Ottoman Period Seal Restored

Israel Antiquities Authority has a great new story:

The original seal of the sultan Abdul Hamid II, builder of Jaffa's clock tower, is now once again displayed on the city’s famous landmark.  The clock tower underwent conservation measures and engineering reinforcement 

and it became apparent that the original marble seal (tughra) bearing the symbol of Sultan Hamid Abdul II (ruler of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) was in a poor state of preservation. 

Conservator Mark Avrahami performed the conservation and restoration work: a new support for the seal was created, the seal, which had faded completely, was accentuated utilizing pigments, and upon completion of the work, the marble plaque was returned to its original location two weeks ago.  

 According to Dr. Yoav Arbel, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The tughra first appeared as the seal of the second Ottoman sultan, Orhan (1326-1362 CE) and has since represented the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the kingdom itself. The tughra is a monogram that incorporates the sultan’s name, his titles, his father’s name and blessings, along with symbolic characteristics of the Ottoman Empire. It served as the sultan’s official seal for use on documents, public buildings, coins etc.”.  

I hope those desiring a restoration of the idea of an Ottoman Empire in Turkey appreciate this.

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Fighting For Nablus

In 1918:

On 9 March 1918, the British launched another offensive towards Nablus. Three days of intense fighting was followed by a short period of silence and on 21 March, the British launched a new attack breaking through the Jordan River (also known as River of Şeria in Turkish) line in 5 days.

By 28 March, British forces were already at the outskirts of the city of Amman. However they had huge problems with transportation. The roads were all damaged and slippery because of the heavy rainfall. It was hardly possible to move the artillery guns under such conditions.

Meanwhile the city was defended by the 48th Division, which resisted well. Facing strong resistance, experiencing logistic problems and suffering from a Turkish counterattack, Allenby decided to withdraw on 31 March. It has to be noted, that during this phase of the war, and also later phases of the Palestinian campaign, German officers and troops fought with great dedication along with their Turkish comrades.

On 30 April, the British stroke struck back, but this time the Turks were reinforced with the 24th Division, commanded by German Colonel Boehme, and the 3rd Cavalry Division, commanded by Colonel Esat Bey. Turkish counterattacks between 2 and 4 May brought the British offensive to a quick termination.

As of mid-1918, the Yıldırım Army Group disposed 40,598 men, 19,819 rifles, 273 light and 696 heavy machine guns. Allenby had 56,000 men, 11,000 cavalry and 552 artillery pieces.

Battle of Nablus

On the morning of 19 September, at 5:50 AM, General Allenby launched a major offensive, which started with heavy artillery fire pounding the units of the Eighth Army. Within only one hour the British had broken through the Turkish defenses. The 7th Division and two regiments from the 20th Division collapsed without even having contact with the British infantry. By 10 am two British cavalry divisions were riding towards the Turkish rear. By 20 September, the British cavalry captured Nazareth. The XXII Corps was destroyed.

Mustafa Kemal Paşa had returned to his post as the commander of the Seventh Army on 1 September. His forces retired towards the River of Jordan. Between 21-23 September, the III Corps fought a gallant rear guard action from Tubas to the river, buying enough time for the retreating Turkish troops.

The great coastal cities of Haifa and Accra fell by 25 September. So did Megiddo. This was a huge success for the British cavalry. Two days later, Allenby’s forces entered Syria and the Battle of Nablus was over.

Why did the Turkish forces melt away so quickly? Erickson gives three explanations: (a) The terrain was favourable for the attackers, (b) there was scope at the operational level for Allenby to shift corps-sized formations around the battlefield for deception and concentration, (c) the British Army had made mighty improvements in its tactical techniques at the lower battlefield level in 1917 and 1918.

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"Palestine"? What Borders? Where?

Apropos the latest "outrage" of Arabs of the former Mandate for Palestine, let's recall that in The Treaty of Peace Between The Allied and Associated Powers and Turkey signed at SÈVRES, August 10, 1920, Section VII, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Article 94, we read:

The High Contracting Parties agree that Syria and Mesopotamia shall, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 22.

Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognised as independent States subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone.

A Commission shall be constituted within fifteen days from the coming into force of the present Treaty to trace on the spot the frontier line described in Article 27, II (2) and (3). This Commission will be composed of three members nominated by France, Great Britain and Italy respectively, and one member nominated by Turkey; it will be assisted by a representative of Syria for the Syrian frontier, and by a representative of Mesopotamia for the Mesopotamian frontier.

The determination of the other frontiers of the said States, and the selection of the Mandatories, will be made by the Principal Allied Powers.

ARTICLE 95.

The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

The Mandatory undertakes to appoint as soon as possible a special Commission to study and regulate all questions and claims relating to the different religious communities. In the composition of this Commission the religious interests concerned will be taken into account. The Chairman of the Commission will be appointed by the Council of the League of Nations.

Although there is some dispute regarding the legality of the treaty - for

"while the treaty was under discussion, the Turkish national movement under Mustafa Kemal Pasha split with the monarchy based in Constantinople and set up a Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara in April 1920.  On October 18, the government of Damat Ferid Pasha was replaced by a provisional ministry under Ahmed Tevfik Pasha as Grand Vizier, who announced an intention to convoke the Senate with the purpose of ratification of the Treaty, provided that national unity were achieved. This required seeking for cooperation with Mustafa Kemal. The latter expressed disdain to the Treaty and started a military assault. As a result, the Turkish Government issued a note to the Entente that the ratification of the Treaty was impossible at that time.  Eventually, Mustafa Kemal succeeded in his fight for Turkish independence and forced the former wartime Allies to return to the negotiating table.  Arabs were unwilling to accept the French rule in Syria, the Turks around Mosul were attacking the British, the Arabs were in arms against the British rule in Baghdad. There was also disorder in Egypt...the former Allies of World War I [returned] to the negotiating table with the Turks and in 1923 negotiate the Treaty of Lausanne, which replaced the Treaty of Sèvres...

