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Chapter 76: Mess in Mesopotamia
The realm of Mazoun has thus faced a severe crisis and appears not to have fully recovered. While a major slave rebellion has indeed been supressed, the realm has been weakened also by the rise of powerful competitors, and the Mazouni Republic has degraded into nothing more than a mere oligarchy during the course of the 12th century, and the real power was vested not in the hands of the Rais, nor the Council of Elders, not even the Sacred Council, but in the hands of the Dapir[1]. This was the most influential position, with the real executive power.
View attachment 507080
A political map of the Gulf Region
However, Mazoun lost most of its position in the trading system to the island-city of Ormus. This new rival took advantage of the weakening of Mazoun and due to a more favourable position took control of practically all trade entering and leaving the Gulf. Fighting a series of wars against Mazoun, Ormus manages to confirm its new position, and the Emirate of Magan[2] accepts Ormusian suzerainty, paying a yearly tribute. Mazoun remains a more pragmatically-oriented city-state, careful to have good relations with the powers that be in Persia (allowing free concessions for any Seljuk merchants and practically no tolls), as the local plutocrats know that risking war is certainly not a good idea.
Mazoun, having lost its position in the trade network and generally weakened now after the rise of Ormus sees itself become a monarchy by the 1160s in possibly all but name, as the office of the Dapir becomes hereditary and the remaining republican institutions merely formal. As the landowners gain more and more influence, while the traders gradually lose it, the society becomes generally more conservative, meaning more aristocratic and clerical power, with more conservative ideas and mores.
View attachment 507083
Linguistic make-up of the Gulf. Notice that Aramaic has expanded into parts of northern Mazoun
As for Beth Qatriye, the region has once again swapped to a sort of feudal rule, as the area experienced a population decline due to climate change, and a general collapse of some social structure, with the military commanders overthrowing the “greedy” merchants. Staying true to the tenets of the Christian faith, they outlawed any form of slavery, be it open or in disguise, as it is unjust and sinful.
Beth Qatriye has listened to the words of Youhanan of Gebail[3], heavily criticising the corruption of the Church and its mingling with Manicheism in most of Asia, as well as the temporal power of the Catholicos. His followers began to be known as sharirlimadh (meaning true disciples); the name has been corrupted in English into the form of Sarlimian. This new movement spread along the Qatriyan coast, and upon hearing that the Church of the East is not willing to take a rough stance against the Persianate Marriages they denounced the legitimacy of the Church of the East as an institution, claiming that it lost the original message of Jesus and was tainted and acculturated too much into the earlier Persian and Manichean traditions.
View attachment 507079
The Sarlimians shown in purple
Ironically, an unbiased observer could actually witness more Manichean and Gnostic elements in the Sarlimian theology than in Nestorianism. The Sarlimians judged everything and gave a moral quality (plus or minus) on any action, and put again more emphasis on the spiritual rather than the material world, claiming that only those who seek the transcendent are eligible to enter the Kingdom of God.
For this matter, many Qatriyans would retreat to the desert for a couple of weeks to meditate and seek to enter the Heavenly Kingdom, taking example from Jesus himself as well as Paul the Apostle in Arabia. In fact, this period of meditation began to be seen as another sacrament, marking the spiritual adulthood of the Sarlimian faithful.
As mentioned much of the region of Sawat remains under the rule of the Seljuks. This area, corresponding to what historians called Lower Mesopotamia was more or less synonymous with ancient Sumer or perhaps Lower Babylonia. The area remains a heavily populated and urbanized region, and therefore the Seljuks do not give it to a random clan as a trophy of war, but put it into the hands of their most trusted administrators.
As for the population, the gross and overwhelming majority are again Nestorian Christians, with Gnostic Mandeans retaining some presence in the marshy regions on the borderlands of Khuzestan and in the Mesopotamian marshes. Linguistically, the dialects to the south of Qtēspōn show some variations from the speech elsewhere in Mesopotamia, mainly by incorporating more borrowings from Persian and Turkish as well as Arabic (which was the case in the whole of Mesopotamia). However, more often, it was actually Arabic taking up Aramaic loanwords and cognates, for the lands of the Fertile Crescent were more civilized than the desert interior of the Arab Peninsula. In many cases, such as the semi-desert borderlands of southern Mesopotamia, you get just a variety which can best be described as Aramaic spoken and mispronounced by Arabs.
