The Egyptian, Syrian, And Iraqi Revolutions Some Observations On Their Underlying Causes And Social Character

Hanna Batatu

INAUGURAL LECTURE
The Shaykh Sabah AI-Salem AI-Sabah
Chair in Contemporary Arab Studies
CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARAB STUDIES
School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
25 January 1983 
https://archive.org/details/HannaBatatuTheEgyptianSyrianAndIraqiRevolutionsSomeObservationsOnTheirUnderlying/mode/2up

Scrutiny of Göbekli Tepe’s Construction Reveals Celestial Secrets

1 May, 2020 - 19:00

Andrew Collins discusses the recent announcement that three of the oldest stone enclosures at Göbekli Tepe conform to an underlying geometry featuring an equilateral triangle. He shows how these discoveries - made by two Israeli archaeologists from Tel Aviv University - appear to confirm the orientation of the complex and lend weight to the hypothesis that its enclosures were built to target the stars. This brand new study also reviews earlier evidence indicating that the discovery of a grand design at Göbekli Tepe was perhaps inevitable.

Göbekli Tepe and the Worship of the Stars: A Question of Orientation

A Mandaean ceremony that took place on the banks of the Euphrates river in the late nineteenth century provides compelling evidence that the early Neolithic cult sanctuaries of Göbekli Tepe were orientated towards the north, and not towards the south, the direction of the dog-star Sirius

A Report by Andrew Collins

http://www.andrewcollins.com/page/articles/Gobekli_Mandaean.htm

Wine, Women, and Revenge in Near Eastern Historiography: The Tales of Tomyris, Judith, Zenobia, and Jalila

Johan Weststeijn, 
University of Amsterdam

Introduction

This paper deals with the remarkable similarities between stories from three different cultural traditions: the Greco-Roman story of Tomyris, the biblical story of Judith, and two Arabic stories—one about Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, and another about Jalila, the cousin of the epic folk hero al-Zir. I will use the comparison between these four Near Eastern tales as an exegetical tool, and study them as a group in order to better understand the individual versions. In the words of the folklorist William Hansen:

The juxtaposition of narratives belonging to the same family is in itself a cognitively and aesthetically pleasurable experience for the investigator, revealing creative surprises that emerge when clusters of similar narrative ideas are shaped in unpredictable ways by different narrators in different societies in different times, each text lending insight into a neighboring formulation.

These four stories deal with wine, blood, and revenge,and in each of them a woman, the heroine, plays an important role in exacting this revenge. I will analyze William Hansen, Ariadne’s Thread: A Guide to International Tales Found in Classical Literature (Ithaca, 2002), 25. the relationship between these elements,and use anthropological literature to study the symbolic meaning and ritual role of wine, blood, revenge and women in the cultures of Near Eastern antiquity.
In her structuralist analysis of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry on vengeance, Suzanne Stetkevych has argued that in such poems, blood vengeance is presented as an inverted commensal meal.3
 Here I will argue that in these prose narratives from various Near Eastern backgrounds, blood vengeance by women is presented as inverted childbirth or as an inverted wedding. When placed in this network of metaphorical relationships,curious details from the individual tales that have hitherto puzzled modern readers will become more intelligible.
https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/2781357/173984_Johan_Weststeijn_Wine_Women_and_Revenge_in_Near_Eastern_Historiography_.pdf

I WOULD SUGGEST THAT THE SOURCE OF THESE TALES ORIGINATE IN VARIATIONS OF THE SUMERIAN MYTH/TALE ABOUT THE GODDESS ANAT'S BANQUET, WHERE THE GODDESS ANAT INVITES AN NUMBER OF THE GODS TO A BANQUET WHERE UPON SHE TAKES DELIGHT IN SLAUGHTERING THEM FOR BETRAYING HER AND HER FATHER 

Gilgamesh's Plant of Rejuvenation and Qāṭīne's Sīsīsāmbur

https://www.mprl-series.mpg.de › media › proceedings

by N Lamassu - ‎Related articles

how to keep their own folklore intact from Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish or Persian in- fluences” (Pennachietti ... 1This writer struggled to find the meaning of 'Ṣəwarta,' until he traveled to Iraq and recorded an ... Drower, E.S. (1963). A Mandaic ...

