Sea of Galilee
On May 15 , 1948 , Syria invaded the newborn State of Israel , capturing territory along the Sea of Galilee . Under the 1949 armistice agreement between Israel and Syria , Syria occupied the northeast shoreline of the Sea of Galilee . The agreement , though , stated that the armistice line was `` not to be interpreted as having any relation whatsoever to ultimate territorial arrangements . '' Syria remained in possession of the lake 's northeast shoreline until the 1967 Arab - Israeli war .
Sea of Galilee
The lake had little importance within the early Ottoman Empire . Tiberias did see a significant revival of its Jewish community in the 16th century , but had gradually declined , until in 1660 the city was completely destroyed . In the early 18th century , Tiberias was rebuilt by Zahir al - Umar , becoming the center of his rule over Galilee , and seeing also a revival of its Jewish community .
Israel
In 1516 , the region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire ; it remained under Turkish rule until the end of the First World War , when Britain defeated the Ottoman forces and set up a military administration across the former Ottoman Syria . In 1920 the territory was divided between Britain and France under the mandate system , and the British - administered area which included modern day Israel was named Mandatory Palestine .
Mesopotamia
Around 150 BC , Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire . Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians , with western parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control . In AD 226 , eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians . Division of Mesopotamia between Roman ( Byzantine from AD 395 ) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines . A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD , including Adiabene , Osroene , and Hatra .
Yemen
According to Islamic traditions , King As'ad the Perfect mounted a military expedition to support the Jews of Yathrib . Abu Kariba As'ad , as known from the inscriptions , led a military campaign to central Arabia or Najd to support the vassal Kingdom of Kindah against the Lakhmids . However , no direct reference to Judaism or Yathrib was discovered from his lengthy reign . Abu Kariba died in 445 AD , having reigned for almost 50 years . By 515 AD , Himyar became increasingly divided along religious lines and a bitter conflict between different factions paved the way for an Aksumite intervention . The last Himyarite king Ma'adikarib Ya'fur was supported by Aksum against his Jewish rivals . Ma'adikarib was Christian and launched a campaign against the Lakhmids in southern Iraq , with the support of other Arab allies of Byzantium . The Lakhmids were a Bulwark of Persia , which was intolerant to a proselytizing religion like Christianity .
Ancient Egypt
In the mid-ninth century BC , Egypt made a failed attempt to once more gain a foothold in Western Asia . Osorkon II of Egypt , along with a large alliance of nations and peoples , including Persia , Israel , Hamath , Phoenicia / Canaan , the Arabs , Arameans , and neo Hittites among others , engaged in the Battle of Karkar against the powerful Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BC . However , this coalition of powers failed and the Neo Assyrian Empire continued to dominate Western Asia .
History of the Jews in Egypt
Many Jewish residents had no reason to feel kindly toward the former masters of Egypt . In 629 the Emperor Heraclius I had driven the Jewish population from Jerusalem , and this was followed by massacres of Jewish residents throughout the empire -- in Egypt , often aided by the Coptic population , who may have been trying to settle old grievances against Jewish groups , dating from the Persian conquest of Amida at the time of Emperor Anastasius I ( 502 ) and of Alexandria by the Persian general Shahin Vahmanzadegan ( 617 ) , when some of the Jewish residents sided with the conquerors . The Treaty of Alexandria ( November 8 , 641 ) , which sealed the Arab conquest of Egypt , expressly stipulated that the Jewish residents were to be allowed to remain in that city unmolested ; and at the time of the capture of that city , ' Amr ibn al - ' As , in his letter to the caliph , relates that he found there 40,000 Jews .
