The Historiography of Qalʿat Simʿān: a Curiously Under-Studied Field

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28 Loosley Leeming

Chapter 2 The Historiography of Qalʿat Simʿān: a Curiously Under-Studied Field

Emma Loosley Leeming

In his seminal article ‘The Rise and Function of the Holy religious belief was increasingly explored in order to Man in Late Antiquity’1 Peter Brown introduced the figure understand, as far as possible, what early practitioners of Symeon Stylites to a whole new generation. As the end of Judaism or Christianity would have been thinking as of the twentieth century saw a rise in the number of peo- they went on pilgrimage or entered a sacred space for the ple studying late antiquity, largely down to the re-imagin- first time. The 1990s saw the rise of the phenomenologi- ing of this period first championed by Brown, Symeon cal approach to archaeology and the sense of place and became the poster boy of the movement seeking to re- how worshippers perceived the numinous became key aca- claim the era from the negative connotations it had car- demic debates.4 Indeed the final decades of the twentieth ried since Gibbon. In fact this new research indicated that century were also a period when a number of theorists the period between the ending of the Roman Empire and sought to define how the concept of sacred space began rise of medieval kingdoms was anything but the ‘dark in the first place.5 Bearing this in mind, one would have ages’ of popular imagination. expected this interest in the person of Symeon to have de- This flurry of late antique studies brought the enigmat- veloped to encompass the place with which he was syn- ic figure of Symeon Stylites ever closer to us with his vita onymous; the hill on the northwest limestone massif of made widely available in cheap English editions for the Syria that is known today as Qalʿat Simʿān, or in English, first time. In 1985 Theodoret’s History of the Monks of Syr- the Castle of Symeon. ia2 was published as an affordable paperback giving a new On encountering the story of Symeon for the first time generation of students the chance to read Theodoret’s ac- as a student in the middle of the 1990s, I immediately count of his personal relationship with Symeon amongst wanted to know more about the places linked to this in- many other stories of ‘spiritual athletes’ resident in fifth credible personage. Theodoret’s account and the Syriac century Syria. In 1992 this was followed by a volume that vita firmly place the events of his life in a concrete earthly brought the three vitae of Symeon Stylites together in one setting. They tell us that Symeon was from the village of translated and annotated English edition for the first Telanissos and that he joined the monastery of Tell ʿĀde time.3 Here the reader could compare the testimony of on the southern flank of Jebel Sheikh Barakat, before be- Thedoret with that by the writer of the much longer Syriac ing banished for the extremity of his ascetic practices and vita and another shorter account purportedly recorded by finally settling on an outcrop to the north of the moun- one Antonius, who claimed to be a disciple of Symeon. Yet tain.6 These places are known and easily identifiable to strangely whilst the figure of Symeon himself came out of this day and allow the modern-day pilgrim to retrace the obscurity and increasingly caught the imagination of steps of Symeon’s journey and yet, when it came to trying scholars of late antiquity, inspiring a range of research to learn more about the locations pivotal to Symeon’s life, centring on why and how one man could spend thirty six there was surprisingly little written about these sites. In years of his life stood upright on a high column, this in- fact almost the sole source of information was Georges creasing fascination with the man did not appear to trans- Tchalenko’s three volume Villages antiques de la Syrie du fer into a study of place. Nord. Le Massif du Bélus à l’époque romaine.7 This is surprising because the same period that saw the rise of late antique studies also saw a growth in stud- 4 The italicized words represent some of the buzzwords of this intel- ies relating to ritual theory. The experiential element of lectual movement. Phenomenology is normally said to have entered archaeological theory with Christopher Tilley’s A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments, Berg; Oxford, 1994. 1 Peter Brown, ‘The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late 5 See Jonathan Z. Smith, To Take Place: Toward Theory in Ritual, Antiquity’, The Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971), pp. 80–101. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, 1987. 2 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Trans. Price, R.M., A History of the Monks of 6 The Syriac Life, 25–26, p.116 in The Lives of Simeon Stylites, Cistercian Syria, Cistercian Publications; Kalamazoo, 1985. Publications; Kalamazoo, 1992. 3 Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Antonius and Anonymous, Trans. Doran, R., 7 Georges Tchalenko, Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord. Le Massif The Lives of Simeon Stylites, Cistercian Publications; Kalamazoo, du Bélus à l’époque romaine. Bibliothèque archéologique et histo- 1992. rique 50, Paul Geuthner; Paris, 1953.