The Soul in the Afterlife: Individual Eschatological Beliefs in Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam 

Thesis in order to acquire the Doctoral Degree in Philisophy
at the Faculty of Humanities of the George-August-Universität Göttingen

Submitted by
 Arash Emadinia

 From Isfahan (Iran)
 Göttingen 2017

https://ediss.uni-goettingen.de/bitstream/handle/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0005-1268-2/Ph.D.%20Dissertation%20Arash%20Emadinia.pdf?sequence=1

Abstract
The expectation that the soul continues life after leaving the material body is one of the
important features of several Middle East religions. These religions state that the fate of the soul depends on the principles of right and wrong behaviours – ‘morality’ – and the quality of the true or false opinions – ‘beliefs’ – that a belief system recognises for the salvation of individuals.
This system is generally called ‘moral eschatology’.
These eschatological beliefs are not created in vacuum. This means that they can be influenced by the beliefs that they confront through their history and can be affected by other beliefs in their neighbourhood. Comparison with other religions reveals resemblances between different eschatological beliefs. These resemblances are generally explained by such terms as ‘borrowing’ or ‘syncretism’ which may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of individual religions. This may happen because the terms ‘borrowing’ and ‘syncretism’ suggest that the borrowed features have been adopted in their original form without being adapted to the ‘borrowing’ belief system.
The similarities between faith systems categorised under the same religious groups, like
Abrahamic religions, seem easy to explain, but some remarkable resemblances between religions that have different backgrounds and histories, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, need to be explained. These three belief systems bear resemblances in spite of their different backgrounds and origin. They confronted one another in late antique times in a distinct geographical area which is called Sasanian Iran, that is to say, modern Iran and Mesopotamia,mainly modern Iraq.
The most important sources of these religions were compiled in late antique times, between the 3rd and 11th centuries CE. These sources sometimes bear similar ideas like the continuation of the life of the soul, the soul-taker (life-taker), interrogation, embodiment of deeds in the Afterlife, Paradise, Hell and an intermediate state between Paradise and Hell etc., that need to be explained.
The resemblances between these three faith systems are here partially by adapting a linguistic theory which is called ‘Sprachbund,. This theory states that the resemblances between languages could be due to three reasons: 
1. Genetic retention or original ideas;
 2. Parallel development; and
3. Borrowing.
 According to this theory, when two or more languages share significant traits that
are not found in languages from the same families spoken outside the geographical area in which these languages have confronted one another, a ‘Sprachbund’ has been formed. When we refer to religions with different histories and background, but with similar eschatological ideas, like Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam, it seems that this theory may help us to explain the resemblances.
As mentioned above, all these three belief systems have different backgrounds: Zoroastrianism with an Indo-Iranian background, Islam, one of the so called Abrahamic religions, and Mandaeism, a religion with gnostic roots or pagan origin. At first sight, it seems that in late antique times, both Mandaeism and Islam ‘borrowed’ some of the Iranian eschatological beliefs, apparently Zoroastrian beliefs, after confronting each other in Sasanian Iran. However, the term ‘borrowing’ may implicitly deny the ‘independent’ status of both Mandaeism and Islam.
It may be more acceptable to say that both Mandaeism and Islam accepted some of the
Zoroastrian individual eschatological beliefs, in such a way that they all achieve or serve the
Islamic and gnostic overall world view and beliefs. Apparently, in late antique times in Sasanian Iran, the idea of ‘high existence’ or ‘Life beyond’ material life was introduced to the Arab and gnostic communities, and was accepted by their thinkers. However, this acc
It seems that the inspiration drawn from Iranian (Zoroastrian) ideas like the idea of ‘Barzakh’
(high existence or life beyond) continued after the advent of Islam, when the Arab conquerors were confronted more directly with Zoroastrians, especially through the conversion of Zoroastrians to the new faith by. 
Some typical Zoroastrian ideas like the embodiment of deeds (Daēnā) and the Zoroastrian idea of the intermediate stage between Paradise and Hell (Hammistagān) may be good examples of this. It should be noted that both being ‘inspired by’ and ‘accepting’ the new ideas were in accordance with the maintenance of their Islamic or gnostic natural features, so we see that in spite of the acceptance of some new ideas by Arab and
gnostic thinkers the dominant features of both belief systems have been maintained. With regard to the theory of ‘Sprachbund,’ we can conclude that that Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism and Islam formed a ‘Religionbund’ through which they share a number of remarkable individual eschatological beliefs.

