Tag: Syria stamp

Syria has had to roll with many invasions over the years. The new post war independent Syrian Arab Republic was confident enough to display Roman ruins. Why not, as it was the site of an even earlier Aramean temple to the storm God Hadad, perhaps indicating Syrian people are outlasting even the Gods. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

With Assad in Syria being the last of the pseudo king socialist middle eastern dictators clinging to power, it is maybe time to acknowledge that these men had their good points. They were educated and knew the areas long history and celebrated all of it, not just the narrow part that conforms to a political or religious dogma. Compare that to Antifa or the Taliban.

Todays stamp is issue A84, a 10 Piaster stamp issued by Syria in 1962. It was part of a 16 stamp issue over several years showing historic sites that was the first stamp issue of the Arab Republic government. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. 10 Piasters is currently worth 8/1000s of an American penny.

The site in old town Damascus that holds the ruins to the Roman Temple to Jupiter was the site of a temple even before Roman times. Under the rule of Aramean King Hazael a Temple was constructed in Semitic style resembling the Temple in Jerusalem but dedicated to the storm God Hadad. The Romans conquered Damascus in 64 BC and over time tried to combine Hadad with their own God Jupiter. Eventually the temple was expanded under local architect Apollodorus. Apollodorus added on in the Roman style but was careful to give large nods to earlier Eastern styles. He is even credited with giving Roman architecture Eastern style domes.

In the late 4th century AD, Roman Emperor Theodosis decreed the Roman Empire Christian and only Christian. The Temple was rededicated to John the Baptist. The Temple in that form was even said to hold his skull.

Muslims conquered Damascus in 635 AD and for a time the Temple served both religions but 70 years later Caliph al Walid Ist converted and expanded the temple into the current Umayyad Mosque.

As a Mosque, the temple saw the first demonstration of the Arab Spring that started the still current Syrian civil war in 2011, Security forces quickly dealt with the demonstration and then carefully fenced off the already walled site. Since to date Damascus has not fallen to the other sides, the historic site remains intact.

Well my drink is empty. Come again on Monday when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

Syria had a hard time figuring who it was. After being dominated by the Ottomans and then the French, perhaps a new Syrian way forward can lead to a rebirth. Off to the Sorbonne we go. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The Ba’athists had been heavily influenced by world socialism. That influence can be seen on this stamp. Here we have happy toilers in the field. They are not working to get ahead personally, nor to support a King, and not being exploited by capitalists or colonialists. Instead they are advancing Syrian society. Left unanswered by the stamp is the question of without any of those motivators, what is going to make them do the work. Toiling in the field is a hard life after all.

Todays stamp is issue A68, a 2 and a half Piaster stamp issued by independent Syria in 1954. It was a nine stamp issue in various denominations that hopefully showed off productivity in Syria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is used or unused.

Syria got it’s independence from France in 1946. In the 8 years that followed Syria suffered an embarrassing defeat by Israel, uprisings from it’s Druze minority and 20 governments working under 4 different constitutions. Hashemite Kingdoms around them were scheming to bring Syria into their fold and the new government in Egypt was promoting their leadership for a united Arab super power. Wasn’t there anything natively Syrian that could turn things around.

Michel Aflaq was a Syrian thinker working on this. While studying at the Sorbonne in France he happened upon some fellow Syrian travelers who were immersing themselves in the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson and German philosopher Karl Marx. Aflaq was an Orthadox Christian Arab who tried to convert what he was learning into something useful for a non industrial and majority Islamic country. So in Aflaq’s telling Arabs are processed of a magic that will arise, as it did in the days of Mohammad, into a unity of purpose that will be a rebirth and then a renascence for the people. To achieve this a single political party can guide and be guided by the people, the Ba’athist Party. By subtly shifting the focus from Islam to being Arab, Aflaq has made a place for himself as a Christian, and a place for Bergson and Marx, who perhaps are not the type of thinkers an Islamist would normally seek out. In addition to Syria, Ba’athist political parties were formed in many Arab nations and had a long rule in Iraq.

Aflaq wrote inspiringly about a Ba’athist future but was less good on how to manage a transition to the world he imagined. He was eventually pushed aside as an outsider in Syria and sent into exile. In Ba’athist Iraq, where he wasn’t personally vying for political position, he was welcomed as a great Arab scholar and philosopher. The last Iraqi Ba’athist leader, Saddam Hussein even claimed that Aflaq had a late in life conversion to Islam. Whether it is true or not, the importance placed on it shows how impossible the task of bringing Arabs together without a dictatorship.

Well my drink is empty and Syria still finds itself ruled by a Ba’athist who is pressured by all sides, yet survives. Still struggling to create that promised united Syrian rebirth, but all life is a struggle. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Replacing the Ottomans was hard and unprofitable. The European League of Nations ratified the division of Palestine, the Levant, and Iraq between France and Britain. A mandate to be where they were not wanted. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is somewhat disingenuous. By showing architectural sites around the French Mandate, there is an implication that France was a good steward of the area and a protector of the history. In the 26 years of the French mandate Damascus was attacked by French forces twice and then they themselves were attacked by free French and Australians during World War II. Not a great record of stewardship.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 4 Piaster stamp issued by the French League of Nations Mandate in Syria. It was part of a 24 stamp issue in various denominations that show architectural sights around Syria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Syria had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years up until 1918. The Ottomans had buttressed their often precarious finances by granting self rule to areas of the Empire in return for an annual tribute paid by the territory. As such, the area had a large degree of self rule. That said, when the Arab Legion arrived in Damascus toward the end of World War I, they were welcomed and a Hashemite was named King of Syria. Though the Arab Legion was affiliated with Britain through Lawrence of Arabia, they were not authorized to take Syria. A deal had be struck between Britain and France that divided the area up postwar. This allowed the continued influx of European Jews into Palestine but just replaced an Ottoman ruler with an even more foreign European.

The Syrians tried to fight for the freedom the Arab legion had won. The entrance into Syria by Algerian and Senegalese French troops was actively resisted. The French won the battle of Maysalun and then laid siege on Damascus. The Hashemite King was forced into exile and French administrators came in quickly to try to replace the local administration. This meant more direct rule by France than under the Ottomans. An uprising by the Druze minority was quickly taken up by many Syrians in 1925. The French had allowed their number of colonial troops to drop and the uprising met with much initial success. It took a mobilization of 50,000 French troops to restore the French authority. Doing so again meant bombing and a siege of Damascus, for the second time in a decade.

In World War II, Syria initially sided with the pro Nazi Vichy government after the fall of France. In 1941, there was a coup in neighboring Iraq where a Arab nationalist group asked for Nazi German aid routed through Syria.. This was not acceptable and Iraq and Syria were invaded, in Syria’s case mainly by Australians. This was an embarrassment to the Allies as the Vichy French forces fought. The battles saw American made Martin bombers given to France used by the Vichy forces fighting American P40 fighters given to the Australians. The campaign was little covered in the west as it implied the French were then on the German side and willing to fight to retain colonies. Damascus was again bombed and fought over. The Vichy were defeated but the French had learned their lesson and left Syria at the first opportunity in 1946.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Hashemites. Building an effective army of locals meant they were the only ones to realistically succeed the Ottomans. Instead the French and the British arrogantly came in only to find they lacked the will to stay. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.