Iraq, ancient Mesopotamia, is very rich in archaeological sites, and the remains of such sites as Babylon, Nineveh and Nimrud (ancient Kalḫū), adorn the British Museum, the Louvre, and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Less known are the Christian sites dated to before and after the Arab period, as the chart at the end of the article shows. Christianity extends its root in that land if not to the Apostolic Age, ca. 90‑100 AD, then to a few decades after that time, if we believe Bardaiṣan (end of the 2nd century), who says that this religion is found in such regions as Parthia, Media, Persia, Judah and Ḥaṭra, among other territories. By the mid-2nd century, Christians produced the first poems, called the Odes of Solomon, most probably in Syriac, since there are extracts of these texts in Coptic and Greek. About the year 250 AD, the Acts of Thomas were written, offering the first ceremony of baptism, and more importantly, its links with the Eucharist, a concept omnipresent in Syriac Chri...
Christian Archaeological Sites in Iraq Before and Slightly After the Arab Conquest
Abstracts
During the past century or so, many churches and monasteries have been excavated by international archaeological projects in the south, centre and north of Iraq and in the Gulf, Turkey and Syria, shedding much light on Christian architecture, art and material culture in the Middle East. Unfortunately, multilingual reports on these excavations are scattered in journals, encyclopaedias and other types of publications, not always accessible to scholars and the interested public. The present article brings together such reports and adds details drawn from such publications about various sections of church buildings, including the bema and the šqaqona-alley linking the bema with the sanctuary. Literary sources seldom consulted by archaeologists are also used to assess links between church buildings and Middle Eastern Christianity. Given the fact that church buildings are strictly dependent on the liturgical celebrations held in them, some details about the liturgy are also added, bringing a little life back to the stones, bricks and mortar.
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Keywords :
Archéologie chrétienne, églises, art chrétien, Mésopotamie, patrimoine culturel, art sacré, sites religieux, architecture, fortifications, bemaIndex by keyword:
Christian archaeology, churches, Christian art, Mesopotamia, cultural heritage, sacred art, religious sites, architecture, fortifications, bemaIndex by keywords:
علم الآثار المسيحية, الكنائس, فن مسيحي في بلاد ما بين النهرين, التراث الثقافي, فن مقدس, مواقع دينية, هندسة معمارية, التحصينات, بيماExcerpt
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Bibliographical reference
Amir Harrak, “Christian Archaeological Sites in Iraq Before and Slightly After the Arab Conquest”, Bulletin d’études orientales, LXVIII | 2023, 29-69.
Electronic reference
Amir Harrak, “Christian Archaeological Sites in Iraq Before and Slightly After the Arab Conquest”, Bulletin d’études orientales [Online], LXVIII | 2023, Online since 01 January 2026, connection on 07 October 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/beo/8191; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/beo.8191
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