The ''Shamsīyah'' were a tribe or sect of
sun-worshippers in
northern Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
, concentrated in the city of
Mardin (in modern south-eastern Turkey) and the surrounding
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
region. They may have been adherents of a late version of the
ancient Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syria ...
, particularly the cult of the ancient Mesopotamian
solar deity Shamash. The ''Shamsīyah'' converted to the
Syriac Orthodox Church in the 17th century in order to avoid persecution in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
but retained their own set of beliefs and practices; many travellers who observed and met with them doubted the extent to which they were actually Christian. There were still about a hundred families who identified as ''Shamsīyah'' in Mardin in the early 20th century but they appear to have since disappeared.
Terminology
''Shamsīyah'' means "sun-people"
or "sons of the sun".
Various alternate transliterations and
anglicizations of the name have been used through the centuries, including Shamsi, Shamsiyya, Chamsi, Schemsîe,
Shemsiye,
Shemsi, Shemsy,
Shemshi,
Shemseeah,
and Shemshiehs.
The name did not originate as a self-identity, instead being imposed on the ''Shamsīyah'' by adherents of the
Syriac Orthodox Church.
The name derives from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
word ''Al-Shams'' (الشمس, "the sun").
The Armenian inhabitants of Mardin and surrounding settlements called adherents of the sect ''Arevortik'', also meaning "sons of the sun".
The native language used by the ''Shamsīyah'' themselves is not known since they spoke different languages and claimed different ethnic origins depending on the ethnicity of the person they spoke with. They have variously been suggested to have been
Assyrians,
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
,
Yazidis
Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The ma ...
, or even
Oghuz Turks, among other hypotheses. The ''Shamsīyah'' were unwilling to intermarry with other religious groups and considered themselves distinct.
History
Origin
According to the Assyriologist
Simo Parpola, the ''Shamsīyah'' were possibly the last known adherents of a late version of the
ancient Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they largely gave way to Syria ...
,
an ancient set of beliefs thought to have first formed in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
in the sixth millennium BC. Mesopotamia was largely Christian by the third century AD.
The sun god
Shamash (also called Utu in
Sumerian) is recorded in ancient Mesopotamian sources from the earliest periods
and his cult was particularly strong in Syria and northern Mesopotamia; many early churches in the region were repurposed pagan sun-temples (like churches, these faced east towards the rising sun). The important Syriac Orthodox monastery
Mor Hananyo
Mor Hananyo Monastery ( tr, Deyrüzzaferân Manastırı, syr, ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܚܢܢܝܐ; ''Monastery of Saint Ananias'') is an important Syriac Orthodox monastery located three kilometers south east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Syriac cultural ...
, located near
Mardin, was built on top of an ancient temple dedicated to Shamash. The present inhabitants of the region connect the builders of the ancient sun-temples to the later ''Shamsīyah''.
In addition to ancient Mesopotamian beliefs, the ''Shamsīyah'' may have been influenced by
Yazidism
Yazidism , alternatively Sharfadin is a monotheistic ethnic religion that has roots in a western Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. It is followed by the mainly Kurmanji-speaking Yazidis and i ...
(Yazidis also pray facing the sun) and perhaps
Gnosticism
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
and
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
.
The ''Shamsīyah'' might have been connected to the
"Sabians" of Harran, another poorly understood Mesopotamian sect active in the early Middle Ages;
the Harran Sabians have also been suggested to have been adherents of the ancient Mesopotamian religion.
Armenian records mention the ''Shamsīyah'' being known from at least the fifth century AD onwards. 15th-century Syriac-language sources suggest that significant numbers of the converted and were welcomed into the Syriac Orthodox Church already in the sixth century AD. A group of sun- or fire-worshippers living in the city of
Samsat
Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.[Nerses IV the Gracious
Nerses IV the Gracious (; also Nerses Shnorhali, Nerses of Kla or Saint Nerses the Graceful; 1102 – 13 August 1173) was Catholicos of Armenia from 1166 to 1173. A more precise translation of his epithet ''Shnorhali'' is "filled with Grace". He ...]
to have converted to Christianity in the 12th century.
Coins minted in Mardin in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
during the city's rule by the Turkish
Artuqid dynasty
The Artuqid dynasty (alternatively Artukid, Ortoqid, or Ortokid; , pl. ; ; ) was a Turkoman dynasty originated from tribe that ruled in eastern Anatolia, Northern Syria and Northern Iraq in the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The Artuqi ...
and the
Mongol Empire are noted for prominently incorporating solar iconography, both in the form of the
Lion and Sun
The Lion and Sun ( fa, شیر و خورشید, Šir-o xoršid, ; Classical Persian: ) is one of the main emblems of Iran (Persia), and was an element in Iran's national flag until the 1979 Iranian Revolution and is still commonly used by oppo ...
emblem but also in the form of just the sun alone.
