ܦܐܕܝ's Updates

ܦܐܕܝ is on page 57 of 448 of The Global Merchants

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 01:30:08 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ is on page 57 of 448 of The Global Merchants.

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading 'The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty'

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 01:29:45 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty by Joseph Sassoon

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading 'The Kingdom of the Hittites'

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:23:35 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading 'A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia'

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 02:52:09 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia by Manan Ahmed Asif

ܦܐܕܝ wants to read 'Life and Society in the Hittite World'

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 01:45:40 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ wants to read Life and Society in the Hittite World by Trevor Bryce

ܦܐܕܝ ܒܝܬܕܘܝܕ liked a userstatus

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 06:06:19 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ liked Ahmed al-Hijazi's status update

Ahmed al-Hijazi is on page 241 of 459 of Baghdad

ܦܐܕܝ wants to read 'Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood'

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 06:05:44 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ wants to read Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood by Justin Marozzi

ܦܐܕܝ added 'Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor'

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:32:09 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ gave 5 stars to Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor (Hardcover) by Simon Elliott
Elliott wove a narrative as he could of this man's rise from humble beginnings to the top of the Roman world using the Historia Augusta, Dio and Herodian's writings. He cites all three sources whenever they differ on certain details, but overall we get a clear picture of his life.

A background of the Roman world, the provinces, military and political hierarchy, and the slave system is provided which is useful for bringing readers up to speed on the world he was born into and the opportunities and hazards he faced. The ending is bitter-sweet as we see Pertinax honoured in death by his friend and successor, Septimius Severus, and his son's flourishing political career before being told he was executed by Severus' son, Caracalla.

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading 'Bardaisan of Edessa: A Reassessment of the Evidence and a New Interpretation'

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 03:24:15 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ is currently reading Bardaisan of Edessa: A Reassessment of the Evidence and a New Interpretation by Ilaria L.E. Ramelli

ܦܐܕܝ added 'Syriac Churches Encountering Islam'

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 01:49:31 -0800

ܦܐܕܝ gave 5 stars to Syriac Churches Encountering Islam (Pro Oriente Studies in the Syriac Tradition) by Dietmar Winkler
A spectacular product of the Colloquium Syriacum which took place in Austria in 2007. With contributions from the Austrian Catholic prelates and those of the various Syriac-speaking churches, it provided a comprehensive and intimate view of the relations between Christians and Muslims from the 7th century up until the then-current day, the height of the Iraqi civil war.

From the arrival of the conquering Arab armies, we see that Christians initially believed Islam to be another monotheistic, or even Christian group, that disrupted the status quo. Cross border raids were common and the Roman-Persian wars had been going on for most of the last century.

With time, knowledge of each other grew and the optimism developed into pessimism as monuments of supremacy like the Dome of the Rock were erected. Conversion and interrogation of beliefs resulted in heightened literary production that instructed clergy on apologetics and rebuttals.

The rise of the Abbasids and the so-called Islamic Golden Age took the promise of an era of enlightenment and instead fortified Islamic rhetoric that returned closer to its roots and became sterner. This is shown in the process where the philosophical and scientific treatises that the Baghdad elites commissioned the Syriac Christians to produce were used to better articulate their beliefs and debate the Christians. Soon enough, Arabic no longer relied on intermediaries and instead became the dominant literary machine.

There is very little deviation in the subject matter aside from what is necessary to give context to the matter i.e. Europeans pressuring the Ottomans to grant equal civil rights to the various ethno-religious groups within the empire lest they invite invasion and partition.

The most troubling part is the later part which was written in the midst of the Iraqi war where bishops voiced their concerns of a total exodus. Extortion, kidnappings, murder and bombings of Christians and churches raged unchecked as the government seemed unwilling to do anything or indifferent to it all. Similar concerns for Syria were voiced and in time they came to be. One of the writers, bishop Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim, archbishop of Aleppo, was kidnapped in Aleppo with his Greek orthodox counterpart and has never been seen to this day.

Today, the Middle East's Christians are in the twilight of their presence in their homeland. Are the people who translated and transmitted knowledge into the Arab Muslim world, and the fathers of Arab nationalism, not worthy of freedom and protection as fellow citizens? Maybe it's too much to ask