Middle East Studies in Fiction

FrontPage Magazine ^ | 5/15/8 | Cinnamon Stillwell

[SmithL]

It isn’t often that characters based on the field of Middle East studies show up in current fiction, but the novels of author Daniel Silva are an exception. The last three novels of his series featuring Israeli secret agent/art restorer Gabriel Allon explore the intersection of Middle East studies and international intrigue.

The sixth novel in the series, Prince of Fire, begins with a horrific terrorist attack at the Israeli embassy in Rome, explores the origins of the modern state of Israel, and ends in an archaeological excavation trench in Provence. Figuring throughout is the handsome and mysterious Paul Martineau, an “adjunct professor of archaeology at the prestigious University of Aix-Marseille III.” Martineau appears to be a Frenchman of indeterminate origin, but when all is laid bare his lineage extends back to the so-called royalty of Palestinian terrorism. Martineau is, in fact, the mastermind behind not only the Israeli embassy bombing, but a string of Islamic terrorist attacks throughout Europe.

Although Martineau specializes in the “pre-Roman history of Provence,” the highly politicized world of Middle East archaeology figures in the novel as well. At an archaeological excavation site in Tel Megiddo, Israel, Allon meets with archaeology professor, and fellow Israeli spy, Eli Lavon to discuss tracking down Martineau.

[SmithL]

In the process, Lavon expounds upon the nature of his archaeological work:

‘There’s a popular school of archaeological thought these days called biblical minimalism. The minimalists believe, among other things, that King Solomon was a mythical figure, something of a Jewish King Arthur. We’re trying to prove them wrong.’

‘Did he exist?’ [asks Allon]

‘Of course,’ said Lavon, ‘and he built a city right here at Megiddo.’

This conversation alludes to the school of thought, best exemplified by the suspect scholarship of Columbia anthropology professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, which seeks to undermine Israel’s ancient Jewish foundation despite the wealth of archaeological evidence to the contrary. In this instance, and in many others, Silva has his finger on the pulse of political trends within Middle East studies. . . .

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[SmithL]

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[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

What's ironic is that while the Nadia El-Haj school of scholarship continues to sink under the ever-increasing weight of evidence that the biblical account is actually extremely accurate, all the way back, the weight of evidence also shows that her traditional Islamic historiography is almost complete hokum up until around the time of Marwan I (684-685 AD).