Conversion to Christianity
Though the ''Shamsīyah'', or adherents of similar beliefs, had previously been numerous in the northern lands around the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
river,
they were by the 17th century mainly confined to Mardin.
They had a separate cemetery and their own quarters in the city. The ''Shamsīyah'' apparently congregated in a temple located in the vicinity of the city gate, remnants of which survived until recent times.
Since the ''Shamsīyah'' were few in number, they long remained largely unnoticed to the outside world. They first came to the attention of the government of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
when Sultan
Murad IV
Murad IV ( ota, مراد رابع, ''Murād-ı Rābiʿ''; tr, IV. Murad, was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1623 to 1640, known both for restoring the authority of the state and for the brutality of his methods. Murad IV was born in Cons ...
() passed through Mardin on his way back following the 1638
capture of Baghdad. The sultan noted that Mardin was home to about hundred families of sun-worshippers,
based on tax records about four hundred people.
Under Islamic law, followers of religions not among those of the
People of the Book
People of the Book or Ahl al-kitāb ( ar, أهل الكتاب) is an Islamic term referring to those religions which Muslims regard as having been guided by previous revelations, generally in the form of a scripture. In the Quran they are ident ...
(Islam, Christianity, Judaism and
Sabians
The Sabians, sometimes also spelled Sabaeans or Sabeans, are a mysterious religious group mentioned three times in the Quran (as , in later sources ), where it is implied that they belonged to the 'People of the Book' (). Their original ident ...
) are condemned to choose conversion, exile or death.
Since the ''Shamsīyah'' freely admitted to the sultan that they were not People by the Book, Murad ordered them all to be executed.
The Syriac Orthodox patriarch,
Ignatius Hidayat Allah
Ignatius Hidayat Allah was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1597/1598 until his death in 1639/1640.
Biography
Hidayat Allah was born to an illustrious family which had produced several patriarchs, including ...
, however took pity on them and agreed to baptize the ''Shamsīyah'' to safeguard them from execution and persecution. Although they were from that point on considered to be Christians and outwardly conformed to Syriac Orthodox beliefs and practices, they kept their old name and continued some of their own pre-Christian traditions.
Many ''Shamsīyah'' who did not wish to convert reportedly also fled to Iran or other settlements in the surrounding
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
region.
According to the missionary
Giuseppe Campanile, writing in 1818, the ''Shamsīyah'' converted only for protection and abandoned all Christian practices after Murad left the city, only actually adopting them in 1763 under pressure from the Syriac Orthodox and bribed government officials.
Contact with travellers
The Venetian traveller
Ambrosio Bembo, who passed through the Ottoman Empire in 1671–1675, noted the presence of five different Christian sects in the city of
Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.
Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...
(located near Mardin). Among them were the ''Shamsīyah'', who Bembo wrote "were, and still are, worshippers of the sun".
The ''Shamsīyah'' were considered by the French author
Michel Febvre in 1675 to be one of the "fourteen nations" of the Ottoman Empire. Febvre classified them among various "heretical" eastern Christian groups and noted that they had only recently converted from paganism.
The German explorer
Carsten Niebuhr
Carsten Niebuhr, or Karsten Niebuhr (17 March 1733 Lüdingworth – 26 April 1815 Meldorf, Dithmarschen), was a German mathematician, cartographer, and explorer in the service of Denmark. He is renowned for his participation in the Royal Danish ...
passed through Mardin in 1766 and noted the presence of the ''Shamsīyah'' there. Niebuhr spoke with an old man belonging to the group, who claimed that many of the villages in Tur Abdin had in his youth adhered to their religion but that they by this point were limited to only about a hundred families living in two districts in Mardin and they nominally adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church. Niebuhr concluded based on the practices he observed that the ''Shamsīyah'' were probably adherents of a remnant of the pre-Christian religion in the region.
The Anglican missionary
Joseph Wolff
Joseph Wolff (1795 – 2 May 1862) was a Jewish Christian missionary born in Weilersbach, near Bamberg, Germany, named Wolff after his paternal grandfather. He travelled widely, and was known as "the missionary to the world". He published sev ...
, who passed through Mardin in 1824, noted that the ''Shamsīyah'' told him that they worshipped "the sun, the moon, and the stars" and that the sun was "their ''
malech'', their king"; based on phonetic comparisons Wolff came to the bizarre conclusion that they were idolaters who worshipped the god
Moloch
Moloch (; ''Mōleḵ'' or הַמֹּלֶךְ ''hamMōleḵ''; grc, Μόλοχ, la, Moloch; also Molech or Molek) is a name or a term which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the book of Leviticus. The Bible strongly co ...
.
Wolff also noted that they although they dressed like Syriac Christians, they did not intermarry with other members of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
According to the British author
James Silk Buckingham
James Silk Buckingham (25 August 1786 – 30 June 1855) was a British author, journalist and traveller, known for his contributions to Indian journalism. He was a pioneer among the Europeans who fought for a liberal press in India.
