The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth Century
By Abraham Marcus
Reviewed by Amanda Prechel, Biola University, La Mirada, CA; Email: amanda.m.prechel@biola.edu
Abraham Marcus, author of The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth Century, is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas located in Austin, Texas. He focuses on the Syrian city of Aleppo before modernization (otherwise known as Westernization) burst onto the scene and changed the way of society forever. Marcus takes the reader on a journey through the city of Aleppo during the later half of the eighteenth century and covers a wide range of facets of the social history of that time. This review will focus on chapter two of the book, which is titled “The People: Groups, Classes, and Social Contrasts.”
In this book, Marcus seeks to understand the urban society of pre-modern Aleppo, and to understand and uncover
“the ideals, values, beliefs, norms, attitudes, and tastes of the townspeople; how their institutions worked in practice; their process of decision making and control; the material conditions in which they lived; their characteristic patterns of relations and social conflict, and the changes they experienced in the course of the century.”[1]
First, Marcus makes sure the reader understands that the society is ruled over majorly by the Islamic leaders of the city. In fact, his main source is the Islamic court records from the later part of the eighteenth century in Aleppo, since the records provide information about people from all social distinctions. Marcus also makes sure to include information about the Christians and Jews who lived as dhimmis in the city under the Islamic government. Though the Christians and Jews were not in control, Marcus explains how they were an important part of society and tells how they interacted with each other and with Muslims.
In chapter two, Marcus looks closely at the townspeople and their social structure. Giving a greatly detailed description of the diversity of people within the social structure of Aleppo, Marcus writes,
“a mixed and colorful lot crowded into [t]his metropolis: Muslims, Christians, and Jews; Ottoman subjects and foreign nationals; households fabulously wealthy and miserably poor; rural immigrants and long-established urbanites; pious believers and underworld criminals; learned scholars and illiterates; families of noble lineage and of humble origins; skilled professionals and menial laborers; men of power and abject slaves. There were differences of dress, life-style, speech, and manners; ceremony and refinement thrived, but alongside unconcealed wretchedness”[2]
In this truly colorful description, the reader begins to understand the social classes and distinctions in Aleppo as differing from those of other cities of the pre-modern period. Aleppo did not have a social ladder as much as it had a social web., and distinctions were not only drawn because of wealth, but because of prestige and family name. The Ottoman Empire had a hierarchy to the table. Also,
“the inequalities appreared not only between groups; they also cut across them. Women, Christians, carpenters, men of religion, and even salves formed each a socially differentiated group whose members belonged to more than one single class.”[3]
Marcus talks fairly extensively on the inequality of women in this society. Women, he says, essentially have their own hierarchical system within the system of male dominated social structure. The women are given many restrictions, ranging from restrictions on their dress and appearance in public to the restriction of women from holding offices and titles in government. Males were considered far superior to women, even so that “the testimony of two female witnesses in court was equivalent to that of one male, and a female was entitled to half the inheritance of her male equal.” Furthermore, “a popular saying had it that ‘a woman is endowed with half a brain, half a religious faith, and half an inheritance.’”[4]
Women were mostly secluded from social outings. Arranged marriages were prevalent and dating was not allowed by the law. To be considered a more prestigious woman was to not have a need for a paying job, and to be isolated at home all day being leisurely. Because of all of this, men and women did not often mingle in public. The author describes this segregation between women and men as common to Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike.
I appreciated the author’s use of more common language in this book. Because it was written assuming “no prior knowledge of Aleppo and the region...it attempts to provide a readable narration uncluttered by foreign terms and technical usages more readily accessible to the specialist.”[5] It is therefore appropriate for undergraduate students looking to further understand Middle Eastern history, or even for a reader outside of the academic world. I would recommend this book to anyone like myself who is just starting out on the path of learning about, appreciating, and understanding the Middle East.
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