Ancient Near East - The Concept of Near East

The Concept of Near East

The term "ancient Near East" utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire. The distinction began during the Crimean War. The last major exclusive partition of the east between these two terms was current in diplomacy in the late 19th century with the Hamidian Massacres of the Armenians and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire in 1894-1896 and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as "the Near East" and "the Far East." Shortly they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times.

As Near East had meant the lands of the Ottoman Empire at roughly maximum extent, on the fall of that empire the use of Near East in diplomacy was reduced significantly in favor of Middle East. In the meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct. It referred primarily to the Biblical lands. The Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran, which was never under the Ottomans.