Early life
B ...
, the ''Shamsīyah'' in 1827 remained "quite distinct, both in belief and practice" and were still sometimes observed to rever the sun. Silk Buckingham claimed that they by this time encompassed about a thousand families.
The Austrian historian
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall
Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (9 June 1774 – 23 November 1856) was an Austrian orientalist and historian. He is considered one of the most accomplished Orientalists of his time. He was critical of the trend of ascribing classical or a ...
still considered the ''Shamsīyah'' to "worship only the sun" in 1836.
The American missionary
Horatio Southgate
Horatio Southgate (July 5, 1812 – April 11, 1894) was born in Portland, Maine, and studied for the ordained ministry at Andover Theological Seminary as a Congregationalist. In 1834 he became a member of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...
visited the ''Shamsīyah'' in the hills surrounding Mardin in 1837. Southgate reported that they at this time called themselves "sons of
Ishmael", though he believed this was only to evade the suspicion of the Ottoman authorities.
Disappearance
When the Guyanese bishop
Oswald Parry
Oswald Hutton Parry was Bishop of Guyana from 1921 until 1936. Born into an eminent ecclesiastical family, he was educated at Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford. After a curacy at St Ignatius, Sunderland he was appointed ''Head of Archbi ...
visited Mardin in 1897 he claimed to have found no trace of the ''Shamsīyah''.
Contrary to Parry's report, the British priest and scholar
Adrian Fortescue
Adrian Henry Timothy Knottesford Fortescue (14 January 1874 – 11 February 1923) was an English Catholic priest and polymath. An influential liturgist, artist, calligrapher, composer, polyglot, amateur photographer, Byzantine scholar, an ...
claimed in 1913 that there were still about a hundred families who identified as ''Shamsīyah'' in Mardin. Fortescue also doubted the extent to which the ''Shamsīyah'' had actually adopted Christianity, referring to them as "a curious group of semi-Christian Jacobites who were once sun-worshippers".
They still lived in Mardin at the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but their subsequent fate is unknown and they appear to have since disappeared,
perhaps merging into the rest of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
According to Yazidi records, there were still ''Shamsīyah'' living in the region in the 1950s and 1960s who were persuaded by
Tahseen Said
Tahseen Said or Tahsin Beg Saied (, b. 15 August 1933 in Baadre – d. 28 January 2019 in Hanover) was the hereditary leader ( Mīr, or prince) of Yazidis. He was also the head of the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council and represented the Yazidis i ...
, the
Mîr of the Yazidis, to convert to Yazidism.
Practices
Beyond the fact that the ''Shamsīyah'' worshipped the sun, little certain is known of their traditions and practices due to their own unwillingness to disclose them.
Much of what little has been written of their practices is unconfirmed and appears to derive from second-hand sources rather than from direct observation. Simeon, a Polish traveller who visited Mardin in the early 17th century, claimed that the ''Shamsīyah'' gathered in their own temple every Saturday night to pray and hold incestuous orgies; an unlikely claim probably based on prejudices against Eastern religions.
According to Febvre in 1675, the ''Shamsīyah'' after their conversion adopted the Syriac Orthodox practices of baptisms and burial ceremonies, but kept their own sun-worshipping practices as well, which they performed in secret assemblies.
Niebuhr apparently observed several distinct practices in 1766, including that the ''Shamsīyah'' built "the most elegant doors in their house always facing the sunrise", that the prayed facing the sun, and that they pulled the hair from their dead and put a pair of coins in their mouths. Niebuhr also wrote that their weddings were officiated by Syriac Orthodox priests but that the newlyweds after the ceremony were given a ride down a road, passing by a "certain large stone to which they must show great respect".
The pulling of hair was also reported by Campanile in 1818, who wrote that they shaved of the beard, hair and body hair of those who were near death since they believed that their sins were tied to their hairs. Campanile also reported on the dead being buried with gold and silver jewellery alongside household belongings.
Campanile further claimed in 1818 that the ''Shamsīyah'' also venerated cows and that they three times a year met to construct a large idol in the shape of a lamb, which they put in a bowl and performed various acts in front of, such as prayer, adoration and kissing the idol.
Silk Buckingham wrote in 1827 that the ''Shamsīyah'' had refused to give information on their beliefs to other members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and threatened their adherents with death if they did so. According to Silk Buckingham, the ''Shamsīyah'' were observed as showing reverence to the sun through removing their turbans during sunrises.
Southgate wrote in 1837 that the ''Shamsīyah'' by his time were still said to perform their "ancient rites" but did not himself observe any of the practices noted by previous travellers.
Notes
{{Notelist
References
Mesopotamian religion
Mardin
Tur Abdin
Religion in the Ottoman Empire