Damascus Province Research Articles

Ottoman Frontier Expansion in Hawran

This study aims to explore the transformation of Hawran following its incorporation into the Damascus province as a sanjak in 1864 within the context of Ottoman frontier expansion. The integration of Hawran into the heart of the Ottoman Empire can be attributed to a set of interconnected factors. First, in the encouraging atmosphere created by infrastructural initiatives and the sedentarization of nomads, the merchants, who were rather integrated into international markets in cities such as Mosul, Damascus, and Nablus, extended their trading activities to the newly established regions. This dynamic created a mutually beneficial relationship between the Ottoman government and these merchants concerning the frontier regions. As the traditional patronage system proved inadequate for this trade, Hawrani peasants directly engaged as business partners with the newly prosperous Damascene merchants. Particularly noteworthy was the establishment of enduring trading alliances between Druze sheikhs and these affluent merchants, which gradually evolved into significant socio-cultural associations.

Waqf as a Political Weapon

Abstract The aim of this article is to highlight the political uses of the legal concept of waqf in a confrontation between an Orthodox and a Catholic institution during the initial phase of the schism within the Church of Antioch. The Monastery of St Catherine at Mount Sinai confronted the hospice of the Franciscans in the court of the Chief Judge of the province of Damascus in 1145/1733. The legal aspects of the lawsuit are an interesting example of the use of the Ottoman judiciary by non-Muslims, but in order to understand the political implications of the case, it needs to be analysed in the broader context of the religious and political tensions of the time. Therefore, a sketch of the history of both monasteries and their endowments is supplemented with a chapter on the role of Sylvestros, Patriarch of Antioch, in Damascus and an examination of the French and Spanish interests within this Ottoman context.

Narrating Beirut Public Spaces Westernization

Towards the late 19th century, Beirut is at the crossroad of two main political powers, the Ottoman Empire and the French Mandate. Dissociated from the province of Damascus in 1888, Beirut was elevated to the rank of provincial capital of Wilâya, the geographical borders of which spanned the equivalent of four actual countries. Preceding the French regime, the Ottomans envisioned westernizing some of the Empire cities to the image of the European urban example. Alternately, the French were very prone to modernize Beirut, a city considered as their prime image in the Levant. At this moment of its history, Beirut’s urban fate was at the intersection of two visions of Westernization, the late Ottoman and the early French mandate rules. This paper taps into Beirut’s urban identity through the lens of its public spaces, in the broader geographical and political context. By framing the intersection of the Late Ottoman and French visions of Westernization, the studied intramuros and extramuros public spaces reveal the transformations of the urban fabric. Whilst tackling the public spaces spatial transformation, the paper discusses as well the urban implications of Westernization on the city as a whole, highlighting the major shift of the urban model from a medieval city with a port into a major port-city.

Forcing the Wealthy to Pay Their Fair Share? The Politics of Rural Taxes in 17th-Century Ottoman Damascus

AbstractFocusing on the province of Damascus, this study shows that individuals of the ʿaskarī class were obligated to pay village taxes in proportion to the amount of property they owned, and that it was the village cultivators who had the primary authority for individuating and collecting these taxes. Providing a detailed picture of the relations between the ʿaskarī class and peasant communities before the rise of the a’yān in the eighteenth century, the study explores how peasants sought to enforce their decisions on these powerful individuals and to what extent they were successful in doing so.

Epipaleolithic shell beads from Damascus Province, Syria

This paper presents an overview of three Paleolithic sites excavated in southwestern Syria between 1999 and 2007. The sites were discovered as part of a large-scale, regional survey conducted in Damascus Province by a multidisciplinary research team from the University of Tübingen. We focus on the Epipaleolithic shell assemblages from Baaz Rockshelter, Kaus Kozah Cave and Ain Dabbour Cave, examining the distribution of species and their potential relationship to group and personal identity. The four most frequent taxa include the gastropods, Columbella rustica, Theodoxus cf. jordani, and Tritia gibbosula (formerly known as Nassarius gibbosulus), as well as scaphopods. Most of the shells are perforated or, in the case of scaphopods, segmented. These taxa count among the most common shell beads observed at Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic sites of the Levant, although their proportions change over time. Other taxa are also present, but to a much lesser degree, and often occur as unique specimens. We compare the shell assemblages from these localities to similar contexts in Syria, Israel and Jordan. The shell taxa observed are consistent with other Epipaleolithic sites. We hypothesize that the most common shells at Baaz, Kaus Kozah and Ain Dabbour signify group identity, although the proportion of scaphopods is considerably less than that observed from the wider region. We also posit that the unique specimens are an indication of personal identity, standing in contrast to the shared group identity shown by the most common shell taxa.