The population of Lower Mesopotamia was labelled as Sawadis or Chladeans by other Aramaic-speaking peoples, but of such “national identity” did not exist, rather they were seen as those Aramaic-speaking Nestorian Christians, who are subjects of the Seljuk Shahanshah. Nevertheless some cultural differences began to emerge as this area had more contact with Persia than the rest of Mesopotamia.[4]
The central regions of Mesopotamia include the city of Qtēspōn, as well as the region of Babil[5] were included in the “Donation of Tughril” and formed the Patriarchal State, a theocratic regime under the direct administration of the Patriarch of the East. Or at least theoretically, this metropolitan area was the demesne of the Nestorian Patriarch or Catholicos [6]. This region was heavily urbanized and there were practically no religious minorities (save a handful of Jewish merchants), yet the area was rather cosmopolitan, as it was basically the headquarters of the Nestorian church, so you could meet there people from India, from Socotra, from Sogdia or even Mongolia.
Regarding cultural developments, one can say that indeed Mesopotamia was rather advanced in culture and education; as previously stated, Assyrians were one of the best scholars in the medieval world. Great universities could have been found in Gundeshapur, in Niniveh, in Qtespon, a new one in Kashkar and in Nisibis. Mesopotamia continues in its ancient tradition of astronomy and astrology (although you hear occasionally some priests and monks complain about it being idolatry).
The prosperity in the area, as well as historic tradition [7] had it that prostitution was relatively widespread in the area of Mesopotamia. Even despite the fact, that the area was literally outside the doors of the Nestorian Patriarch, perhaps because the ark is the darkest just below the lamp. The region of Sawat was fast in adopting the Persianate marriages from beyond the Zagros, although sometimes these formalities would not even happen.
The very relaxed mode of these urban societies would be something that the Church did try to tackle, but had real difficulty in doing so, especially in Sawat.
To the west of Qtespon, we have the Jewish city of Nehardea, which remains one of the greatest centers of Jewish culture worldwide. Nehardea is one of the few areas in the world actually ruled by the Jews in the form of a city-republic, while being practically dependent on the Patriarchal State for in most practical affairs. Actually, the sole reason for which it continues to exist as an independent entity in the first place is the lack of further territorial ambitions in Qtespon.
View attachment 507082
Government in the Persian Gulf
Further upstream the Euphrates, there is the small, yet still independent County of Anbar, which thanks its independence to Nehardea. Not much is to be said about this place, except that it remains in a rather backwaterish state.
In Upper Mesopotamia, the Malikdom of Assyria experiences, yes, you expected, religious tensions yet again. The Seljuks seek practically disestablish the Maphrianate of the East and open persecution of the Syriac Jacobites begins, as all of it is declared to be merged into the Church of the East. In the lowland regions around the Euphrates river and in Tagrit, this results in converting (at last nominally) the majority of the population. After all, the liturgical language is practically the same, and the only differences remain in the question whether Jesus was a man or God. But the Schism is long gone, and people and priests actually have forgotten the real reasons for the schism but have continued viewing each other in enmity ever since.
The regions of the Khabour (Gozarto) and Tur Abdin remain the bastions of the Syriac Jacobite Church[8], which is thus geographically divided into two, with these northern areas separated by Nestorian and Orthodox from the Jacobite areas further southwards in the proximity of Damascus.
[1] Original Persian word for the „scribe“ or secretary of the Sassanian kings, from whom the Abbasid office of the Vizier was derived
[2] Corresponding more or less to the UAE
[3] Qatriyan Aramaic variation of Jubail, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
[4] For some reason, I come to view the development of the Nestorian wolrd in Asia as an nalogue of Europe. Qtespon being Rome, the whole of Mesopotamia being analogous to Italy. South Italy being like Assyria, squabling between Orthodox and Catholic/Nestorian; lower Mesoptoamia being like northern Italy, the Zagros being the Alps and Persia being the Frankish realms. We can continue to view Qatar as Spain etc.
[5] For some reason, early Christians identified Babylon with Rome. With Qtespon being the Rome of Asia, very near the ruins of ancient Babylon, we can see it there again.
