Middle Eastern History Coloring Book - a Surprise Castle exclusive

24 hand-illustrated scenes from the long Middle Eastern story, from Persian columns to a turbaned scholar at his desk.

Empires rise. Caliphs convene. Color the chronicle.

A hand-drawn adult coloring book, 24 scenes that run from cuneiform tablets and Persian palaces to Crusader confrontations and modern proclamations. The pace is set by the slow draft of a calligrapher's reed and the long stride of a desert caravan, not the next notification.

Step into a tent dining where two rulers in ornate turbans share a meal beneath crossed swords. Walk to a scholar in turban writing in an open book among compass instruments. Pull up to a woman with companions before a sacred cube structure with crescent moon. Then to a kneeling figure in prayer before a golden altar with twin braziers.

The pages keep moving. Four governors before a fortified gate with construction tools. A crowned king with royal standard flanked by armored guards. Persian warriors in chain mail confronting each other near a fortress. A merchant leader on horseback with crescent flag and entourage.

Wander through the dynasties. Builders alongside monumental stone columns topped with lion capitals — Persepolis rising. A monarch examining a stone tablet inscribed with cuneiform. A palace courtyard with cascading vines and a central fountain. A crowned figure with scepter attended by soldiers before an arched entrance.

Keep going. A bazaar of robed traders bargaining over spices. A caliph receiving emissaries in a tiled hall. A camel caravan crossing the Hejaz under a great sun. The Mongol horde at the gates of a high-walled city. A Crusader and Saracen meeting in the field. A scribe illuminating a Quran by candle. A Sultan inspecting his fleet from a coastal palace. The Damascus market under hanging lanterns. The fall of Constantinople from the harbor. The drilling of the first oil well in Persia. A 20th-century proclamation from a marble palace balcony. The signing of a peace treaty under flags. A mid-century coffeehouse of intellectuals. And to close, a modern airport in Dubai with travelers under glass and crescent.

There's a reason coloring sticks around. It gives a busy mind somewhere to land, and in this case that somewhere is the cuneiform of a clay tablet or the calligraphic flourish of a Quran. Some pages are bold and forgiving. Others will eat a whole afternoon. Works fine with colored pencils, fine-tip markers, or gel pens.

If you know someone with shelves of Albert Hourani, a friend writing a thesis on the Abbasid caliphate, or anyone planning a long trip to Iran, this is for them. It's also for the person who'd quietly rather shade Persepolis on a Saturday than scroll.

Open the chronicle.

Inside you'll find 24 scenes: two turbaned rulers dining in a tent, a turbaned scholar writing, a woman before a sacred cube with crescent moon, a kneeling figure before a twin-brazier altar, four governors at a fortified gate, a crowned king with armed guards, Persian warriors confronting at a fortress, a merchant leader with crescent flag, builders at lion-capital columns of Persepolis, a monarch with cuneiform tablet, a palace courtyard with cascading vines, a crowned figure with attendants at an arched entrance, a bazaar of robed traders, a caliph receiving emissaries, a Hejaz camel caravan, the Mongol horde at city gates, a Crusader and Saracen meeting, a scribe illuminating a Quran, a Sultan inspecting his fleet, the Damascus market under lanterns, the fall of Constantinople from the harbor, the first Persian oil well, a 20th-century palace balcony proclamation, a peace treaty signing under flags, and a mid-century coffeehouse of intellectuals.