The Near East is a modern-age term for the region formerly known as the Middle East comprising Armenia, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and part of Turkey, corresponding to ancient Urartu, Mesopotamia, Elam, Persia, the Levant, and Anatolia. The history of the ancient Near East is usually given as c. 5000 BCE-7th century CE. Although human habitation of the...