Carthage
The Roman Exarchate of Africa was not able to withstand the seventh - century Muslim conquest of the Maghreb . The Umayyad Caliphate under Abd al - Malik ibn Marwan in 686 sent a force led by Zuhayr ibn Qais , who won a battle over the Romans and Berbers led by King Kusaila of the Kingdom of Altava on the plain of Kairouan , but he could not follow that up . In 695 , Hasan ibn al - Nu'man captured Carthage and advanced into the Atlas Mountains . An imperial fleet arrived and retook Carthage , but in 698 , Hasan ibn al - Nu'man returned and defeated Emperor Tiberios III at the 698 Battle of Carthage . Roman imperial forces withdrew from all of Africa except Ceuta . Roman Carthage was destroyed -- its walls torn down , its water supply cut off , and its harbors made unusable . The destruction of the Exarchate of Africa marked a permanent end to the Byzantine Empire 's influence in the region .
Colossus of Rhodes
In 653 , an Arab force under Muslim caliph Muawiyah I captured Rhodes , and according to The Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor , the statue was melted down and sold to a Jewish merchant of Edessa who loaded the bronze on 900 camels . The Arab destruction and the purported sale to a Jew possibly originated as a powerful metaphor for Nebuchadnezzar 's dream of the destruction of a great statue .
Libya
Under the command of ' Amr ibn al - ' As , the Rashidun army conquered Cyrenaica . In 647 an army led by Abdullah ibn Saad took Tripoli from the Byzantines definitively . The Fezzan was conquered by Uqba ibn Nafi in 663 . The Berber tribes of the hinterland accepted Islam , however they resisted Arab political rule .
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
In addition to fighting with the Byzantines , Orhan also conquered the Turkish principality of Karesi in 1345 - 6 , thus placing all potential crossing points to Europe in Ottoman hands . The experienced Karesi warriors were incorporated into the Ottoman military , and were a valuable asset in subsequent campaigns into the Balkans .
Israel
During the siege of Jerusalem by the First Crusade in 1099 , the Jewish inhabitants of the city fought side by side with the Fatimid garrison and the Muslim population who tried in vain to defend the city against the Crusaders . When the city fell , about 60,000 people were massacred , including 6,000 Jews seeking refuge in a synagogue . At this time , a full thousand years after the fall of the Jewish state , there were Jewish communities all over the country . Fifty of them are known and include Jerusalem , Tiberias , Ramleh , Ashkelon , Caesarea , and Gaza . According to Albert of Aachen , the Jewish residents of Haifa were the main fighting force of the city , and `` mixed with Saracen ( Fatimid ) troops '' , they fought bravely for close to a month until forced into retreat by the Crusader fleet and land army . However , Joshua Prawer expressed doubt over the story , noting that Albert did not attend the Crusades and that such a prominent role for the Jews is not mentioned by any other source .
History of the Jews in Egypt
`` Without any legal sentence , without any royal mandate , the patriarch ( Saint Cyril ) , at the dawn of day , led a seditious multitude to the attack of the synagogues . Unarmed and unprepared , the Jews were incapable of resistance ; their houses of prayer were leveled with the ground , and the episcopal warrior , after rewarding his troops with the plunder of their goods , expelled from the city the remnant of the unbelieving nation . ''
History of the Roman Empire
Ruling from the age of fourteen under the influence of his able mother , Julia Avita Mamaea , Alexander restored , to some extent , the moderation that characterized the rule of Septimius Severus . The rising strength of the Sasanian Empire ( 226 -- 651 ) heralded perhaps the greatest external challenge that Rome faced in the 3rd century . His prosecution of the war against a German invasion of Gaul led to his overthrow by the troops he was leading , whose regard the twenty - seven - year - old had lost during the campaign .
Western Roman Empire
Petronius was not prepared to take control over the significantly weaken and unstable Empire . Petronius broke the betrothal between Huneric , son of the Vandal king Gaiseric , and Eudocia , daughter of Valentinian III . This was seen as just cause of war by King Gaiseric , who set sail to attack Rome . Petronius and his supporters attempted to flee the city at the sight of the approaching Vandals , only to be stoned to death by a Roman mob after a reign of only 11 weeks . With the Vandals at the gates , Pope Leo I requested that the king not destroy the ancient city or murder its inhabitants , to which Gaiseric agreed and the city gates were opened to him . Though keeping his promise , Gaiseric looted great amounts of treasure and damaged objects of cultural significance such as the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus . The severity of the Vandal sack of 455 is disputed , though with the Vandals plundering the city for a full fourteen days as opposed to the Visigothic sack of 410 , where the Visigoths only spent three days in the city , it was likely more thorough .