Key terms: Middle East religions, soul, morality, beliefs, moral eschatology, borrowing,
syncretism, inspiration, independent status, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Islam, Sasanian Iran, Indo-Iranian, Abrahamic religion, gnostic, Sprachbund, Barzakh, interrogation, embodiment of deeds, Daēnā, Hammistagān, Religionbund

Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World

https://oi.uchicago.edu › sites › files › uploads › shared › docs › ois6

by AA Annus - ‎Cited by 66 - ‎Related articles

the Babylonian Diviner's manual there are many incipits of the omen series for which we lack ... from priest to priest, once vaunted to Lady Drower as follows: if a raven croaks in a ... The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran: Their Cults, Customs, Magic, Legends, and Folklore. ... 12 An edited text with translation and explanatory es-.

“The Ethnocultural significance for the use of plants in Ancient Funerary Rituals and its possible implications with pollens found on the Shroud of Turin”.
Dr. Marzia Boi
Universidad de las Islas Baleares
https://www.shroud.com/pdfs/boiveng.pdf

On the occasion of the exposition of the Holy Shroud of Turin in 2010, and after visiting the ‘Museo de la Sindone’ (Turin), I was interested in the palynological investigations that had been realized, supposing that they had come to unquestionable conclusions.
After reviewing them, I noticed that the pollen identifications had not been studied with the greatest rigor and the ethnocultural meaning that was pointing to their presence was not well understood.
Knowing that the observation of the adhesive tapes collected by Max Frei in the years 1973 and 1978 or other original material was unavailable at the moment, I made my study through observation of published pollen photos on the Shroud and the comparison with my own samples.
My doctoral research has treated about the description of more than one hundred types of pollens of endemic plants from the Balearic Islands (Spain), giving me the opportunity to reveal that among the pollen of the Shroud, there is a copy, difficult to classify and recognize, which belongs to the Asteraceae family that may have been key in preparing the body during the funeral ritual. Other described pollens on the Shroud, which appear in counts with significant values, would also confirm
the practiced ritual.
The plants used in the funeral rites have witnessed, through pollen, the moment of death, which have been ethno culturally significant, reflecting the time in which the story begins of that funeral attire. The presence of these pollen guides on the fabric reveal the application of oils, balms and ointments, also explaining why it has been kept in excellent condition to this day. These small remnants, trapped for centuries, now become valuable items that may provide clues to the moments that occurred more than two thousand years and which are still shrouded in mystery

Fear of cultural extinction and psychopathology among Mandaean refugees: an exploratory path analysis.

Nickerson A1,

 

Bryant RA,

 

Brooks R,

 

Steel Z,

 

Silove D

Author information

CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics, 31 Dec 2008, 15(3):227-236
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-5949.2009.00094.x PMID: 19691542 PMCID: PMC6494065

Free to read https://europepmc.org/article/med/19691542

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Abstract 

---

The Mandaeans are a small religious community originating from Iraq and Iran who are facing the possibility of cultural extinction within the next few generations. This study aimed to examine the relationships between life experiences, psychopathology and fear of cultural extinction in Mandaean refugees. A survey was conducted of 315 adult Iraqi Mandaean refugees living in Australia. Past traumatic experiences and current resettlement difficulties were assessed. Mental health outcomes were also examined, including measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Fear of cultural extinction was measured by items developed in consultation with the Mandaean community. A path analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between trauma, living difficulties, PTSD, depression, and fear of cultural extinction. Results indicated that trauma and living difficulties impacted indirectly on fear of cultural extinction, while PTSD (and not depression) directly predicted levels of anxiety about the Mandaean culture ceasing to exist. The current findings indicate that past trauma and symptoms of posttraumatic stress contribute to fear of cultural extinction. Exposure to human rights violations enacted on the basis of religion has significant mental health consequences that extend beyond PTSD. The relationship between perception of threat, PTSD, and fear of cultural extinction is considered in the context of cognitive models of traumatic stress. Government immigration policy must prioritize the reunification of small, endangered groups to sustain cultural traditions. Treatment interventions implemented with cultural groups facing extinction should take into consideration anxiety about loss of culture

Rethinking the "Gnostic Mary": Mary of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala in Early Christian Tradition
Stephen J. Shoemaker
Journal of Early Christian Studies, Volume 9, Number 4, Winter 2001, pp.
555-595 (Article)
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press
DOI:
For additional information about this article
[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ]
https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2001.0061
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/10238/pdf

