Ma'arrat al-Numan 2611185 221249331 2008-06-23T18:30:27Z AnnaFrance 7002667 Disambig page style repair: ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Disambiguation|you can help!]]) using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] {{Citations missing|date=February 2008}} [[Image:Arabischer Maler um 1335 002.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Abû Zayd pleads before the Qadi of Ma'arra (1334).]]'''Ma`arat al-Numan''' ({{lang-ar|'''معرة النعمان'''}}) is a small western [[Syria]]n market city, located at the highway between [[Aleppo]] and [[Hama]] and near the [[Dead Cities]] of [[Bara, Syria|Bara]] and [[Serjilla]]. The city, known as ''Arra'' to the [[Greeks]] and ''Marre'' to the [[crusade]]rs, has its present-day name combined of the traditional name and of its first [[Muslim]] governor [[Al Numan ibn Bashir]], a companion of [[Mohammed]]. Today the city has a [[museum]] with [[mosaic]]s from the [[Dead Cities]], a [[mosque]] with the [[minaret]] rebuilt after the [[1170]] [[earthquake]], [[madrassa]] Abu al-Farawis from [[1199]] and remains of the medieval [[citadel]]. The city is also a birthplace of the [[poet]] [[Abu al-Ala al-Maari]] ([[973]] - [[1057]]). ==Massacre of Ma'arra== {{main|Siege of Maarat}} The most infamous event from the city's history dates from late [[1098]], during the [[First Crusade]]. After the [[Crusade]]rs, led by [[Raymond IV of Toulouse|Raymond de Saint Gilles]] and [[Bohemund I of Antioch|Bohemond of Taranto]], successfully [[Siege of Antioch|besieged Antioch]] they found themselves with insufficient supplies of [[food]]. Their raids on the surrounding countryside during the winter months did not help the situation. By [[December 12]] when they reached Ma'arra, many of them were suffering from [[starvation]] and [[malnutrition]]. They managed to breach the city's walls and [[Wiktionary:massacre|massacred]] about 20,000 inhabitants, as they often did when they captured a city. However, this time, as they could not find enough food, they resorted to [[cannibalism]].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} One of the crusader commanders wrote to [[Pope Urban II]]: "''A terrible famine racked the army in Ma'arra, and placed it in the cruel necessity of feeding itself upon the bodies of the [[Saracens]].''"{{Fact|date=February 2008}} [[Radulph of Caen]], another chronicler, wrote: "''In Ma'arra our troops boiled pagan adults alive in cooking-pots; they impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled.''"{{Fact|date=February 2008}} Those events had a strong impact on the local inhabitants of [[Middle East]]. The crusaders already had a reputation for cruelty and barbarism towards [[Muslim]]s, [[Jews]] and even [[Orthodoxy|Orthodox]] [[Christians]] (the Crusades began shortly after the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism of 1054]]). Crusaders are still referred as "''cannibals''" in many Middle Eastern languages{{Fact|date=February 2008}} and even centuries later their image as fanatical cannibals was alive in [[Arabic literature]].{{Fact|date=February 2008}} Many authors suggest that the crusaders' behaviour was not really born of their hunger but fanatical belief that the Muslims were even lower than the [[animal]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} [[Amin Maalouf]] in his book [[The Crusades Through Arab Eyes]] points out the most crucial line for such belief among the Muslims: "''Not only did our troops not shrink from eating dead Turks and Saracens; they also ate dogs!''" by [[Albert of Aix]]. ==External links== * [http://utah.indymedia.org/news/2003/10/6476_comment.php The Cannibals of Ma`arra] at Utah Indymedia * [http://i-cias.com/e.o/crusades_05.htm Encyclopedia of the Orient] ==Further reading== * Amin Maalouf, [[The Crusades Through Arab Eyes]]. Schocken, 1989, ISBN 0-8052-0898-4 {{coord|35|39|19|N|36|40|18|E|display=title|type:city_source:frwiki}} [[Category:Cities, towns and villages in Syria]] [[Category:Crusades]] [[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]] [[de:Maarat an-Numan]] [[fr:Ma'arrat al-Numan]] [[it:Ma'arrat al-Nu'man]] [[ja:マアッラト・アン=ヌウマーン]] [[sl:Marat an-Numan]]