Volume 72 Issue 3 March 2022

Frieze panel showing triumphant Romans carrying the seven-branched menorah from the Temple of Jerusalem from the Arch of Titus, Rome © Werner Forman Archive/Getty Images.

Jerusalem Burning

When Roman forces burned the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, the Flavian dynasty thought it had defeated the Jewish god in the name of Jupiter. It was mistaken. 

Colonel Nasser (left) and General Naguib at a press conference, 1953.

The Strange Death of Liberal Egypt

For most Egyptians the country’s independence came with the revolution of July 1952, not with the end of the British protectorate in February 1922. Yet, as the experiences of three patriotic writers show, independence did not mean freedom.

Isfahan

The Fall of Isfahan

In March 1722 rebellious Afghan forces laid siege to the Safavid capital. Was the great Iranian empire on the brink of collapse?