There is a mountainous region, covered by volcanic rocks called Jabal Druze, situated approximately 80km south-east from Damascus, the capital of Syria. This region is inhabited almost entirely by Druze people and is the largest center for the Druze in Syria, and an important stronghold of the Druze in the Middle East. It was from the end of the 17th century to the early 18th century that the Druze built their community in this region, which seemed to be waste land. However, only since the early 19th century have the Druze people increased their population rapidly and established their influence. In 1861, the name "Jabal Druze" was first mentioned officially as a place name in Ottoman documents. The establishment and the expansion of the Druze community in Jabal Druze were impelled by the Druze settlers (newcomers), who came from other regions beginning in the 19th century. Their arrival affected the preexisting community in Jabal Druze in diverse ways. In short, on one hand, the migration of the Druze led to the establishment and expansion of the communal society. On the other hand, the Druze community has experienced a large social change due to the rapid expansion of the population. The following examples will serve to highlight these social changes. First, the prominent family, which had dominated the Druze community since its early establishment in Jabal Druze, lost its leading position, and has been replaced by a new prominent family. In short, the expansion of the community played an important role in destroying the relations among existing powers. Second, the leading religious class was formed. It is well known that there is a hierarchy, like Sheikh 'Aql, 'Uqqal and Juhhal, in their religious establishment. But it seems that the leading religious class as a Sheikh 'Aql did not exist before the 19th century, but only since the 19th century. It seems that the appearance of the leading religious class occurred because of the growing population of the Druze and the development of the Druze community. But the most rapid social change inside the Druze community may be the growth of the difference between the rich and poor peasants'. That is to say, the society differentiated deeply between "haves" and "have-nots" (holders and nonholders) by the increasing of the population. Although in 1889, many Druze peasants rose in revolt on a large scale (the so-called "Ammiya"), it seems that the main cause of the revolt were the rapid social changes created by the artificial increase of the population due to migration. The main motives of this article are to examine the following points: one is how the increase of the population brought the social changes through the Druze migration to Jabal Druze during the 19th century. The other is how the social changes affected the outbreak of the Druze peasants' revolt.

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In 1965 I published my translation into Japanese of the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. The text I based on was that of R. C. Thompson (The Epic of Gilgamish, Oxford 1930), and I made use of several translations into modern languages; English, German, French and Russian, in understanding the original text written in accadian and other languages. After the publication of the text of Thompson, several fragments of the Epic were found and edited, and I saw it appropriate to add, especially for the readers of my translation, some explanation and appreciation of these new materials, to it (only the fragment belonging to the V tablet found at Iscali being included in the above Japanese translation). For some reason I confine myself here in mentioning the materials dealed with in the above short report in Japanese.

