Random Trivia Day from History of the Middle East

Amr called this place al Fustat, "the tent", because, so the tale went, on returning to his tent there from Alexandria he found a dove nesting among its goat-hair hangings. Amr declared the site sacred and gave orders that the tent not be disturbed. After the dove had raised her brood and was gone, Amr built his mosque on this site (now located in present "Old Cairo"), and around it grew up Misr al-Fustat, " the Settlement of the Tent". The word misr is not only a present-day colloquial name for Cairo but the official Arabic name for Egypt itself as well.

"Iraq," the official name of Faisal's new realm, came from the Arabic word araqa meaning "deep-rooted." Etymologically, "Iraq" came from the Sumerian region of Uruk (Warka) dating to about 3400 BCE. The biblical name for the region was "Erech" (Genesis 10:10).

Among these raiders were the "Philistines" of the Bible who challenged the Israelites' claims to the land, but who also traded with them. The Egyptians, whom they also harassed, called them "Peleset," and from the Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BCE) came the name, "Palestine." It was the Philistines who introduced iron tool-making into the area. Iron was traded with the Israelites for limestone available only in the hill country which the tribes of Israel controlled. ---(I think it's interesting that a transliteration of the modern Arabic for Palestine is filistine)

+ Warriors of Heaven and Earth - looks to be an interesting flick, if only because it's the only one I've even heard of that involves the period of history and the region that it does