Middle East on the Eve Book Report

Like the Taliban in recent Afghanistan, patrols walked through the streets and markets and could flog wrong-doers on the spot.

In spite of strict veiling rules for women, women could hold a fair amount of power. Current news reports might lead an American to believe that under Moslem rule, women never have any rights, can own no property, may not work outside their homes, and in general must live extremely constricted lives. However, in 18th century Aleppo, women worked in the marketplace, owned property, could have wealth in their own name and often earned income, particularly by owning property or as moneylenders. While they were not equal to men (in legal proceedings, the testimony of two women was considered equal to that of one man), women were not equal in Europe either. The rules that allowed women these rights came out of Middle Eastern tradition, not Western influence -- Marcus writes about a period of time before Western influence dominated Middle Eastern culture.

The relative wealth of Aleppo as a whole was a surprise to this reader. Marcus reports that one-third of the population might have been what we think of as "middle class." (p. 66) They owned their homes and often their shops, and had servants. Aleppo had a complex system for property ownership, which meant that nearly everyone, including most of the poor people, could own their own homes. The smallest houses might cost only 50 piastres, and if a person could not afford that, they could buy part of a house. They had full rights to that ownership and could sell those rights, so often non-related people lived in and owned the same house together. (p. 189)

Other surprises came in the area of domestic relations. Moslem law made it relatively easy for men to divorce their wives, and as a result, families broken by divorce were fairly common. In addition, although the Moslem religion allowed polygamy, most men had only one wife because polygamy was expensive. This reader had thought that practice to be far more common. Such revelations make marital relations in 18th century Aleppo look somewhat like those of today in Western civilization. Although women did not have as many divorce rights as men did, they had important financial protections within their marriage. They were not required to commingle their finances with that of their husband's, giving them more financial power than women in Europe of that period had (p. 204). Women could take their ex-husbands to court to get money owed to them.

The economics of the day seemed sophisticated to this reader. It was sometimes hard for the citizens to hang on to their financial standing because of the turbulent times. Drought, warfare and famine could reduce a family's circumstances fairly easily. The government attempted to moderate these influences, and established price controls on basic goods during times of inflation or recession.

Marcus' book reveals a rich and complex society. The city of Aleppo was sophisticated in many ways well before any strong influences from Western civilization. Marcus' book provides a view of a rich…