[6] An analogy to the Papal States, yes.
[7] Also New Testamental scriptural references to the Whore of Babylon
[8] Very much like in OTL, where these mountain refuges remained the last areas where the Jacobites actually retained their majority
View attachment 507080
A political map of the Gulf Region
However, Mazoun lost most of its position in the trading system to the island-city of Ormus. This new rival took advantage of the weakening of Mazoun and due to a more favourable position took control of practically all trade entering and leaving the Gulf. Fighting a series of wars against Mazoun, Ormus manages to confirm its new position, and the Emirate of Magan[2] accepts Ormusian suzerainty, paying a yearly tribute. Mazoun remains a more pragmatically-oriented city-state, careful to have good relations with the powers that be in Persia (allowing free concessions for any Seljuk merchants and practically no tolls), as the local plutocrats know that risking war is certainly not a good idea.
Mazoun, having lost its position in the trade network and generally weakened now after the rise of Ormus sees itself become a monarchy by the 1160s in possibly all but name, as the office of the Dapir becomes hereditary and the remaining republican institutions merely formal. As the landowners gain more and more influence, while the traders gradually lose it, the society becomes generally more conservative, meaning more aristocratic and clerical power, with more conservative ideas and mores.
View attachment 507083
Linguistic make-up of the Gulf. Notice that Aramaic has expanded into parts of northern Mazoun
As for Beth Qatriye, the region has once again swapped to a sort of feudal rule, as the area experienced a population decline due to climate change, and a general collapse of some social structure, with the military commanders overthrowing the “greedy” merchants. Staying true to the tenets of the Christian faith, they outlawed any form of slavery, be it open or in disguise, as it is unjust and sinful.
Beth Qatriye has listened to the words of Youhanan of Gebail[3], heavily criticising the corruption of the Church and its mingling with Manicheism in most of Asia, as well as the temporal power of the Catholicos. His followers began to be known as sharirlimadh (meaning true disciples); the name has been corrupted in English into the form of Sarlimian. This new movement spread along the Qatriyan coast, and upon hearing that the Church of the East is not willing to take a rough stance against the Persianate Marriages they denounced the legitimacy of the Church of the East as an institution, claiming that it lost the original message of Jesus and was tainted and acculturated too much into the earlier Persian and Manichean traditions.
View attachment 507079
The Sarlimians shown in purple
Ironically, an unbiased observer could actually witness more Manichean and Gnostic elements in the Sarlimian theology than in Nestorianism. The Sarlimians judged everything and gave a moral quality (plus or minus) on any action, and put again more emphasis on the spiritual rather than the material world, claiming that only those who seek the transcendent are eligible to enter the Kingdom of God.
For this matter, many Qatriyans would retreat to the desert for a couple of weeks to meditate and seek to enter the Heavenly Kingdom, taking example from Jesus himself as well as Paul the Apostle in Arabia. In fact, this period of meditation began to be seen as another sacrament, marking the spiritual adulthood of the Sarlimian faithful.
As mentioned much of the region of Sawat remains under the rule of the Seljuks. This area, corresponding to what historians called Lower Mesopotamia was more or less synonymous with ancient Sumer or perhaps Lower Babylonia. The area remains a heavily populated and urbanized region, and therefore the Seljuks do not give it to a random clan as a trophy of war, but put it into the hands of their most trusted administrators.
As for the population, the gross and overwhelming majority are again Nestorian Christians, with Gnostic Mandeans retaining some presence in the marshy regions on the borderlands of Khuzestan and in the Mesopotamian marshes. Linguistically, the dialects to the south of Qtēspōn show some variations from the speech elsewhere in Mesopotamia, mainly by incorporating more borrowings from Persian and Turkish as well as Arabic (which was the case in the whole of Mesopotamia). However, more often, it was actually Arabic taking up Aramaic loanwords and cognates, for the lands of the Fertile Crescent were more civilized than the desert interior of the Arab Peninsula. In many cases, such as the semi-desert borderlands of southern Mesopotamia, you get just a variety which can best be described as Aramaic spoken and mispronounced by Arabs.
