Ancient Lebanon: Monuments Past and Present

$29.95 at The Getty Museum.

M. J. Strazzulla The borders of present-day Lebanon, which were established as recently as 1920, coincide in part with those of Ancient Phoenicia, which was both the cradle of ancient civilization and the source of the linear alphabet, the basis for all Western alphabets. The book offers a concise history of this cultural crossroads, describing its invasion by successive waves of ancient peoples, including the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, and the Arabs, each of whose influence can be…