This monumental three volume survey comprised one Returning home to the United Kingdom I resolved to book of textual descriptions of each village with a sum- research the site in greater depth but found that aside mary of the monuments present both in the village itself from periodic excavation updates and articles on specific and in its immediate vicinity – from the most high status aspects of the site there was little to be found. As the bib- buildings such as churches and the villas of local landown- liography in this volume demonstrates this remains a ers, down to the more humble olive presses and cisterns. problem; in researching this list there are only two publi- These texts also took pains to note any extant inscrip- cations devoted entirely to the site – and these are fasci- tions that could furnish evidence relating to dates and cles for volume four of the final excavation report dealing patrons. The two companion volumes comprised a book with metallic objects and glass respectively.10 The prob- of maps and architectural drawings, both floorplans and lem twenty years on remains the same as when I first dis- isometric projections, of key monuments and another of covered Symeon Stylites as a young student; the man has Tchalenko’s black and white photographs taken from the received copious attention from academics wishing to un- late 1930s onwards as he undertook his fieldwork in the derstand his religious and psychological motivation and region. In the entry on Qalʿat Simʿān the brief text outlin- how his life caught the imagination of his contemporaries, ing the history of the site was extremely helpful, but even but the place has attracted less attention. Intriguingly this more useful were the isometric drawings that explained is the inverse of the events of 459 when Symeon died. how the complex had evolved until it reached its finished Then an unseemly tussle took place over who should take form under the patronage of the Emperor Zeno at the custody of the body11 with Symeon’s mortal remains car- end of the fifth century. As many others had discovered ried away to be placed in a new martyrium, where they before me, whilst Tchalenko had laid the groundwork for were to bring reflected honour on the city of Antioch. the study of Qalʿat Simʿān and the surrounding area, little However, in a break with the normal practice of shrines progress appeared to have been made in the study of the centring on the physical remnants of a holy figure, it was monument since he published Villages antiques. As a doc- eventually the column rather than Symeon’s earthly re- toral student living in Aleppo in the late 1990s, I took the mains that became the locus sancta for the cult of the opportunity to visit the Limestone Massif as frequently as saint. Intriguingly here in the early twenty-first century we possible and made multiple visits to Qalʿat Simʿān. Scout- seemed to have moved full circle and the fascination with ing the bookshops attached to the National Museum of the person of Symeon has clearly relegated the site of his Aleppo, the Citadel and any other historical site in the city ascetic feats to only a secondary importance. I searched for literature about late antique Syria in gen- With the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 the eral and was pleased to find a full-colour catalogue of the practice of archaeology in Syria was not completely halt- Dura Europos Synagogue frescoes for sale in the Citadel, ed, but obviously it had to undergo a radical change in but material on Qalʿat Simʿān proved elusive. Saouf and methods and it was severely limited. The dangers of field- Shaʿath’s works8 were helpful as guidebooks on site, but work have meant that foreign archaeologists have been largely reproduced Tchalenko’s original drawings and did prevented from entering all or most of the country.12 The not really add to academic knowledge of the site. In ad- fact that Qalʿat Simʿān is located relatively close to the dition Ḥajjar’s9 book was first published in Aleppo whilst Turkish border and the Kurdish region in the Afrin Valley, I lived in the city, but a meeting with the author demon- as well as being in the vicinity of Aleppo, the second city strated that, as an engineer and amateur historian, this of Syria, has meant that the site has been caught in the volume lacked the specialist archaeological analysis that crossfire of the fighting and been significantly damaged at I was searching for.

10 Blanc, Pierre-Marie, Boulogne, S., Sodini, Jean-Pierre, Soupault- Becquelin, V. & Kazanski, M., Qalʿat Semʿān, vol. IV, Rapport final, fasc. 3 : Les objets métalliques, Institut français d’archeologie du 8 Saouaf, Soubhi, Qalʿat Semʿān: St. Simeon’s Monastery and Its En- Proche-Orient; Beirut, 2003, Dussart, Odile, Blanc, Pierre-Marie, vironments, École Georges Salem; Aleppo, 1956, Saouaf, Soubhi, D’Ottone, Arianna & Sodini, Jean-Pierre, Qalʿat Semʿān, vol. IV, Qalʿat Semʿān, Basilique et Monastère de Saint Simeon: Qalb Loze Rapport final, fasc. 4: Le verre, Institut français d’archeologie du et Leurs Alentours. École Georges Salem; Aleppo, 1962, Sha⁠ʾath, Proche-Orient; Beirut, 2017. Shawqī, Qalʿat Simʿān (wa-Mawaqiʿ Ukhrá): Dalīl Atharī at rīkhī. 11 See Antonius’ Life, 29, p.98 in The Lives of Simeon Stylites, Cister- [The Citadel of Simʿān (and Other Sites): An Archaeological and cian Publications; Kalamazoo, 1992 Historical Guidebook], Dar al- Qalam al-ʿArabī; Aleppo, 1991. 12 This situation persists at the time of writing this essay. Some 9 Ḥajjar, ʿAbd Allah, The Church of St. Simeon the Stylite and Oth- overseas archaeologists have returned to government-controlled er Archaeological Sites in the Mountains of Simeon and Halaqa, regions of the country, but access depends on the region of Syria Sidawi Printing House; Damascus, 1991. and the passport of the archaeologists in question.