The Middle Paleolithic sequence of Wadi Mushkuna Rockshelter and its implications for hominin settlement dynamics in western Syria

Abstract The Tubingen-Damaskus Ausgrabungs-und Survey Projekt (TDASP) conducted Paleolithic field work in the Damascus Province of western Syria between 1999 and 2010. The TDASP team excavated four stratified sites dating to the Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic. Here we report on Wadi Mushkuna Rockshelter, a well stratified Middle Paleolithic sequence excavated by TDASP. Specifically, we focus on diachronic changes of technological characteristics and settlement behavior and test if they co-vary throughout the sequence of 20 archaeological horizons (AH) spanning about 4 m of deposits. Our results on technological characteristics indicate continuity over large parts of the sequence with a gradual change observed towards the top. To explore hominin settlement behavior we analyzed artifact densities and ratios between tools and flakes for each of the layers. In contrast, the data on settlement behavior point to clear differences between the strata above and below layer AH VI. From these results we conclude that the sequence at Wadi Mushkuna provides no evidence for co-variation of technological change and settlement behavior.

Impact Based on the Educational Development of the Theater in Environmental Awareness "Quasi-experimental Study among Kindergarten Children Educational Program (4-5 years): in the Province of Damascus."

This study aimed to identify the role of theater in the development of environmental awareness among a sample of Kindergarten children (4-5 years). Two tools were used to achieve the educational theater program and test environmental awareness. The research sample included 40 boys and girls, divided into two groups: experimental and control groups (20 boys and girls per each group). The researcher found the following results: There were significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group children and the average degree of children in the control group test direct dimensional environmental awareness for the children of the experimental group. There were significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group children and the average degree of children in the control group post-test deferred environmental awareness for the children of the experimental group.

Impact Based on the Educational Development of the Theater in Environmental Awareness "Quasi-experimental Study among Kindergarten Children Educational Program (4-5 years): in the Province of Damascus."

This study aimed to identify the role of theater in the development of environmental awareness among a sample of Kindergarten children (4-5 years). Two tools were used to achieve the educational theater program and test environmental awareness. The research sample included 40 boys and girls, divided into two groups: experimental and control groups (20 boys and girls per each group). The researcher found the following results: There were significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group children and the average degree of children in the control group test direct dimensional environmental awareness for the children of the experimental group. There were significant differences between the average scores of the experimental group children and the average degree of children in the control group post-test deferred environmental awareness for the children of the experimental group.

Managerial Characteristics and its Impact on Organizational Performance: Evidence from Syria

This study aims to explore impact of managerial human capital in performance of a Syrian public organization, Directorate of Finance of province of Damascus, through use some of managerial characteristics are age, level of education, tenure and functional track. This study applied on a sample of 12 managers and 138 employees. The study reveals that there are no significant effect of age, level of education and functional track in performance of Directorate of Finance of province of Damascus, while there is a positive, strong and significant effect of tenure manager in organizational performance, which indicates that managerial characteristics almost irrelevant with performance of Directorate of Finance of the province of Damascus, and the public sector in general. Such results appear a need for efforts are invested in the formulation and implementation of human resource procedures and policies which can bring about effective change in behaviours and roles of the public managers and employees.

Her Majesty's Protected Subjects: The Mishaqa Family in Ottoman Damascus

The protégé system that the Ottoman Empire encountered as the result of diplomatic relations with European powers later became a clear threat to the very existence of the empire. Among these powers, Britain, until the nineteenth century, executed its consular affairs via the Levant Company in the Middle East, but later employed local people, mostly non-Muslim Ottomans, as dragomans, consular agents and vice-consuls to execute its services in the region. The dragomans not only translated treaties and official documents, but also commented on the messages to and from the authorities and this gave them much more important roles. In this regard, members of the Mishaqa family served the British and later American interests under different posts ranging from dragoman, to consular agent and vice-consul. As they gained confidence, they were accorded British consular protection which provided them considerable privileges, and passed their duties to their sons. Unlike similar Levantine families who assumed dragomanship in the imperial centre as a household tradition, members of the Mishaqa family were deeply embedded in the local society and therefore could give insights on social and political changes in the Ottoman province of Damascus. After attaining British protection in 1840, members of the family served in British and American consulates until the beginning of the First World War. However, the protégé status of the family members paved the way for continued debates over their nationality and citizenship. This article attempts to present the basic codes of consular protection and Ottoman responses within the context of the story of Mishaqa family.