The population of Lower Mesopotamia was labelled as Sawadis or Chladeans by other Aramaic-speaking peoples, but of such “national identity” did not exist, rather they were seen as those Aramaic-speaking Nestorian Christians, who are subjects of the Seljuk Shahanshah. Nevertheless some cultural differences began to emerge as this area had more contact with Persia than the rest of Mesopotamia.[4]
The central regions of Mesopotamia include the city of Qtēspōn, as well as the region of Babil[5] were included in the “Donation of Tughril” and formed the Patriarchal State, a theocratic regime under the direct administration of the Patriarch of the East. Or at least theoretically, this metropolitan area was the demesne of the Nestorian Patriarch or Catholicos [6]. This region was heavily urbanized and there were practically no religious minorities (save a handful of Jewish merchants), yet the area was rather cosmopolitan, as it was basically the headquarters of the Nestorian church, so you could meet there people from India, from Socotra, from Sogdia or even Mongolia.
Regarding cultural developments, one can say that indeed Mesopotamia was rather advanced in culture and education; as previously stated, Assyrians were one of the best scholars in the medieval world. Great universities could have been found in Gundeshapur, in Niniveh, in Qtespon, a new one in Kashkar and in Nisibis. Mesopotamia continues in its ancient tradition of astronomy and astrology (although you hear occasionally some priests and monks complain about it being idolatry).
The prosperity in the area, as well as historic tradition [7] had it that prostitution was relatively widespread in the area of Mesopotamia. Even despite the fact, that the area was literally outside the doors of the Nestorian Patriarch, perhaps because the ark is the darkest just below the lamp. The region of Sawat was fast in adopting the Persianate marriages from beyond the Zagros, although sometimes these formalities would not even happen.
The very relaxed mode of these urban societies would be something that the Church did try to tackle, but had real difficulty in doing so, especially in Sawat.
To the west of Qtespon, we have the Jewish city of Nehardea, which remains one of the greatest centers of Jewish culture worldwide. Nehardea is one of the few areas in the world actually ruled by the Jews in the form of a city-republic, while being practically dependent on the Patriarchal State for in most practical affairs. Actually, the sole reason for which it continues to exist as an independent entity in the first place is the lack of further territorial ambitions in Qtespon.
View attachment 507082
Government in the Persian Gulf
Further upstream the Euphrates, there is the small, yet still independent County of Anbar, which thanks its independence to Nehardea. Not much is to be said about this place, except that it remains in a rather backwaterish state.
In Upper Mesopotamia, the Malikdom of Assyria experiences, yes, you expected, religious tensions yet again. The Seljuks seek practically disestablish the Maphrianate of the East and open persecution of the Syriac Jacobites begins, as all of it is declared to be merged into the Church of the East. In the lowland regions around the Euphrates river and in Tagrit, this results in converting (at last nominally) the majority of the population. After all, the liturgical language is practically the same, and the only differences remain in the question whether Jesus was a man or God. But the Schism is long gone, and people and priests actually have forgotten the real reasons for the schism but have continued viewing each other in enmity ever since.
The regions of the Khabour (Gozarto) and Tur Abdin remain the bastions of the Syriac Jacobite Church[8], which is thus geographically divided into two, with these northern areas separated by Nestorian and Orthodox from the Jacobite areas further southwards in the proximity of Damascus.
[1] Original Persian word for the „scribe“ or secretary of the Sassanian kings, from whom the Abbasid office of the Vizier was derived
[2] Corresponding more or less to the UAE
[3] Qatriyan Aramaic variation of Jubail, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
[4] For some reason, I come to view the development of the Nestorian wolrd in Asia as an nalogue of Europe. Qtespon being Rome, the whole of Mesopotamia being analogous to Italy. South Italy being like Assyria, squabling between Orthodox and Catholic/Nestorian; lower Mesoptoamia being like northern Italy, the Zagros being the Alps and Persia being the Frankish realms. We can continue to view Qatar as Spain etc.
[5] For some reason, early Christians identified Babylon with Rome. With Qtespon being the Rome of Asia, very near the ruins of ancient Babylon, we can see it there again.
[6] An analogy to the Papal States, yes.
[7] Also New Testamental scriptural references to the Whore of Babylon
[8] Very much like in OTL, where these mountain refuges remained the last areas where the Jacobites actually retained their majority
- Tomislav Addai
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