Numerous early Christian apocrypha, including several so-called “gnostic” texts, include a character known as “Mary,” whose identity is usually otherwise unspecified. Generally, this “Mary” appears as an associate or, sometimes, as a rival, of the apostles, who is filled with knowledge of the “gnostic” mysteries. Although scholars have persistently identified this Mary with Mary the Magdalene, rather than Mary of Nazareth, this interpretive dogma is based on evidence that it is at best inconclusive. This article reexamines the relevant apocrypha, as well as incorporating much previously overlooked evidence to argue that Mary of Nazareth is an equally important contributor to the “gnostic Mary’s” identity. The gnostic Mary, it turns out, is a composite figure, who draws on the identities of both the Magdalene and the Virgin, rather than being the representation of a single historical individual. This new perspective will present both consequences and opportunities for feminist interpretations of early Christianity and the veneration of Mary of Nazareth

The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People
Richard Thomas
ON the banks of the Euphrates River exists a small community of faithful
known as the Mandaeans. In their own language, derived from Aramaic,
the word mandayye, from which they take their name, means “gnostic.”1 The
religious practices of these people, which dominate most aspects of their lives,
are the last remaining traces of ancient gnosticism in the world today.2 The
origin of the Mandaeans is much debated, and it will be the focus of this paper.
The Mandaeans claim that their ancestors came from Judea and originally
practiced complex baptismal ordinances, the focal point of their religion, on
the Jordan River. They claim that soon after the start of the Common Era,
they were persecuted by the Jews and left Palestine, in a mass exodus of around
60,000 individuals, to eventually settle on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
There they have stayed, according to their oral tradition and their written
record, for nearly two millennia.
They are relatively few in number (commonly estimated to be less than
15,0003), and they do not seem to have played a very important role in the
shaping of world history. However, understanding the origin of this group can
lead to a better understanding of the religious makeup and practices of Judea at
the dawn of Christianity. In the course of this paper, I will show that there is
evidence which links the origin of Mandaeism very closely to Judea and the
pre-Christian sectarian, or non-Jewish, sects centered on the Jordan River which
preserved the heritage of the preexilic Israelite temple cult. Though I will not be
able to conclusively show this to be the case, I believe that the evidence which I
will present will show the above stated thesis to be a strong possibility.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=studiaantiqua

Richard Thomas graduated from BYU in April 2006 with a degree in history. He is
studying Greek and Hebrew and is planning to continue biblical studies in graduate 
school.
BYU ScholarsArchive 
Citation Thomas, Richard. "The Israelite Origins of the Mandaean People." Studia Antiqua 5, no. 2 (2007). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ studiaantiqua/vol5/iss2/4

Shock and Awe: The U.S. Led Invasion and the Struggle of Iraq’s Non-Muslim
Minorities
Arkan Kazal, MA
The University of Texas at Austin, 2019
Supervisor: Kamran S. Aghaie
https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/76209/KAZAL-THESIS-2019.pdf?sequence=1

Abstract
This paper examines the transformations that took place in the discourse of Iraq’s
non-Muslim minorities after the U.S. led invasion in 2003. By looking at the first three
years of the invasion, this research captures the emergence of sectarian identities among
Iraq’s Mandaeans and Christians. Relying on never-before examined evidence, this paper
argues that the invasion caused these minorities to adopt clear sectarian tendencies as a
reaction to a political environment that was becoming less secular every day. While all
members of these two groups did not share similar political views, most of them started
expressing themselves politically based on sectarian grounds.

THE MANDAEAN IDENTITY CHALLENGE FROM RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM TO SECULAR POLICIES *
Mehrdad Arabestani
Published 2010


In 2002, when I started my field work among the Mandaeans of Iran, the first thing that struck me was the highly ritualistic tone of Mandaean religion with a stress on purification rites. I found out that the rituals have a pivotal and irreplaceable status in Mandaean religiousness. When one asks the Mandaean about their religion, the immediate answer is usually an account of the Mandaean rites rather than the Mandaean beliefs and theology. Drower, as the leading researcher in Mandaean ethnography, had noted this point in her introduction to The Haran Gawaita and the Baptism of HIbil-Ziwa





https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/THE-MANDAEAN-IDENTITY-CHALLENGE-FROM-RELIGIOUS-TO-*-Arabestani/f9d41261bd7c9105050df0997e996941c4410cec

The Mandaeans: A history of Boatbuilding and Silversmithing ...

https://www.mandaeanunion.org › images › MAU › History

Orientalism and Three British Dames: De-essentialization of the Other in the Work of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, and E.S. Drower
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1226&context=masters

 A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of the School of Communication 
In Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts in English

