Amman, Sept. 23 (Petra) -- His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal, President of the Arab Thought Forum, presided on Monday over the opening of the sixteenth International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ 16), convened under the theme "Archaeology and Sustainability: Learning from the Past for Safe Resilient Future." The five-day conference, held in Athens from September 22 to 26, is jointly organized by Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Department of Antiquities, in cooperation with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

In his inaugural address, Prince Hassan situated the proceedings within a broader intellectual and ethical framework. He argued that a rigorous engagement with Jordan’s civilizational history and cultural patrimony, conceived as part of the wider Levantine heritage, constitutes an indispensable foundation for understanding the present and for devising strategies to confront the global crises of the future. By embedding archaeology and history within the discourse of sustainability, the prince advanced a vision of heritage not as static remembrance but as an active resource for resilience.

Athens, he suggested, provides more than a hospitable venue; it embodies the archetype of cultural convergence, "a place where diverse paths intersect, where cultures, beliefs, and empires have historically intertwined." Civilization, he maintained, "is never the solitary achievement of one people alone; it is rather the cumulative product of encounters, exchanges, and mutual borrowings across centuries." In framing history as a relational and dialogical process, Prince Hassan challenged essentialist readings of heritage and underscored instead its hybridity and interconnectivity.

The prince traced this dynamic of cultural entanglement through the shared legacies of Rome, Greece, the Nabataean kingdom centered in Petra, and the Islamic era. These interwoven strands, he argued, forged the historical identity of Jordan as both a crossroads of civilizations and a central node in transregional trade and cultural networks. This positioning, he suggested, not only defines Jordan’s past but also shapes its potential to model resilience in the contemporary moment.

Turning to sustainability, Prince Hassan invoked Jordan’s deep agricultural traditions as evidence of an enduring civilizational ethic of balance with the environment. He highlighted archaeological evidence stretching from the Neolithic agricultural settlements the earliest in human history through the Iron Age polities of Ammon, Moab, and Edom. These historical practices, he argued, embody lessons of environmental stewardship that remain salient for present and future societies grappling with the interlinked crises of water, food, energy, and ecosystems.

He stressed the urgency of preserving both tangible and intangible knowledge systems through robust databases and intergenerational transmission. Only by doing so, he maintained, can societies acquire the foresight to anticipate disasters, mitigate crises, and respond effectively to existential threats. Knowledge, in this framing, is not simply academic but constitutes a civilizational resource critical to human survival.

Prince Hassan further located the Levant within the intellectual geography of the ancient Mediterranean world, contending that it was never a passive periphery but an active and formative contributor to the flow of ideas and cultural production. He described the region as an indispensable link in the "pathways of knowledge" connecting East and West, suggesting that the Levant’s historical role as a mediator of civilizations must inform contemporary approaches to global dialogue.

At the normative core of his address was the insistence on human dignity as the organizing principle of any engagement with cultural heritage. In this context, the prince issued a grave warning on the destruction unfolding in Gaza, once among the most literate societies in the world, now suffering what he termed an "educational genocide." He lamented the obliteration of decades of investment in education within less than two years, describing it as an assault on the very concept of educational justice. Gaza, he added, is simultaneously enduring an "environmental genocide," illustrative of the "clusters of death and collective annihilation" afflicting humanity. The greater danger, he cautioned, is that the world may descend into an "intellectual genocide" that extinguishes the capacity for critical thought itself.

The opening session also featured interventions from Jordanian officials. Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Emad Hijazeen emphasized the significance of convening ICHAJ 16 with broad Arab and international participation, framing the conference as a unique platform for presenting Jordan’s historical and civilizational role in its economic, social, and religious dimensions. Director-General of the Department of Antiquities Fawzi Abu Danneh underscored the long continuity of cultural ties between Jordan and Greece, describing them as part of a millennia-old exchange whose contemporary renewal is essential for confronting modern crises.

The ceremony was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Dana Firas, Sheikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, the president of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, as well as scholars and researchers from Jordan, the Arab region, and numerous international institutions. Sheikha Mai stressed the central role of history and cultural heritage in safeguarding human capacity and in elevating intellectual life, praising Jordan for its enduring contributions to the region’s cultural and intellectual vitality.

Established in Oxford in 1980 at the initiative of Prince Hassan, the International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan has since evolved into a premier forum convened every three years, hosted in turn by countries such as Germany, France, Britain, the United States, Australia, and Italy. Across its iterations, ICHAJ has positioned Jordan’s archaeological and historical heritage at the center of international scholarly discourse, while simultaneously articulating its relevance to contemporary questions of resilience, sustainability, and cultural diplomacy.

//Petra// AA