Political dynamics in the rise of Fakhr al-Din, 1590–1633: Crusade, trade, and state formation along the Levantine Coast

The rise of the Druze emir, Fakhr al-Din II Ma’n, is best treated as a case study in political dynamics. A tax farmer in the Shuf in 1590, who received his first administrative appointment three years later, he became the most powerful provincial leader along the Levantine coast by the late 1620s, when he controlled three districts (sanjaks) in the Ottoman province of Damascus, and also the province of Tripoli. Except for Jaffa and Alexandretta, he controlled the key ports along the coast of Syria and Palestine — Sidon, Beirut, and Tripoli; smaller ports like Acre; and most of the trade in regional goods and the associated revenues.1

Geomorphology, site distribution, and Paleolithic settlement dynamics of the Ma'aloula region, Damascus Province, Syria

AbstractThis survey of the geology, geomorphology, and Paleolithic archaeology of a 300 km2 area in Damascus Province, Syria, focused around the villages of Ma'aloula and Jaba'deen. The study resulted in the definition of seven geomorphological zones that trend northeast–southwest, parallel to the prevailing geological features of the region. The zones span a broad range of elevations, from a dry lake bed in the Jeiroud Basin (ca. 800 m) to the peaks of the Anti‐Lebanon Mountains (ca. 2350 m). The research focused on assessing the geological and paleoenvironmental history of the region as a backdrop for 500,000 years of Paleolithic settlement. Among the 618 archaeological sites documented thus far, all major archaeological periods from the Lower Paleolithic through the Epipaleolithic are represented. Most abundant are occurrences of the Levalloisian Middle Paleolithic, with 255 new sites documented. Nine Neolithic sites were also included in the survey. The distribution of sites varies during the Paleolithic and reflects the availability of resources, especially of flint and water, as well as the spatial patterns of erosion and deposition on the ancient land surfaces. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Correlation of global solar radiation with common geographical and meteorological parameters for Damascus province, Syria

In this study, the effect of geographical and meteorological parameters on the monthly mean daily global solar radiation in Damascus was investigated. With measured data of global solar radiation and the relevant data of astronomical, geographical, geometrical and meteorological parameters for Damascus province, an attempt has been made to correlate the monthly mean daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface with seven different variables; mean daily extraterrestrial solar radiation intensity I¯0, average daily ratio of sunshine duration n¯/N¯, mean daily relative humidity ϕ¯, mean daily maximum air temperature ϑ¯max, mean daily maximum dew point temperature ϑ¯d,max, mean daily atmospheric pressure P¯ and sine of the solar declination angle sin δ. A new multiple regression relation giving accurate estimates of monthly mean daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface was suggested. It has a high coefficient of correlation R = 0.9915. The results showed that the suggested model can estimate the global solar radiation within relative errors e of −6.37% and 8.27%. The values of MBD (0.1 W/m2) and also RMSD (229 W/m2) are within acceptable ranges. The global solar radiation intensity values produced by this approach can be used in the design and estimation of the performance of solar applications. It is believed that the model developed in this work is applicable for estimating the monthly mean daily global solar radiation on a horizontal surface at any site in Damascus province, Syria.

Ottoman Political Reform in the Provinces: The Damascus Advisory Council in 1844–45

The year 1844–45 in Damascus province was a dry one, aggravated by a brutal winter frost. Reports of ruined crops and disputes over precious water sources reached the city, where as yet there was still enough to eat. But the city was by no means immune to the drought. It was felt in varying ways, like rising prices and, of all things, a shortage of leeches. Barbers could not get enough of them to meet medical needs, and their prices had risen sharply. So the barbers began smuggling them. An Ottoman market official (mültazim), on noticing that government leech sales for that month had dropped from 45,000 to 7,000, ordered police (tüfenkçi) to confiscate the creatures from barbershops and sold them himself for profit. Conflict between the official and barbers exploded, and each side made its way, as rural peasants and tax collectors had in the crisis, to the ultimate court of appeal in the province, theMajlis Shūrā al-Shām al-ʿAlī, or high advisory council for Damascus province.

BOOK REVIEWS

Al‐IslāTm wa’ I‐Mashya. By MustafāT Hasan al‐Bikr. Maktabat DāTr Nashr al‐ThaqāTfa, Alexandria, 1966.Baal Christ, and Mohammed: religion and revolution in North Africa. By John K. Cooley, John Murray, London, 1967. pp. xv plus 368.Egyptian Guilds in Modern Times. By Gabriel Baer. The Israel Oriental Society (Oriental Notes and Studies, No. 8), Jerusalem, 1964 pp. xviii plus 192. $ 4.50.The Trucia States: A Brief Economic Survey (Middle East Economic and Social Monographs, No. I). By K. G. Fenelon. Khayats, Beirut, 1967. pp. 94The Province of Damascus 1723–1783. By Abdul‐Grim Rafeq. Khayats, Beirut, 1966. pp. XV plus 370.Muslim Communities in Gujrat. By M. C. Misra. Asia Publishing House, New York, 1964. pp. xi plus 187. Bibliography and Index. Price not indicated.

The Province of Damascus, 1723-1783

The Province of Damascus, 1723-1783