 By Lynn Massie Sawyer

Abstract 
Although postcolonial criticism has run its course for thirty years, a fresh look at Edward Said’s Orientalism offers insight into how Orientalism functions in the writings of three British dames. Gertrude Bell in The Desert and the Sown, Freya Stark in The Southern Gates of Arabia, and E.S. Drower in The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, however, challenge Said’s theory. Their writing raises questions about how gender alters the discourse about the Other, and whether Said essentializes the Occident. Bell, Stark, and Drower serve as case studies in which to analyze the politically and rhetorically complex interactions between the West and the East at the end of the Colonial period. Over time, these women moved from approaching the Other with superior attitudes and a focus on otherness to developing a sympathetic understanding and greater appreciation of the similarities between the West and the East. Key Words: Said, Bell, Stark, Drower, Orientalism, Other, Postcolonialism 

The Iranian Children of Adam
 A study on the Iranian Sabaean Mandaean community
 Iman Amirteimour
MA Thesis in Middle East Studies at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages University of Oslo: Faculty of Humanities Spring 2017
https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/57957/Masters--thesis-by-Iman-Amirteimour.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Summary
This dissertation investigates about the current status of the Iranian Sabaean Mandaean
community, which is a relatively anonymous ethno-religious tribe. They claim to be direct
off-springs of the first human creature who is Prophet Adam, and the initial monotheist faith
that is Mandaeism. However, regularly scholars of religions’ history locate the advent of their
faith in the same historical context as the rise of Judaism.
The main settlements of Sabaean Mandaeans have always been in Mesopotamia, and their
current homelands are in Iraq, and Iran. The Sabaeans are mentioned in Quran as monotheist People of the Book, however there has always been a disagreement in the Islamic jurisprudence that whether the Mandaean community is identical with Quranic Sabaeans or not. Due to such suspicion, Mandaeism is not recognized as a distinct faith in the Iranian constitution; the issue which has affected the Iranian Mandaeans’ social rights in a negative manner.
In the current dissertation, I elaborate about the historical origins of the Mandaeism as a
monotheist faith and contextualize it among other big religious traditions like Judaism, and
Christianity. I also write about the essentials of the Mandaean faith and discuss the vital role
of ritual practices in the perpetuation of the orthodox Mandaeism. Next, I explain the
unrivaled role of the Iranian Mandaean priesthood in maintaining the Mandaean community
as an independent faith community. Moreover, I point to the socio-political activism of the
Mandaean priesthood to build constructive ties with the officials in the Iranian state and with
the reformist, democratic forces who regard Sabaean Mandaean as a legitimate minority with granted social rights. I also explain how the Mandaean priesthood attempts to maintain a traditional version of the Mandaen community and fight the unconventional interpretations
regarding the orthodox manner of performing rituals, and other religious commands.
Further, I analyze the actual circumstances of the contemporary Iranian Mandaean community and their ongoing challenges. The strong wave of the emigration among the Iranian Mandaens and the rise of new interpretations, demands among the Mandaean laypeople and youth have subjected them into fundamental challenges which have the potential to transform the Iranian Mandaean society from its intact and original constitution. 



This dissertation investigates about the current status of the Iranian Sabaean Mandaean community, which is a relatively anonymous ethno-religious tribe. They claim to be direct off-springs of the first human creature who is Prophet Adam, and the initial monotheist faith that is Mandaeism. However, regularly scholars of religions’ history locate the advent of their faith in the same historical context as the rise of Judaism. The main settlements of Sabaean Mandaeans have always been in Mesopotamia, and their current homelands are in Iraq, and Iran. The Sabaeans are mentioned in Quran as monotheist People of the Book, however there has always been a disagreement in the Islamic jurisprudence that whether the Mandaean community is identical with Quranic Sabaeans or not. Due to such suspicion, Mandaeism is not recognized as a distinct faith in the Iranian constitution; the issue which has affected the Iranian Mandaeans’ social rights in a negative manner. In the current dissertation, I elaborate about the historical origins of the Mandaeism as a monotheist faith and contextualize it among other big religious traditions like Judaism, and Christianity. I also write about the essentials of the Mandaean faith and discuss the vital role of ritual practices in the perpetuation of the orthodox Mandaeism. Next, I explain the unrivaled role of the Iranian Mandaean priesthood in maintaining the Mandaean community as an independent faith community. Moreover, I point to the socio-political activism of the Mandaean priesthood to build constructive ties with the officials in the Iranian state and with the reformist, democratic forces who regard Sabaean Mandaean as a legitimate minority with granted social rights. I also explain how the Mandaean priesthood attempts to maintain a traditional version of the Mandaen community and fight the unconventional interpretations regarding the orthodox manner of performing rituals, and other religious commands. Further, I analyze the actual circumstances of the contemporary Iranian Mandaean community and their ongoing challenges. The strong wave of the emigration among the Iranian Mandaens and the rise of new interpretations, demands among the Mandaean laypeople and youth have subjected them into fundamental challenges which have the potential to transform the Iranian Mandaean society from its intact and original constitution. 

