Stepping on biblical and medieval ground
In the Syrian winter evening of February 2001, I felt the excitement as the plane taxied at the runway of the modern Damascus International Airport (Arabic, مطار دمشق الدولي). Checking out, I was temporarily held at the Immigration Section by mustached military/Immigration officials as they verified the purpose of my visit.
Military people peered at the door of the immigration office where I sat for more than an hour whispering, Filipini, Filipini (Filipino, Filipino)!
At that moment, I realized how world politics could affect travelers. I heaved sighs of relief an hour later after the officials confirmed that I was headed for Aleppo to work as a Consultant Science Editor/Writer for the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Silence greeted me on my way out as the throng of people disappeared. I saw my suitcase beside the conveyor belt, and the baffled driver of the Center. As we walked to the car park, a man carrying a traditional coffee pot approached and offered me Turkish coffee. Still hot, the coffee, with its sticky precipitates, “bit” my throat. The smiling coffee man offered me water as chaser. The man was a dollar richer after that!
Stepping on biblical and medieval ground was a dream-come-true. In ancient times, Syria fell under the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arameans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, Crusaders, and the Ottoman Turks.
Syria is a land of biblical tribes where religions and civilizations converged. King David and King Solomon of Israel, for example, controlled Syria during those times. It was also on the road to Damascus, the oldest inhabited capital in the world, where the incredible conversion of Saul (Paul) to Christianity took place.
Located 350 kilometers north of Damascus is the 16th century BC Aleppo Citadel, a magnificent fortress that I visited during my free hours and on weekends (Fridays and Saturdays). It is said that the prophet Abraham milked his cow at a spot in the Citadel. On that spot was built the Abraham Mosque in 1167.
Tired of discovering the huge complex, I feasted my eyes on the gold jewelries, colorful carpets, kaffiyehs, woolen fabrics, and antiques at the 13th century souk (bazaar) right across the Citadel, interrupted only by the passing donkey and motorcycle at my back.
One Saturday morning, I and my Nigerian officemate, Moyomola Bolarin, visited Qaalat Seman (St. Simeon Church) 60 kilometers north of Aleppo, where the monk Simeon lived atop a column for 37 years “to get closer to God.” Today, pilgrims and tourists visit the church, with St. Simeon’s column still very evident in the courtyard.
A week later, I and my other officemates – Manaf Hammam, Majdi Kebbe, and Rami Tahhan – set out for the city of Homs close to the Lebanese to visit the Krak des Chevaliers (Crac des Chevaliers), a Crusader fortress and one of the most important medieval military castles in the world. A World Heritage Site, the castle served as a garrison during the Christian Crusade. Crusader art (frescoes) inside the castle is still intact.
In modern times, the Roman Papacy world would not be complete without mentioning the Popes of Syrian origin – Pope Gregory III (731-741); Pope Anicetus (155-166), the first Roman Bishop to condemn heresy; Pope Sergius I (687-701), who added the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world…) in the Christian mass; Pope Sisinnius, who reigned for about three weeks in 708; and Pope Constantine (708-715), whose reign fulfilled the prophesies of the Book of Revelation.
The Old Testament also mentions Hama or Hamath several times. Considered as the most picturesque city in Syria, it is an important agricultural and industrial center and home of the surviving 13th century norias (water wheels) along the Orontes River. “People in Hama wouldn’t be able to sleep if the creaking sounds of the norias disappear,” says Manaf.
Tel Hadya is where ICARDA is located. An archeological site located 35 kilometers south of Aleppo, it is where a covered Roman water duct was found.
I left Syria in May 2001 after a three-month sojourn. As I said khatrak (goodbye) and shukran (thank you) to my ICARDA colleagues, I heard the driver saying, Yallah, yallah (Let’s go, let’s go)!
On the way to Damascus, I saw atop a barren mountain the looming statue of the late Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria’s incumbent president, Bashar al-Assad, whose huge photographs in tarpaulin are prominently displayed at the side or back of passing busses, buildings, and even on the ancient walls of the Aleppo Citadel.
I flew back to Manila happy at the thought of stepping into biblical and medieval ground, bringing home with me two pieces of rock that I “excavated” inside the Aleppo Citadel.
Someday, would it be Jordan? Israel? Egypt? Inshallah (if God wills).
Juan Thinks! 