Historian Muhammad Mhaffel: Treasure of Syria ‘s Memoires
Do we know our history? is the question ever posed by renowned Syrian historian Dr. Muhammad Mhaffel .
What Syria ‘s position and role throughout ages? Is another question put by Syria Times for Dr. Mhaffel , who carefully detailed the answer, recalling with great pride what Andre Barrow, director of the Louvre Museum in Paris said : ( Every civilized person in the world to has to say that Everyone has two homeland .. The home where he lived .. And Syria.)
One of the achievements he is proud of is the project entitled ” The Cultural Dome”, carried out under the auspices of the Syrian first lady and the very preoccupation of President Bashar al-Assad.
“Our project is to have in Syria a historical museum that is a unique of its sort in all realms . The Agriculture Museum where Syria can be highlighted as the home of first human settlement where wheat harvest was first cultivated. The Alphabet Museum, where the innovation of the Cuneiform Tablets were unearthed as evidences on the first documented alphabet in human history marking the beginning of writing.
Despite the current situation in Syria , the project which started three years earlier continues in cooperation with French professors and the Institute of the Louvre Museum directorate in Paris.
Dr. Mhaffel studied History at the University of Damascus in (1949) and graduated in (1953). He worked as a teacher of history in Aleppo , got his PhD in ancient history from Paris, where, he studied Aramaic, in addition to Greek and Latin at the hands of a group of elite French professors.
“I returned back to Syria following the June 1967 war setback as a professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Damascus.
Mhaffel, whose doctoral thesis was entitled: “The role of slaves in the decline of the Roman Empire,” authored two books : the “History of the Romans” and the ” History of Greece”.
Since 2008, he is an active member at the Arab Language Academy , and in 2012 he was awarded with the Syrian order of merit, excellent class over his all life- span achievements. ” I am grateful for President Bashar al-Assad over investing me with Syrian order of merit”. And will always remember this hint with deep gratitude.”
The name Syria was appeared first with Greek historian Herodotus who lived after the fall Ninawa in 612 B.C.
In an exclusive Interview with Syria Times, Dr. Mhaffel said : On the map, Syria is situated in the rear façade of Asia on the Mediterranean, at the end of the silk route on the Mediterranean sea, Westward, Anatolia to the North , Mesopotamia to the East, with India and Fares state beyond, while the Arab Peninsula and Egypt to the south. Thus Syria is located in the centre. From the archeological diggings carried out during the past 20 years, we have authentic information that first human settlements appeared in Syria, especially in the Euphrates and the Syrian desert areas.
In the past, Jericho in Palestine was considered as the oldest city in history, but today we say the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world is Aleppo, whose name is frequently repeated since the mid of the third millennium BC , whereas the oldest continuously inhabited capital in the world is Damascus, 2000 years after Aleppo.
So, here in Syria was the first human settlement. It is evident that the Cuneiform, Sumerian, Acadians and Babylonian writings appeared in Mesopotamia. It was a sort of a Syllabifies writing, developed by archeologists under the name of the Cuneiform language ( Cuneus in Latin) .
Writing in the ancient times was considered sacred. For a person to know writing had to join the temples or the palaces. Common people were deprived from learning how to write. They were only permitted to hear and realize the pronunciation but not to write.
That sort of ancient writing was sacred and was a weapon in the hand of the ruling class.
When the Canaanites, who were wrongly named Phoenicians, flourished, they found an alphabetical writing system viewed as a big stride into the realm of knowledge and progress..
The first Cuneiform alphabet appeared in Ugarit on the northern Syrian coast, then followed by the Canaanites alphabet in Byblos, in Lebanon now.
In the Islamic era, the first Arab city was established in Damascus , and became an Empire during the reign of the Umayyad ‘s epic.
When the Abbasids Succeeded the Umayyad dynasty , Syria continued to play a great role in cultural awareness and national orientation in the 19th century, when scholars of Bilad al-Chaam from Lebanon, Syria and Palestine – the vanguards of Arab renaissance – Scholars who were the vanguards of the renaissance established most of the Egyptian magazines under the role Muhammad Ali dynasty in Egypt, before any Egyptian writer appeared on the scene.
Under Roman occupation in 64 B.C., Syria even surpassed the occupation authorities in two things: When it exported pagan Christianity – a cult from Bilad al-Chaam- besides Syria gave birth to the Syrian- Libyan dynasty, including Emperor Caracalla who in 212 A.D issued a decree provided for holding all people of the Empire free to get their rights, which were only confined to the supposedly “Elite” people of Italy with Rome as its capital. Also from Syria came Philip the Arabian (Philipolis) from Shahba.
