The story of chess gets lost in the depths of centuries and in the far ends of Asia. Thousands of years ago, the game transcended the boundaries of language, religion, cultures, nationalities and classes, and managed to conquer the whole world.  15th-16th century manuscript of Divan-e Shamse Tabrizi depicting Shamse Tabrizi playing chess with a...Read More

“There is a certain divergence between the popular image of Islam, as the religion that emanated from the desert and carried its ethos, and the notion of the garden: lush, green, shaded, moist, and fragrant, among other pleasant qualities that are all antithetical to the desert environment. But it seems that precisely because Islam came...Read More

The Lighthouse of Alexandria is one of the classic “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”. It was still a great tourist attraction well into the medieval period, and was visited by many travellers to the city that were impressed by its magnitude. The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. “During the reigns of...Read More

Bruce Clark, Twice a stranger: How mass expulsion forged modern Greece and Turkey (Granta Books, London 2006) My old friend Bruce Clark is a British journalist who writes regularly for The Economist. He frequently visits Greece and has even been received into the Greek Orthodox Church. I first encountered him in person in the village...Read More