American family visiting Armenian refugees in Alexandrette (Eskendurun) Syria, in 1924
Jonas tomb in Ninevah across the Tigris from Mosul in northern Iraq 1922. The prophet Jonah, Jonas, Younes in Arabic, Younan in Assyrian, was 8th century B.C. prophet sent by God to warn the population of Ninevah about their ways. buried on one of the two mounds of old Ninevah, the Naby younes mound, the other mound being Kouynjuk, mound, extensively dug by archeologist Austen Layrd and Rassam in the 1840’s. A very important pilgrimmage site for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Map by Carsten Niebuhr, 1776, the only surviving member of the Danish expedition to the Middle East in 18th century, shows the little town of Amouda in the Syrian Jezira, on the main historical highway from Mosul in northern Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean. The main tribe in the vicinity are the Milli Kurdish tribe, here called Mullie by Niebuhr.
Diyarbekir [Kara Amed] the capital of upper Mesopotamia, on the Tigris in South Eastern Turkey, home to Armenians,Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syrian Orthodox [Monophysites], Yezidis, Qizil Bash, and Kurds. Minarets and church bell towers seen in the background, prior to WW1. In the fore- ground, and on the roofs of the historical city, the dwellers slept in the heat of Mesopotamia
Nusaybin (also Nisibis). An ancient town fought over by the Persian and Roman empires. Major center for the monophysite Syrian church movement of the 5th and 6th centuries. Photo taken by German military assigned to the British POW of Kut in Mesopotamia in 1916 during their march to Anatolia . The shop keepers (Kurdish Jews) and their covered wives in white covers, migrated in mass to the Syrian town across the new border between Syria and Turkey post WW1 and formed the bulk of the Kurdish speaking Jewish community of Qamishli, considered the 3rd largest community of Syrian Jews after Aleppo and Damascus. The Berlin -Baghdad Railway ended at Nusaybin at break of WW1. Click here to read more.
Reuben Gabbai and sons stamp on a document from Aleppo. The Gabbais were originally from Baghdad, settled in Aleppo and Calcutta India. The Aleppo Gabbais were British Citizens and it is said that some may have served as consuls to British India in Aleppo. The name Gabbai means treasurer in Hebrew
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