Thus, as evidenced , Syria had played a key role in history, with Syria ‘s scholars played a big role in the Greek and Latin culture, as stated by their historian Herodotus. The Syrian Alphabet was transferred to Greece.
As for the Romans, “the school of law was established in the first through third century A.D, in Beirut , not to forget Aphamea castle and the creativity of the talented Damascene engineer Apolorodos who orchestrated several routes and monuments in Rome, .
So, since the dawn of history the Syrian heritage and ancient legacy ignited human civilization, throughout the Roman period to the introduction of the Arab phase.
Syria ‘s continuations to ancient human civilizations
Dr. Mhaffel documented that after the fall of Babylon, capital of modern Babylonia in 539 B.C, glare of civilizations and our ancient Arab homeland declined until the dawn of Islam and mystery overwhelmed the great heritage of Mary , Ebla, Babylon , Nineveh , Ugarit, and Tire and other city- states of the Levant.
Renowned French archeologist Claude Scheffer, who has been linked to the old world of Ugarit and depending on Tell-Amarena tablets , Ras Shamra documents and the comparative archaeological studies indicated that Canaan covered all parts of Syria Proper -, given later the name of the Levant or ” Bilad al-Chaam .”
The name “Phoenician” was and is still controversial as it was believed that there were other Phoenician people , rather than the historically labeled Canaanite people . Dr. Mhaffel explained that the name “Phoenician” is exotic and have nothing to do at all with our Mesopotamian ,Canaanite and Egyptian documents .. Etc.. Besides, the Greeks gave the name ” Phoenicia” to the Easten coast of the Levant and the name “Phoenicians” to its people , and this name was mentioned in the ” Odyssey” epic and then documented in the classic literature of Greek and Latin and became common in archaeological and historical writings.
The Canaanite world is not limited to the concept (Canaan / Palestine) as stated in the Old Testament but includes various areas of the Levant .
Our Canaanite ancestors played a great role in the cultural development of the Mediterranean civilization in a variety of areas: writing (alphabet), navigation technology, architecture of cities, methods of international trade, the art of bronze industries and related fields.
The reason for the scarcity of historical studies and the persons working in this area?
History is one of the most difficult sciences. It is not a story nor a novel. The Historian should be encyclopedic acquainted with other realms of studies including archeology, the economy, climate and politics … etc.. History is a compound science , not just a narration of events, stories and novels, and the combination it enjoys , makes it subject to the study, analysis and synthesis “.
Dr. Mhaffel ‘s book “Introduction to the Aramaic language” reveals his focus on ancient languages as means to give the true Arab interpretation of the Arab history and the history of places , where Arab had settled next to other nations and peoples. Giving more details ,he explained : ” I published an article in the Arab Heritage Journal indicating, ignorance of our ancient scholars in ancient languages. This ignorance, makes them piracy to the Israeli scholars who invented their own history from a biblical perspective. In a recently published three hundred episodes, Dr. Mhaffel , in a chronological order, lists the history of the region, from the “pre-ancient world through the subsequent Ages : Hellenistic ,the Roman, Islamic and Ottoman and even today. This interesting and very important series , which was carried out, in collaboration between the Center for Studies and UNESCO , was preceded by other no less achievements.
In his book entitled: “Damascus: myth and history, from the memory of the stone into memory humans” Dr. Mhaffel spent a long time tracing how Damascus acquired its current name evolved throughout ages, and how to write or pronounce the name, apart from mythologies and interpretations created by some historians to this end .
However, his book entitled “myth and history from the memory of the stone to the memory of humans.” which was published in Damascus in 2008 , when Damascus was celebrated as the capital of Arab Culture, traces back events from the beginnings first iron age to the end Aramean period, Assyria, Babylon and Persia up to the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great and ended with the Arab conquests.
The events of the book are based on archeological studies carried out in Syria since 1960, taking two accounts into consideration: the archeological Damascus rich historical monuments and the humanitarian aspect of the Damascenes: Their customs , languages and history.
Dr. Mhaffel who translated several books and many studies into Arabic mostly revolve around the fight against and undressing Zionism also translated books show the role of the Arabs in the dissemination of Arab culture in the West, was the chief editor of Journal of “Historical Studies Journal”.
Despite his abundant historical contributions he still continues learning : “I read about four or five hours every day and I still consider myself a student.”
Interviewed by
Tomader Fateh