The Small Sects Under Fire
Christian Caryl 
DECEMBER 4, 2014 ISSUE
NY REVIEW OF BOOKS
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
by Gerard Russell, with a foreword by Rory Stewart
Basic Books, 320 pp., $28.99
http://ringmar.net/mycourses/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Caryl-2014-The-Small-Sects-Under-Fire-1.pdf

The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq’s Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba‘thists and Free Officers
by Hanna Batatu, Saqi Books, 2004, 1,284 pp.
Reviwed by Peter Sluglett
No serious study of the modern history of Iraq can be undertaken without a
period of immersion in Hanna Batatu’s massive The Old Social Classes and the
Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, first published by Princeton University Press in
1978. It is a pleasant duty to commend Saqi Books for having had the courage to
republish a paperback of 1284 pages. As one reviewer wrote in 1981: ‘Hanna Batatu
has constructed a masterpiece of historical literature that single-handedly catapults
Iraq from the least known of the major Arab countries to the Arab society of which
we now have the most thorough political portrait.’[1] Let me take advantage of the
luxury of a long review to say something about the author and his work. [2]
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1389811754d4Sluglett.pdf

RIP
Hanna Batatu, 74, Authority On Politics of Iraq and Syria

By Eric Pace
June 29, 200

Hanna Batatu, an authority on the contemporary Arab world who was best known for his writings on Iraq and Syria, died on Saturday at his home in Litchfield County in northwestern Connecticut. He was 74.

He had cancer, Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies said in announcing his death.

Dr. Batatu retired in 1994 as holder of the Shaykh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah Chair of Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown.

He wrote a highly regarded book on Iraq, another on Syria and articles on the two countries that appeared in scholarly journals. His writing could be vivid. In an account derived from official government sources, he wrote that after the Baath Party members who dominated Iraq's governing council were ousted by an army coup late in 1963, in the cellar of one building ''were found all sorts of loathsome instruments of torture, including electric wires with pincers,'' and ''small heaps of bloodied clothing were scattered about.''

Dr. Batatu ''was probably the greatest political scientist to study the Middle East in the past 50 years,'' said Yahya Sadowski, a professor of Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. ''His analyses of Iraq and Syria were unprecedented in their level of detail, their nuanced understanding, and the authority of their conclusions.''

The book on Iraq by Dr. Batatu is ''The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq's Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of Its Communists, Baathists and Free Officers (1978, Books on Demand).

Abbas Amanat, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at Yale, said that book ''still maintains its place as one of the major works of history of the 20th-century Middle East.'' It begins at the turn of that century and draws on interviews that Dr. Batatu had with many out-of-office Iraqi political figures, either in Iraq or in exile.

The interviews, Professor Amanat said, provided Dr. Batatu ''with a thorough and unique account of the events that otherwise would have been lost to historians.''

His book about Syria, ''Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics'' (1999, Princeton) was applauded in a review in the journal Foreign Affairs by L. Carl Brown, a historian of the Middle East. He called the work ''vintage Batatu, with awesomely thorough research,'' and added, ''This solid sociopolitical study of modern Syria's rural population will take its place among the classics of rural history.''

He was born in Jerusalem, the son of Shukri Batatu and the former Yvonne Nicodene, and had a job with the Palestine government in Jerusalem in the 1940's. After the state of Israel was established in 1948, he came to the United States as an immigrant and worked for a carpet company in Stamford, Conn.

Then he entered academe and received a bachelor's degree summa cum laude in 1953 from Georgetown University's school of foreign service and his doctorate in political theory in 1960 from Harvard. His Harvard dissertation had the title ''The Shaykh and the Peasant in Iraq, 1917-1958,'' and was the beginning of his Iraq book.

He taught at the American University of Beirut from 1962 to 1981 and at Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies from 1982 to 1994.

