The Monastery of St. Matthew: The Archbishop and his Visitors

 Archbishop Mor Timothius Mousa Alshamany

The Archbishop with our Tour Leader Michel

The Archbishop with our Local Guide Haana

The Monastery of St. Matthew: Rich Interior

 

The Monastery of St. Matthew: Stony Exterior

From Wikipedia: "Dayro d-Mor Mattai The Monastery of St. Matthew) is a Syriac Orthodox Church monastery on Mount Alfaf in northern Iraq, 20 kilometers northeast of the city of Mosul. It is recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence.

"The monastery was famous for the number of monks and scholars it housed, and for its large library and considerable collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts.Today, it is an archbishopric; the current archbishop is Mor Timothius Mousa Alshamany."

The Battle of Gaugamela: Overlooking the Battleground

From Wikipedia: "The Battle of Gaugamela, also called the Battle of Arbela... took place in 331 BC between the forces of the Army of Macedon under Alexander the Great and the Persian Army under King Darius III. It was the second and final battle between the two kings, and is considered to be the final blow to the Achaemenid Empire, resulting in its complete conquest by Alexander.

The fighting took place in Gaugamela, a village on the banks of the river Bumodus, north of Arbela (modern-day Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan). Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Army of Macedon emerged victorious due to the employment of superior tactics and the clever usage of light infantry forces. It was a decisive victory for the League of Corinth, and it led to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire and of Darius III."

View from the hilltop out to the surrounding plain. Presumably the battle would have been fought mainly on level territory like this, rather than on local hills.

A view from the hilltop down to the schoolyard at the base of the hill. The quasi-militaristic alignment of the children on the soccer field, with a "commanding officer" in yellow shirt, enhances the potential connection of this ground with the battlefield.

These boys came up the hill to see what we were doing, and I persuaded them to line up to simulate a military formation.

Leaders in Kurdestan and Iraq

On the left, Tour Leader Michel Behar looks over the participants on our first excursion in Kurdestan, to a hill overlooking the postulated site of the Battle of Gaugamela, north of Erbil.

Local Guide Haana Babashekh holds a schematic map of the battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III in 331 BC.

Travels in the Middle East

We've just returned from a month touring three Middle Eastern countries - Kurdistan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia - with MIRcorp, which specializes in travel to "the crossroads of Europe and Asia". My blog postings for the next several months will be devoted what we saw in these countries - a vivid and complex spectrum.

The ceiling of the lobby of our Hyatt Regency hotel in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan.

Armed guard in the grounds neighboring the hotel parking lot.

These two photos, taken on the morning of the first day of our tour, typify the complexities and contradictions of this part of the world.

Prague: The Spanish Synagogue (6)