Nevertheless, the point I am making is the principle:

"Palestine" had no boundary definition.  There was no physical concept or identity.  No delineation. It was all in the mind. The Turks and the Arabs didn't conceive of a country but of a general territory.  The Allies in the League of Nations drew the maps and before, in the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference, the instruction was "from Dan to Beer-Sheva".

It, in this sense, didn't really exist.

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See That Hole in the Wall?

The one I have an arrow (sort of) pointing to:-

That's just above, to the left of the Dung Gate.

A new entrance in a wall 500-years old, almost. From the beginning of the Ottoman Empire conquest when the Turks were "occupiers".

Funny, this report claims the wall will not be breached.

Maybe it's a peep-hole?

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Outing Ottoman Jewish Cuisine

The New York Times Dining & Wine Section has a story on a new chef, Ms. Silvena Rowe, that also stars the Ottoman Empire:-

...she set out to “trace where the Ottomans had been, the food they brought with them and the food they took away with them.” At its apogee, during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire controlled most of southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. Mrs. Rowe immersed herself in research on the culinary legacy of that realm, spending time in the Arab world and Turkey. She had fallen in love with Istanbul 10 years ago but had never traveled to Syria. Damascus swept her off her feet.

“I’ve never ever been to a city where you walk and feel its beating heart,” she said. “Basically you wake up a day younger every day. It’s a magnificent feeling.”

There she consulted with chefs from the restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, who gave her recipes for kebabs with walnuts and pine nuts, and sautéed monkfish with rose petal salt. She traveled to the ancient Syrian village of Malula, where Aramaic is still spoken, and picked up a recipe in a cafe for butter beans with feta and za’atar. She visited the Greek Orthodox Saint Thecla monastery and orphanage, where she watched a nun prepare grape leaves stuffed with salt cod, tarragon and rice in a kitchen carved out of a cave.

She spent time in Turkey...

You noticed this: "you wake up a day younger every day"?

Only that in Damascus too many people don't wake up at all after a good night's torture.

And it seems she never made it to the Jewish centers of the Ottoman Empire nor to Jerusalem. There was good cuisine there, too.

She could have used this book for research.

Or reviewed this:

Sephardic Jewish Food and Cooking

Sepharad is the Hebrew word for the Iberian peninsula that includes Spain and Portugal. Jewish cooking would need to adapt to these circumstances.Jews lived in Spain long before the Visigoth (Germanic) tribes invaded in 412, however after the Moorish invasion of Spain in 700, there was a large influx of Jews immigrating to Spain. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, Spanish Judaism flourished under Muslim rule, producing poets, scholars, and courtiers - what is known as "the golden age of Jewry." By the mid-thirteenth century, however, the Christians controlled all of the Peninsula except for a small area from Granada to the Mediterranean. In March, 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella decreed the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Many Jews converted or left while others went to Portugal, where Judaism could still be practiced freely. But Portugal expelled its Jews in 1497, and the tiny kingdom of Navarre followed suit in 1498. Judaism could be practiced openly nowhere in the Peninsula. Driven from home, the Sephardim established their own congregations in such places as Morocco, Italy, Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, the Land of Israel, and elsewhere.

With plenty of herbs and sometimes generous use of spices, Sephardic Jewish cooking is aromatic. They use a lot of lemon, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, cumin with turmeric and more. Sephardic Jews are known for their love of cooking vegetables, from salads to vegetables stuffed with fragrant meat and rice, and pies or Burekas which often have feta cheese, spinach, or potato fillings. Sephardic Jews from Morocco and other North African countries enjoy cumin, ginger, and saffron & chilies. Jewish cooks from the eastern end of the Mediterranean have adapted their food and cooking as well and make heavy use of cinnamon in their cooking, so much that they use it as a savory accent for meat dishes The kebabs, pilafs and dolmades (stuffed vegetables) of Turkish Jewish cooking are still some of the most recognizable Sephardic dishes. Fruits, vegetables, spices, and grains were plentiful in the Mediterranean climate, and thus plant foods figured heavily into Sephardic Jewish cooking.

After all, as this makes clear:

...Ottoman cuisine was unified and refined in imperial Istanbul, but its ultimate origins are less clear.

It is a matter of mere speculation whether the origins of this imperial culinary legacy are to be traced back to Greek antiquity, the Byzantine heritage, or the ingenuity of the glorious Turkish and Arab nations, not forgetting Phoenician and Jewish traditions; nowadays you may find support for any of these claims in various countries in the Balkans and the Near East.

One too many cooks makes a mess.


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Ottoman Empire in A New Book

There's a new book out. A mystery. Called "Snake Stone", and written by Jason Goodwin (here's an extract at his site, it is reviewed in the NYTimes and Marilyn Stasio writes that the novel is:

...set in 19th-century Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Mahmut II and features the subtle sleuthing of Yashim Togalu, a eunuch with eyes and ears exquisitely attuned to the cacophony of life in his cosmopolitan world.

In such a setting, sudden violence is just part of the local color. Goodwin obliges with deadly assaults on a local vegetable seller, an old Greek book dealer, an Albanian waterman, a Jewish moneylender and, most interestingly, a French archaeologist whose search for treasure from an earlier era dramatizes the author’s view of Istanbul as a city entwined in its own history.

The Jews in 19th century Turkey were very powerful and highly connected to the Sultan.

Wonder how they are treated by Goodwin.