Solomon's Temple
According to the Tanakh , the Temple was plundered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire king Nebuchadnezzar II when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem during the brief reign of Jehoiachin c. 598 BCE ( 2 Kings 24 : 13 ) . A decade later , Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem and after 30 months finally breached the city walls in 587 BCE , subsequently burning the Temple , along with most of the city ( 2 Kings 25 ) . According to Jewish tradition , the Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av , the 9th day of Av ( Hebrew calendar ) .
Hellenistic period
Much of the eastern part of the empire was then conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in the mid-2nd century BC , yet the Seleucid kings continued to rule a rump state from Syria until the invasion by the Armenian king Tigranes the Great and their ultimate overthrow by the Roman general Pompey .
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee lies on the ancient Via Maris , which linked Egypt with the northern empires . The Greeks , Hasmoneans , and Romans founded flourishing towns and settlements on the land - locked lake including Hippos and Tiberias . The first - century historian Flavius Josephus was so impressed by the area that he wrote , `` One may call this place the ambition of Nature '' ; he also reported a thriving fishing industry at this time , with 230 boats regularly working in the lake . Archaeologists discovered one such boat , nicknamed the Jesus Boat , in 1986 .
Western Roman Empire
In 272 , Emperor Aurelian finally managed to reclaim Palmyra and its territory for the empire . With the East secure , his attention was turned to the West , invading the Gallic Empire a year later . Aurelian decisively defeated Tetricus I in the Battle of Châlons , and soon captured Tetricus and his son Tetricus II . Both Zenobia and the Tetricus ' were pardoned , although they were first paraded in a triumph .
Greco-Persian Wars
The Greek fleet then sailed to Byzantium , which they besieged and eventually captured . Control of both Sestos and Byzantium gave the allies command of the straits between Europe and Asia ( over which the Persians had crossed ) , and allowed them access to the merchant trade of the Black Sea .
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
According to this interpretation , this period in Greek history , remarkable , both at its commencement and at its close , illustrated the glory of the empire where its limits were extended , though not without occasional wars , which were always uniformly triumphant and successful on the frontiers . The triumphs of the Emperor Trajan , a Roman Alexander , added to the empire Dacia , Armenia , Mesopotamia and other provinces during the course of the first 20 years of the period , which deepened the impression on the minds of the barbarians of the invincibility of the Roman Empire . Roman war progressed triumphantly into the invader 's own territory , and the Parthian war was successfully ended by the total overthrow of those people . Roman conquest is demonstrated even in the most mighty of these wars , the Marcomannic succession of victories under the second Antonine unleashed on the German barbarians , driven into their forests and reduced to Roman submission .
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
In the aftermath of the Ormenion battle , Ottoman raids into Serbia and Bulgaria intensified . The enormity of the victory and the incessant raids into his lands convinced Turnovo Bulgarian Tsar Shishman of the necessity for coming to terms with the Ottomans . By 1376 at the latest , Shishman accepted vassal status under Murad and sent his sister as the sultan 's `` wife '' to the harem at Edirne . The arrangement did not prevent Ottoman raiders from continuing to plunder inside of Shishman 's borders . As for Byzantium , Emperor John V definitively accepted Ottoman vassalage soon after the battle , opening the door to Murad 's direct interference in Byzantine domestic politics .
Crusades
From the 8th century , the Christians entered to recapture the Iberian peninsula from the Muslims , known as the Reconquista . The campaign reached a turning point in 1085 when Alfonso VI of León and Castile captured Toledo . In the same period , the Muslim Emirate of Sicily was conquered by Norman adventurer Roger de Hauteville in 1091 .
