Lebanon in the Heart of God
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Henry Zoghaib*
Dec, 14, 2025
Beirut – We have often read and written that among the likely meanings of Lebanon’s name is the prevalent one, “Lub Anan” (Lub in Akkadian means heart, and Anan is a Sumerian name for a god), which essentially means “Heart of God,” due to the ancient reputation of the Lebanese mountains as a dwelling place for the gods.
From this name, and another Phoenician one meaning “white,” due to the long snow-capped peaks of the Lebanese mountains, Nicolas Sehnaoui titled his new book “Lebanon, the Heart of God.” It was published by Dar Saer Al-Mashreq, originally in French, and translated into elegant Arabic by the poets Habib Younes and Cindy Shami. In this Phoenician-Lebanese context, the book features a foreword by the staunchly Francophone Lebanese writer, Alexandre Najjar, who notes that the author is “a member of parliament who evokes, in this book, the most significant pages of his country’s history.” Its publication …More