Lebanon: The Country of Origin of the al-Ghossain Family
Lebanon by Tony Doumit al- Ghossain
The origin of the name is Semitic. Laban means white, the colour of its mountain peaks in winter.
Lebanon is mentioned +/- 72 times in the Bible.
When a great person dies, it is often said that a Cedar of Lebanon has fallen.
Area: 10452km2
Border: total 570km (shoreline 220km)
Mount Lebanon: length: 180 km, width: 45km in the north, and 20km in the south; area: 4000km2; highest peak: Qurnet as-Saouda 3083m.
Anti- Lebanon: It forms the Syrian, Lebanese border. length: 170km; highest peak : Mount Harmon 2814m.
Beqaa valley (plain): length: 135km; width: 20km in the north, and 5km in the south; altitude: average 900m; area: about 1/3 the area of Lebanon.
Litany River: the longest river, 160km.
Cedar forests: 2000 hectare.
THE SUN SHINES ABOUT 295 DAYS PER YEAR.
Lebanese: The Nation of Origin of al-Ghossain Family
Who are the Lebanese? By Tony Doumit al-Ghossain
The Lebanese people are composed of many ethnic and religious groups. Ethnically they are a mixture of Phoenician, Assyrian, Aramaic, and other Semitic peoples, as well as Persian, Greek, Byzantine, European Crusaders, and of course Arab. Throughout the ages there has been an influx of Arab tribes and families from the desert. From the 7th century onward, Lebanon became a refuge for persecuted Christian and Muslim sects. The Lebanese government recognizes 17 religious sects in Lebanon.
Arabic is the language of the Lebanese. There is strong evidence that Arabic has been spoken by the Lebanese as early as the 10th century, and maybe earlier. It has been the lingua franca of the Middle East since the Muslim Arab occupation of the region.
For many centuries Aramaic, with its many dialects, was the lingua franca of the whole region, including Lebanon. Syriac, which is high Aramaic, is still used in the liturgy of the Maronite church, Syrian Catholic, and Syrian Orthodox churches today. Greek, which was introduced by the invading armies of the Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, was also spoken, but mostly in the cities.
The Phoenicians, also known by their ancient neighbours as Canaanites (merchants), arrived in Lebanon in about 3000 BC. Their original homeland, according to tradition, was the region of the Persian Gulf. They were traders, and colonizers, and by the second millennium, they had already extended their influence along the Levant coast line, Anatolia, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal, and Britain after they crossed the strait of Gibraltar, and they colonized a large area of North Africa, including Carthage, whose great general Hannibal 247-182 BC defeated the Roman armies in many great battles, and threatened their capital Rome.
Phoenicia was invaded by the Egyptians in the 16th century BC. They established suzerainty over much of Phoenicia, which was lost in the 14th century BC. In the 9th century BC, the Assyrians took control, then the Persians in 538 BC. The country was taken by Alexander the Great and in 64 BC by the Romans.
The Phoenician language was closely related to Hebrew, and Moabite. It was spread to all its colonies, and its alphabet became the ancestor of the Greek alphabet, and all western alphabets. The Phoenician language was superseded by Aramaic in the 1st century BC.
Constantine the great 306-337 AD moved the Roman capital to Constantinople. Christianity became the official state religion. Phoenicia became a part of the eastern Roman Empire, (Byzantine Empire). The Byzantine Empire was more Greek in culture and language than Latin. Greek was widely spoken in the cities of Phoenicia. It is still presently used in the liturgies of the Melkite Orthodox, and Melkite Catholic churches in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world. Aramaic was the language of the majority of the populace.
The great Prophet Muhammad received his prophetic call in 610 AD. By the time of his death in 632 AD, he had gathered together a large part of Arabia, and the Islamic Ummah (nation) was increasing in numbers and strength while Christian sects were fighting each other’s, accusing each others of being heretics.
Byzantine emperors fuelled the quarrels, using their military forces to support different factions. Islam came as a saviour to many from the Byzantine tyranny, while others sought refuge in the Lebanese mountains from both the Byzantines, and the Muslims. Many of those refugees were Arabs, Anbats (Arab town dwellers from Syria, and surrounding regions). The Mardaites, Indo European people related to the Iranians, inhabited the Amanos Mountains in the present day Hatay Province of Turkey. They were ordered by the Byzantine emperor to occupy the area, which forms present day Lebanon and part of Palestine. They did this in order to form a line of defence against the Islamic invaders.
The Mardaites succeeded, until Justinian II betrayed them. 12 000 of their fighters and their families were removed from Lebanon and dispersed in Anatolia. What remained of them merged with the rest of the inhabitants of the Lebanese mountains, who were followers of a Syrian hermit, Saint Maron. Led by their Patriarch Saint John Maron they routed the Byzantine army of Justinian II at the battle of Amioun 694AD.
The Abbasids Arab dynasty moved Arab, Iranian, and Turkic Muslim tribes into some areas of Lebanon to counter the Maronite threat to the borders of their empire. The Mameluke Sultans of Egypt later did the same by moving a large number of different Islamic people, including Arabs, Turks and others into the south western area of Lebanon, to prevent the Crusaders, whom they’d expelled, from returning. The crusaders left behind many of their people, who merged with the Maronites in the Lebanese Mountains.
The Ottoman Turks, after defeating the Mamelukes, and taking over the Sultanate, brought with them a large army of Muslim Albanians and Circassians. (They were also a part of the Mameluke Army, and many Mamelukes were Circassians). All these People contributed to the Lebanese Genetic Pool.
Members of religious sects in Lebanon married partners from their own sects, and very seldom intermarried with the other sects, even in these present times. The Lebanese, Muslim, and Christian genetic pools are very rich and diversified, which makes the Lebanese people a tough, highly intelligent, and very industrious people indeed.