الاديرة والكنائس المسيحية في مملكة الحيرة في ضوء المصادر التاريخية والتنقيبات الاثرية حتى نهاية القرن الثاني الهجري/ الثامن الميلادي == Christian monasteries and churches in the Kingdom ofHira in the Light of Historical Resources and Archaeological Excavation Till The End of Eighth Century A.D - Second Century Hegira
Author name:
نبيل عبد الحسين راهي
Supervisor name:
نسيبة محمد الهاشمي
General topic:
Archeology
Specific topic:
Islamic Antiquities
Degree:
Doctorate
University:
University of Baghdad - College Of Literature
Language:
Arabic
University location:
Baghdad
First pages:
12T239 - p.pdf
Abstract:
Politically and historically : the Kingdom of Al - Hira was an independent Arab kingdom never submitted to the Sassanid empire, neither politically or militarily. It had joint protection treats and political relations with this empire.Religiously : Al - Hira was a multi - religion kingdom. At its early days it embraced many religions including both Heathenism and Judaism. No historical proof indicates that Al - Hira had embraced the religion of Sassanid as this didn't suit the Arab religious belief. Once Christianity arrived at Iraq, the inhabitants of Al - Hira were amongst the first people who believed in and embraced it to the extent that it became the religion of the majority of Al - Hira inhabitants. Before the advent of Islam, the official religion of Al - Hira was Christianity. Doctrinally, the people of Al - Hira didn't agree with other Christian sects about the nature of Christ and his virgin mother; they followed Nestorian's Doctrine which then became Eastern Christianity which spread from Al - Hira towards east to the far China. The bishop of Al - Hira was the protector of this belief. In Al - Hira there were many schools that taught this belief's theology; the most prominent Nestorian bishops. The religious architecture, especially Christian architecture some of which were revealed by archaeological excavations, was incomplete in that excavations did not reveal it completely or those which were found were destructed buildings. These buildings were monasteries or churches influenced by local architecture trends of ancient Iraq; they were not influenced by Christian architecture that was found in other neighboring countries. In the following we will brief the characteristics of the architecture in Al - Hira at that era : Monasteries : The monasteries were discussed through the historical resources and literature. The names of the famous monasteries in Al - Hira were mentioned. Texts were analyzed to determine the architectural and graphic elements of these monasteries and compare them with those the archaeological excavations revealed Christian monasteries in Al - Hira. Another resource was the archaeological excavations where foundations and traces of three monasteries; namely Qasseer, Ain Shayie and Abdul - Messiah monasteries, were found. The resources of the study of excavations depended upon scientific reports of missions, previous studies, authentic reports manuscripts, most of which were redrawn by the researcher to lighten the unclear ones. The monasteries found during excavations lacks a lot of elements mentioned by historical resources, such as monastic hermitages and cells, which characterize monasteries.Churches : Through the samples tackled by the study, three types of church planning were revealed : 1 - The type of one portico which ends at altar. This type was found in the monasteries of al - Qasseer.2 - The three - structure type with oratory which depends of pillars dividing among such porticos. Of this type was the church no.(11) found by the mission of Oxford University in 1931 and Al - Rahhaliya Church.3 - The three - structure type with oratory which depends on walls that divide porticos, such as those of Ain Shayie which were found by the Japanese mission.The roof design system depended upon semi - cylindrical vault and dome in general. However excavations didn't show these elements in a clear and complete way, architectural data suggest that. As for direction, churches didn't obey apostles' instructions that dictated direction towards east; they were deviated in different degrees towards south - east. Concerning architectural design, the monasteries and churches of Al - Hira were not influenced by a foreign architecture, but inspired by ancient Iraqi architecture, unlike those of Syria and Egypt which were influenced by Roman Culture.