History of the Jews in Egypt
In the Elephantine papyri , caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic amply document the lives of a community of Jewish soldiers stationed there as part of a frontier garrison in Egypt for the Achaemenid Empire . Established at Elephantine in about 650 BCE during Manasseh 's reign , these soldiers assisted Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign . Their religious system shows strong traces of Babylonian polytheism , something which suggests to certain scholars that the community was of mixed Judaeo - Samaritan origins , and they maintained their own temple , functioning alongside that of the local deity Chnum . The documents cover the period 495 to 399 BCE .
History of the Roman Empire
Vespasian was a remarkably successful Roman general who had been given rule over much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire . He had supported the imperial claims of Galba , after whose death Vespasian became a major contender for the throne . Following the suicide of Otho , Vespasian was able to take control of Rome 's winter grain supply in Egypt , placing him in a good position to defeat his remaining rival , Vitellius . On December 20 , 69 , some of Vespasian 's partisans were able to occupy Rome . Vitellius was murdered by his own troops and , the next day , Vespasian , then sixty years old , was confirmed as Emperor by the Senate .
Dead Sea
King Herod the Great built or rebuilt several fortresses and palaces on the western bank of the Dead Sea . The most famous was Masada , where in 70 CE a small group of Jewish zealots fled after the fall of the destruction of the Second Temple . The zealots survived until 73 CE , when a siege by the X Legion ended in the deaths by suicide of its 960 inhabitants . Another historically important fortress was Machaerus ( מכוור ) , on the eastern bank , where , according to Josephus , John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas and died .
Conquistador
In 1509 , the Portuguese under Francisco de Almeida won a critical victory in the battle of Diu against a joint Mamluk and Arab fleet sent to counteract their presence in the Arabian Sea . The retreat of the Mamluks and Arabs enabled the Portuguese to implement their strategy of controlling the Indian Ocean .
Dead Sea
Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west , the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge . The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era . Their monasteries , such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert , are places of pilgrimage .
Euphrates
Large parts of the Euphrates basin were for the first time united under a single ruler during the Akkadian Empire ( 2335 -- 2154 BC ) and Ur III empires , which controlled -- either directly or indirectly through vassals -- large parts of modern - day Iraq and northeastern Syria . Following their collapse , the Old Assyrian Empire ( 1975 -- 1750 BCE ) and Mari asserted their power over northeast Syria and northern Mesopotamia , while southern Mesopotamia was controlled by city - states like Isin , Kish and Larsa before their territories were absorbed by the newly emerged state of Babylonia under Hammurabi in the early to mid 18th century BCE .
Greco-Persian Wars
The cities of Ionia remained independent until they were conquered by the Lydians of western Asia Minor . The Lydian king Alyattes II attacked Miletus , a conflict that ended with a treaty of alliance between Miletus and Lydia , that meant that Miletus would have internal autonomy but follow Lydia in foreign affairs . At this time , the Lydians were also in conflict with the Median Empire , and the Milesians sent an army to aid the Lydians in this conflict . Eventually a peaceable settlement was established between the Medes and the Lydians , with the Halys River set up as the border between the kingdoms . The famous Lydian king Croesus succeeded his father Alyattes in around 560 BC and set about conquering the other Greek city states of Asia Minor .
Crusades
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was the first experiment in European colonialism creating a ' Europe Overseas ' or Outremer . The raising , transportation , and supply of large armies led to flourishing trade between Europe and the outremer . The Italian city states of Genoa and Venice flourished , creating profitable trading colonies in the Eastern Mediterranean . This trade was sustained through the middle Byzantine and Ottoman eras , and the communities were often assimilated and known as Levantines or Franco - Levantines .