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It has been a vexing problem as to whether Aramaic had from the outset or not. Some insist that Aramaic lacked yaqtul at first, but that it intruded into Aramaic later as a result of the influence of Canaanite languages. Others argue in favor of the original existence of yaqtul in Aramaic.
Formerly, three verbs in the Aramaic inscription of Zakkur, king of Lu'ash and Hamath (ca. the second half of the ninth century BCE), found in Afis (KAI202), were regarded as the oldest attestation of yaqtul conjugation. They are _??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??__??_ (A11) and _??__??__??__??__??_ (A15), all of which are preceded by a conjunction waw. In this inscription, however, both qatala and yaqtulu are dominant in expressing narrative past and future/present tenses respectively. The appearance of the three yaqtul forms is therefore just an exceptional phenomenon. Furthermore, the language and style of the Zakkur inscription is strongly influenced by the Canaanite culture. The yaqtul in this inscription might be borrowed from the Canaanite languages but is foreign to the original language.
The newly discovered Tel Dan Inscription, dated around the first half of the ninth century BCE, contains the following eleven finite verbs: _??__??__??__??__??__??_ (B1.1), _??__??__??_ (A1.2), _??__??__??__??__??_ (A1.3), _??__??__??_ (A1.3), _??__??__??__??_ (B1.3), _??__??__??__??__??_[_??_] (B1.4), _??__??__??__??_ (A1.5), _??__??__??_[_??_] (B1.5), _??__??__??__??__??_ (A1.6), _??__??__??__??__??_ (A1.8), _??__??__??__??_ (A1.9), out of which two (_??__??__??__??__??_ [and] _??__??__??__??_) could be absolute infinitive and are definitely not qatala. The rest are minutely analyzed from the lexicographical, morphological, and contextual points of view and it can be concluded that they should be yaqtul. Still more, two yaqtul forms (_??__??__??_ and _??__??__??_) are not preceded by waw. Thus, the yaqtul forms in the Tel Dan inscription regularly function to denote the narrative past, regardless of the precedence or non-precedence of the conjunction waw.
The verbs preceded by the conjunction waw in the Deir 'Alla inscription must be the remnant of inherent yaqtul forms. The following forms are found: _??__??__??__??__??__??_ (I, 1), _??__??__??__??__??__??_ (I, 2), _??__??__??__??_ (I, 3), _??__??__??__??__??_ (I, 4/5), _??__??__??__??_ (I, 1), _??__??__??__??_ (I, 4).
Although Gibson's assertion that yaqtul exists in Biblical Aramaic is rejected, the 33 examples enumerated as yaqtul by M. S. Smith in the Moabite Mesha inscription (ca. 850 BCE) should be accepted as correct. In this inscription yaqtul, along with qatala, plays a leading role in the narrative past tense.
In conclusion, yaqtul should have been inherent in both the Tel Dan inscription and the Mesha inscription. The Tel Dan inscription is, therefore, the oldest solid attestation of yaqtul in Aramaic. The six examples in the Deir 'Alla Aramaic inscription also affirm the original existence of yaqtul forms in Aramaic itself.

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The abundance of wood products left behind by ancient Egyptian burial practices in the arid climate can tell us about the earliest woodworking methods. However, they are yet to be fully discussed. In this paper, we reconsider the “plywood” of the coffin found under the Step Pyramid from the Third Dynasty, which has been identified as the oldest “plywood.” Rather than its similarity to plywood, we argue that it is the “beautiful wood assemblage” consisting of four species of foreign wood and two species of indigenous wood under gold foil that is most noteworthy and important.

