I'm not a historian, but I doubt it. My understanding is that the middle east was quite a lot more civilized (for some conventional definition of the term, anyw

I'm not a historian, but I doubt it. My understanding is that the middle east was quite a lot more civilized (for some conventional definition of the term, anyway) than most/all of Europe throughout most of the middle ages. I'm of the impression that the middle east only became appreciably more violent in the last century (oil-related conflicts in the middle east amid rising quality of life all over the world). I'm only speculating though; I'd be interested to hear from someone more knowledgable on the subject.