Western Roman Empire
Its capital was Augusta Treverorum ( modern Trier ) , and it quickly expanded its control over the German and Gaulish provinces and over all of Hispania and Britannia . It had its own senate , and a partial list of its consuls still survives . It maintained Roman religion , language , and culture , and was far more concerned with fighting the Germanic tribes than the Roman central government , fending off germanic incursions and restoring the security the Gallic provinces had enjoyed in the past . However , in the reign of Claudius Gothicus ( 268 to 270 ) , large expanses of the Gallic Empire were restored to Roman rule . At roughly the same time , several eastern provinces seceded under the Palmyrene Empire , under the rule of Queen Zenobia .
Crusades
The journey to the Eastern Mediterranean was inevitably long and eventful . Travelling overland , Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor , drowned in the Saleph River , and few of his men reached the Eastern Mediterranean . Travelling by sea , Richard the Lionheart , King of England conquered Cyprus in 1191 in response to his sister and fiancée , who were travelling separately , being taken captive by the island 's ruler , Isaac Komnenos . Philip II of France was the first king to arrive at the siege of Acre ; Richard arrived on 8 June 1191 . The arrival of the French and Angevin forces turned the tide in the conflict , and the Muslim garrison of Acre finally surrendered on 12 July . Philip considered his vow fulfilled and returned to France to deal with domestic matters , leaving most of his forces behind . But Richard travelled south along the Mediterranean coast , defeated the Muslims near Arsuf , and recaptured the port city of Jaffa . He twice advanced to within a day 's march of Jerusalem before judging that he lacked the resources to successfully capture the city , or defend it in the unlikely event of a successful assault , while Saladin had a mustered army . This marked the end of Richard 's crusading career and was a calamitous blow to Frankish morale . A three - year truce was negotiated that allowed Catholics unfettered access to Jerusalem . Politics in England and illness forced Richard 's departure , never to return , and Saladin died in March 1193 . Emperor Henry VI initiated the German Crusade to fulfil the promises made by his father , Frederick , to undertake a Crusade to the Holy Land . Led by Conrad , Archbishop of Mainz , the army captured the cities of Sidon and Beirut . However , in 1197 Henry died and most of the Crusaders returned to Germany to protect their holdings and take part in the election of his successor as Emperor .
Siege
Disease was another effective siege weapon , although the attackers were often as vulnerable as the defenders . In some instances , catapults or similar weapons were used to fling diseased animals over city walls in an early example of biological warfare . If all else failed , a besieger could claim the booty of his conquest undamaged , and retain his men and equipment intact , for the price of a well - placed bribe to a disgruntled gatekeeper . The Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem in the 8th century BC came to an end when the Israelites bought them off with gifts and tribute , according to the Assyrian account , or when the Assyrian camp was struck by mass death , according to the Biblical account . Due to logistics , long - lasting sieges involving a minor force could seldom be maintained . A besieging army , encamped in possibly squalid field conditions and dependent on the countryside and its own supply lines for food , could very well be threatened with the disease and starvation intended for the besieged . Medieval
Crusades
Largely based in the ports of Acre and Tyre , Italian , Provençal and Spanish communes provided a significant characteristic of Crusader social stratification and political organisation . Separate from the Frankish nobles or burgesses , the communes were autonomous political entities closely linked to their countries of origin . This gave the inhabitants the ability to monopolise foreign trade and almost all banking and shipping in the Crusader states . Every opportunity to extend trade privileges was taken . One example saw the Venetian Doge receiving one third of Tyre , its territories and exemption from all taxes , after Venice participated in the successful 1124 siege of the city . However , despite all efforts , the two ports were unable to replace Alexandria and Constantinople as the primary centres of commerce in the region . Instead , the communes competed with the Crown and each other to maintain economic advantage . Power derived from the support of the communards ' native cities rather than their number , which never reached more than several hundred . Thus by the middle of the 13th century , the rulers of the communes were barely required to recognise the authority of the crusaders and divided Acre into a number of fortified miniature republics .