And in the ancient world, the reason for this was that this very small rectangle--;it's about 150 miles long and 70 miles wide, about the size of Rhode Island--this very small rectangle lies on the way to anywhere worth going in the Ancient Near East.

在古代，战争的原因是,这小块矩形，长150公里，宽70公里，与罗德岛大小相当，这小块矩形处于要道,这条路通向古代近东的任何地区。

耶鲁公开课 - 旧约导论课程节选