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Il 15 maggio del 1591, Torquato Tasso, scrivendo ad uno stampatore veneziano, Barezzo Barezzi, manifesto la sua intenzione di <<accompagnare>> la Gerusalemme conquistata <<con un altro poema, com'e l'Iliade con l'Odissea>>. Successivamente, in un passo del Giudizio sovra la Conquistata (scritto alla fine del 1593) il Tasso si riferi di nuovo ad <<un altro poema>> dicendo -: <<rimossi (dal suo poema della liberazione della Gerusalemme) le navigazioni e le meraviglie dell'Oceano, lasciandomi intero il soggetto per un altro poema.>> Il poeta, ormai anziano, voleva evidentemente comporre un poema, simile all'Odissea, una volta finita la composizione della Gerusalemme conquistata, che doveva riprodurre invece l'Iliade. Di cosa trattava esattamente questo <<(un) altro poema>> che, secondo i biografi del Tasso, non e stato realmente composto a cause della sua morte avvenuta nell'aprile del 1595? Vi si narrava, come pensa E. Donadoni (in Torquato Tasso, 1928), il viaggio dei due soldati Crociati oltre l'Oceano al Nuovo Mondo, che il Tasso "rimosse" dal Canto 15 della Gerusalemme liberata? O egli, sulle orme di Luis de Camoes, il grande poeta portoghese che aveva celebrato i navigatori connazionali nel poema Os Lusiadas (1572), <<aveva in animo di tentare un poema sulla scoperta dell'America (da parte dell'italiano Cristoforo Colombo)>> (P. Maffi, La cosmografia nelle opere di Torquato Tasso, 1895-1898)? O ancora, il poeta, come congetturo all'inizio del Seicento P. Beni (nella Comparatione di Homero, Virgilio e Torquato, 1607), si accingeva <<a cantare gli errori e il ritorno del buon Tancredi (l'eroe italiano della Prima Crociata), con far che la Gerusalemme conquistata all'Iliade rispondesse>>? Comunque fosse, il Tasso non fece piu cenno di questo poema dopo la fine del 1593, ma lascio scritto nel Discorso del poema eroico (pubblicato nel 1594) che la materia dei poemi epici <<si dee prendere>>, tra l'altro, <<di paesi di nuovo ritrovati nel vastissimo oceano oltre le Colonne d'Ercole>>. Raccoglieva dunque il poeta, nei suoi ultimi anni della vita, i dati storici o geografici del Nuovo Mondo? E cercava poi di convertirli, di nobilitarli in un discorso poetico? In rapporto a queste affermazioni fatte dal Tasso, e senz'altro significativo esaminare un testo presente nell'ultima biblioteca del poeta, oggi conservato (con la segnatura Stamp. Barb. Cr. Tass. 16) presso la Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Si tratta de L'Universale fabrica del Mondo overo cosmografia di Giovanni Lorenzo d'Anania, l'opera divisa in quattro Trattati e qubblicata a Venezia nel 1582 (in cui <<si descrivono particolarmente le provincie, citta, castella, monti, mari, laghi, fiumi et fonti>>, e <<si tratta delle leggi et costumi di molti popoli: degli alberi et dell'herbe, et d'altre cose pretiose et medicinali, et de gl'inventori di tutte le cose>>). Il Tasso la lesse con grande impegno, soprattutto il Quarto Trattato dedicato al Nuovo Mondo; quasi tutte le pagine del Trattato sono fittamente postillate, ed oltre a queste postille, molte delle righe del testo a stampa sono sottolineate, frequenti anche i tratti verticali ai margini. Nell'ultima pagina bianca dell'opera si trova un appunto scarabocchiato del poeta, che richiama il Marchese d'Ieracino (<<ricordati di scrivere al Marchese d'Hieracino...>>), a cui il Tasso scrisse alcune volte negli anni 1589-1590. A mio parere, e importante riflettere sul fatto che il periodo della lettura del testo dell'Anania, databile con qualche esattezza da questo riferimento al Marchese d'Ieracino, e assai vicino alla data della scrittura della lettera indirizzata a Barezzo

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Lebanese Mountains running along the eastern coast of Mediterranean Sea are about 3000 m high and consist of jurasic and cretaceous limestones. Several geomorphological phenomena derived from lithology and climatic conditions develop in these mountains.
Several undulated erosional surfaces which are strikingly contrast of deep valleys with high cliffs are well reserved. The limestone composing the Mountains is weak enough to be cut into deeply by water erosion but it resists to mechanical weathering, so the erosion is restricted only along the streams and the slopes and erosional surfaces are apt to be reserved.
At the head of the streams there are great cirque-like landforms, represented with “Cirque de Cedres” and have been regarded as glacial cirques by several authors. These landforms, however, are also ones derived from lithology and it is impossible to think them glacial cirques. These landforms seem to have been created by the landslides occured frequently under the different climatic conditions in the past.
Small hollows, distributing generally on the erosional surfaces above 2000 m high, have been often considered as nivation hollows. But these hollows seem to be karst landforms and their distribution is controlled with the underground water system. Therefore it is not correct to relate these hollows with firns.
Patterned grounds develop widely on the gentle slopes in the alpine zone of Lebanese Mts. For the formation of these landforms intensive destruction of bedrocks and productions of gravels and small particles are needed at first. The grain size composition under the present climate is favourable to the formation of patterned grounds.
In this Mountain tree limit altitude is estimated to about 2500 m high, though it is not clear at the present time. Astragalus and perrenial herbs (Vicia canescene) distribute instead of trees. Judging from this, the lower periglacial limit is estimated to have been at 2600-2700 m high. On the area above this lime debris production and movement were vivid, and the area below this line soil formation was predominant and patterned grounds occur only as extrazonal phenomena here.
Periglacial deposits belong Riss and Würm ice ages are observed around Qornet es Saouda and other places. These old deposits are consolidated. Riss deposits are coarser than Wurm deposits. And both deposits are coarser than the deposits on the present slopes.

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