Tombs of the Pasha and the Grave Politics of Late Ottoman Lebanon
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Tombs of the Pasha and the Grave Politics of Late Ottoman Lebanon The Late Ottoman Cemetery at Hazmieh in Beirut Andrew Petersen 1
& Youssef
el-Khoury 2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This article discusses a small cemetery on the outskirts of Beirut in Lebanon. The cemetery contains the tombs of two of the nineteenth-century governors of Lebanon as well as a handful of high ranking people associated with Ottoman rule in Lebanon. The cemetery is unique because it contains the graves of both Muslims and Christians as well those of men and women. The article records both the tombs themselves and their inscriptions and sets them within the context of nineteenth-century Lebanon and the Ottoman empire as a whole. Keywords Ottoman . Lebanon . Cemeteries . Beirut
Introduction Lebanon in general and Beirut in particular is famous for its cosmopolitan and diverse population comprising a variety of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. This paper will focus on a cemetery which illustrates this diversity and gives an insight into the complexity of Lebanon’s late Ottoman history. The cemetery is located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, next to the motorway leading to Damascus, and at first glance appears to be of little significance. Closer examination reveals that the cemetery only has a few graves each of which belongs to a person of significance in the evolution of the modern Lebanon. This article will provide a detailed description of the cemetery Andrew Petersen with additional research by Youssef el-Khoury
* Andrew Petersen [email protected] Youssef el-Khoury [email protected]
1
University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter SA48 7ED, UK
2
American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
and set it within the wider context of the political and cultural developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In addition, it is hoped that this article will draw attention to the value of the cemetery as cultural heritage at a time when the recent past of the country is often suppressed by a collective amnesia. Historical Background The beginning of Lebanon’s modern history can be dated to the year 1860 when communal strife in the northern section of the Lebanon mountains spread to the whole of Lebanon and ultimately to Damascus where 5,500 Christians were massacred. Within Lebanon the conflict was mostly between the Maronite Christians and the Druze with Ottoman garrisons supposedly keeping peace but clearly favoring the Druze. The conflict combined with the massacres in Damascus led directly to the intervention of the European states and an expeditionary force led by France to protect the Christian population of Mount Lebanon. The French expeditionary force arrived in August 1860 and remained until June 1861. The force comprised more than 6,000 men and was based in the vicinity of Les Pins (The Pines) or Horsh Beirut to the south of the city (Harris 2012: 151–159). The Ottomans had early establi
