Newspaper Article

Lost dreams of three ports in a storm

Farhi, Moris

2011

Overview

The abiding sorrow of this lament serves as a leitmotif in [Philip Mansel]'s Levant. This is a masterly work: by focusing on the see-sawing fortunes of Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut - extolled as \"queens\" of the Levant - Mansel exposes the problems of achieving coexistence in a world fragmented by disunion. Although most cities can epitomise humanity's existential struggles, Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut stand as unique symbols of achievable utopias. Since, until the demise of the Ottoman Empire, these cities were still imbued with its spirit, much of their ethos of cosmopolitanism derived from the predisposition of the early, progressive Sultans to forge alliances with Christian powers. When France's Franois I was captured by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent not only secured his release, but instituted an accord. This Franco-Ottoman alliance led to a set of concessions from the Ottomans, known as capitulations, that would prove a boon to Christendom. In time, capitulations were granted to other European powers, including England, and formulated \"the legal basis of European presence in the Levant\". They permitted Christian foreigners to live and trade outside Ottoman sharia law and allowed them \"freedom of dress and worship\", freedom from Ottoman taxation and, most importantly, the freedom, except in cases of murder, \"to be judged by their own laws in their consul's courts\".

• Publisher: Independent Digital News & Media
• Subject: Mansel, Philip