Dr. Batatu is survived by his brother, Anthony Reynaud of Winsted, Conn.; three nieces, Brenda Davis, of Winchester, Conn., Cindy Fox, of Waterbury, Conn., and Mary Anne Sok, of Torrington, Conn.; and four nephews, Anthony Reynaud Jr., of Winsted, John Reynaud, of Torrington, and Jamil Abdallah and Sukri Abdallah, both of Jerusalem. A sister, Mary Abdallah, died earlier.

He was to have been honored this week by the American University of Beirut as one of its Millennium Scholars.

A version of this article appears in print on June 29, 2000, Section A, Page 29 of the National edition with the headline: Hanna Batatu, 74, Authority On Politics of Iraq and Syria. 

The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq
https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/the-old-social-classes-and-the-revolutionary-movements-of-iraq/


The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq
A Study of Iraq's Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba'thists and Free Officers
Hanna Batatu
9780863567711
June 2004
Paperback 1283pp
Over 40 black & white illustrations

About the Book
This comparative study analyses the traditional elite of Iraq and their successors – the Communists, the Ba’thists and Free Officers – in terms of social and economic relationships in each area of the country. The author draws on secret government documents and interviews with key figures, both in power and in prison, to produce an engrossing story of political struggle and change.
About the Author

Hanna Batatu was born in 1926 in Jerusalem. He immigrated to the United States in 1948, receiving his PhD from Harvard University in 1960. Apart from research fellowships at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton, Batatu held two major teaching appointments: at the American University of Beirut (1962–81), and at Georgetown University (1982–94), where he was named Professor Emeritus upon retirement. He died in 2000.

Reviews

‘A landmark in Middle Eastern historical study … it will be imitated, confronted, argued about, banned – and perhaps even burned – as no other book written on the region in the recent period.’
Roger Owen, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies

‘By far the best book written on the social and political history of modern Iraq.’
Ahmad Dallal, Stanford University

‘An indispensable foundation for any thoughts regarding the creation of a new Iraqi political order.’
L. Bushkoff, Christian Science Monitor

