ishtartv.com - newhistorian.com
By: Ginger Perales, December 21, 2016
More
than 400 texts, some of which date back to the Middle Ages, have been recovered
after being hidden for over two years at the Mar Behnam monastery while it was
occupied by the Islamic State group (ISIS). Written between the thirteenth
century and twentieth century, the texts were hidden behind a wall built only a
few weeks before ISIS occupied and partially destroyed the monastery.
The
texts are written in various languages, including Syriac (commonly used in Iraq
during medieval and ancient times), Turkish, Arabic and Neo-Aramaic, according
to Amir Harrak, an expert in Syriac from the University of Toronto. He told Live
Science: “Each one contains lengthy colophons [notes] written by the scribes,
telling historical and social, and religious events of their times — a fact
that makes them precious sources.”
Mar
Behnam monastery was the home of numerous ancient texts, pieces of artwork and
carved inscriptions that dated back centuries. It was occupied by ISIS
beginning in June, 2014, until it was recaptured by the Iraqi government in
November, 2016. Photographs and a news report published shortly after the
monastery’s recapture show that ISIS militants had destroyed several of the
monastery’s buildings, burnt any texts they found, defaced and destroyed
artwork and inscriptions, and left graffiti on all of the remaining structures.
The
Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah is a Syriac Catholic
monastery in northern Iraq. It was built in the twelfth century by Senchareb,
an Assyrian king, as penance for the murder of his son Behnam and daughter
Sarah following their conversion to Christianity. Sculptures of the church
indicate that renovations were completed in 1164 and again between 1250-1261.
The monks abandoned the monastery, for unknown reasons, in 1819. It’s been
under the care of the Syriac Catholic Church since 1839, although at some point
in its history it was part of the Church of the East for ten centuries or more,
as shown by the rare Turkic inscriptions left behind by Mongol pilgrims during
the thirteenth century. The monastery was renovated again in 1986, and was
visited by thousands of Muslims and Christians every year until ISIS took
control of the region.
A
young priest hid the texts at Mar Behnam just 40 days before ISIS arrived. They
were put in large metal cans and placed in a storage room enclosed behind the
newly constructed wall. The priest, who was forced out of the monastery, kept
the undertaking a secret until he felt the region was secure. The texts
remained behind the wall for more than two years. It’s been reported that ISIS
used the same building as a base for its morality police.
What
happens to the texts now is unclear and Harrak wonders if they should be taken
out of Iraq, at least in the short term, for safekeeping. “What is the future
of these manuscripts? Iraq is a restless country,” Harrak told Live Science.
“Should they take them to Europe, for example, or the Vatican Library or
somewhere more secure?”
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