THE OLD SOCIAL CLASSES AND THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS OF IRAQ: A STUDY OF IRAQ'S OLD LANDED AND COMMERCIAL CLASSES AND OF ITS COMMUNISTS, BAʻTHISTS, AND FREE OFFICERS
Batatu, Hanna, 1926-
© Princeton University Press •c1978.
Table of Contents
Frontmatter
List of Tablespage ix
List of Illustrationspage xvii
List of Mapspage xix
Prefacepage xxi
Book One The Old Social Classes
PART I INTRODUCTION
1 The "Old Social Classes": Practical and Theoretical Clarifications; Applicability of Concept; Difficulties of Analysispage 5
2 Of the Diversity of Iraqis, the Incohesiveness of Their Society, and Their Progress in the Monarchic Period toward a Consolidated Political Structurepage 13
3 The Geographic Distribution of the Principal Racial-Religious Groups and Relevant Causative Factorspage 37
4 Some Religious-Class and Ethnic-Class Correlationspage 44
PART II THE MAIN CLASSES AND STATUS GROUPS
5 The Mallaks or Landownerspage 53
6 The Shaikhs, Aghas, and Peasantspage 63
7 The Sadahpage 153
8 The Old "Aristocracy" of Officalspage 211
9 The Chalabis and the Jewish Merchants and Merchant-Sarrafspage 224
10 The Crown and the Ex-Sharifian Officerspage 319
Book Two The Communists from the Beginnings of Their Movement to the Fifties
PART I BEGINNINGS IN THE ARAB EAST
11 The Earliest "Levelers"; the Armenian Hentchak; the Jewish Communists; and the Communist Internationalpage 367
PART II BEGINNINGS IN IRAQ
12 Husain ar-Rahhal, as-Sahifah Group, and at-Tadamun Clubpage 389
13 Pyotr Vasili and the Basrah and Nasiriyyah Communist Circlespage 404
14 The Founding of the Iraqi Communist Partypage 411
15 Two Iraqis-Three Sectspage 434
16 Beginning again; or the Communists in the Period of the Coups d'Etat (1936-1941)page 439
PART III CAUSES
17 Of the General Causes That Made for the Increase of Communism in the Two Decades before the July Revolutionpage 465
PART IV FAHD AND THE PARTY (1941-1949)
18 Fahdpage 485
19 Toward a Tightly Knit, Ideologically Homogeneous Partypage 493
20 New Situations, New Approachespage 523
21 The Arrest of Fahd and afterpage 537
22 Al-Wathbahpage 545
23 The Disaster; the Death of Fahd on the Gallows; the "Children Communists"page 567
24 Fahd, the Communist International, the Soviets, the Syrian Communists, and the People's Partypage 574
25 The Communists and the Question of Palestinepage 597
26 The Character, Scope, and Forms of Party Activitypage 604
27 The Organization, Membership, and Social Structure of the Party (1941-1949)page 628
28 The Finances of the Partypage 653
PART V THE PARTY IN THE YEARS 1949-1955, OR THE PERIOD OF THE ASCENDANCY OF THE KURDS IN THE PARTY
29 Baha'-ud-Din Nuri Rebuilds the Partypage 659
30 The Intifadah of Novemberpage 666
31 More and More Extremism, Less and Less Sensepage 671
32 A Defeat for the Party, or the Birth of the Baghdad Pactpage 679
33 A Bit of Forgotten History, or the Tragic Occurrences at the Baghdad and the Kut Prisonspage 690
34 A Debate on Religionpage 694
35 The Composition of the Party (1949-1955)page 699
Book Three The Communists, the Ba'thists, and the Free Officers from the Fifties to the Present
36 The Communist Helm Changes Hands, the Communist Ranks Closepage 709
37 The New Strong Men of the Communist Party: Hussain Ahmad ar-Radi, 'Amer 'Abdallah, and Jamal al-Haidaripage 712
38 The Ba'th of the Fifties: Its Origins, Creed, Organization, and Membershippage 722
39 The Arabization of the Communist Party's View and the Risings at Najaf and Hayy in 1956page 749
40 The Formation of the Supreme National Committee, February 1957page 758
41 The Free Officers, the Communists, and the July 1958 Revolutionpage 764
42 "Sole Leader," Dual Powerpage 808
43 Mutual Antagonism, Mutual Defeatpage 861
44 Mosul, March 1959page 866
45 The Flowpage 890
46 Kirkuk, July 1959page 912
47 The Ebbpage 922
48 The Self-Flagellationpage 926
49 The Recoverypage 931
50 The Bogus Partypage 936
51 From Pillar to Postpage 942
52 The Ba'thists Make Preparation, the Communists Give Warningpage 966
53 "The Bitterest of Years"page 974
54 The Composition and Organization of the Communist Party (1955-1963)page 995
55 The First Ba'thi Regime, or toward One-Party Rulepage 1003
56 The Younger 'Aref, the Nasirites, and the Communistspage 1027
57 Under the Elder 'Aref, or the Rift in the Communist Rankspage 1062
58 The Second Ba'thi Regimepage 1073
59 Conclusionpage 1113
APPENDIX ONE. EARLIEST BOLSHEVIK ACTIVITIES AND CONTACTS
A. "O Moslems! Listen to This Divine Cry!"page 1137
B. The Bolsheviks and the 'Ulama' of the Holy Citiespage 1141
C. The Bolsheviks, the Comintern, and the Arab Nationalistspage 1148
D. An Overture in Teheranpage 1156
APPENDIX TWO. SUPPLEMENTARY TABLES
Bibliographypage 1231
Glossarypage 1253
Index I; Names of Families and Tribespage 1259
Index II: Personal Namespage 1262
Index III: Subjectspage 1272
Reviews
AJS: 88.2 (Sep. 1982): 469-471
APSR: 74.2 (Jun. 1980): 529-530
AHR: 85.2 (Apr. 1980): 439-440
CSSH: 28.3 (Jul. 1986): 552-557
IJMES: 13.1 (Feb. 1981): 126-128
IA: 56.4 (Autumn 1980): 741-742
MERIP: 97 (Jun. 1981): 22+24-25
MERIP: 97 (Jun. 1981): 23+26-27
MERIP: 97 (Jun. 1981): 23+28-29+31-32
Catalog record
Title The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq : a study of Iraq's old landed and commercial classes and of its Communists, Baʻthists, and Free Officers / Hanna Batatu.
Author Batatu, Hanna, 1926-
Extent 600dpi TIFF G4 page images
E-Distribution Information MPublishing, University of Michigan Library
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Permission must be received for any subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Please contact info@hebook.org for more information.
Source Version The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq : a study of Iraq's old landed and commercial classes and of its Communists, Baʻthists, and Free Officers / Hanna Batatu. 
Batatu, Hanna, 1926-
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, c1978.
URL http://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00859.0001.001
Subject Headings • Ḥizb al-Shuyūʻī al-ʻIrāqī
• Social classes -- Iraq
• Iraq -- Politics and government