By the early twentieth century the British Empire had placed itself at the centre of the worldwide movement to abolish slavery and the slave trade. Despite that, the persistence of slavery in the Persian Gulf led to the curious circumstance that the British had not quite removed slavery from what was effectively part of their informal Empire. Instead, the British had decided to issue slave manumission certificates – although in a highly selective way. Why then did the British choose that solution instead of simply abolishing slavery completely or even issuing certificates to entire populations of enslaved people where necessary? Additionally, how were such certificates issued in practice? In tackling those questions this article reveals a largely ignored aspect of the history of the British Empire in the Gulf region. What this article reveals is that the British found themselves in something of a dilemma. They wished to maintain their position and reputation as the global leaders of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade while retaining their fundamentally important role in the Persian Gulf as patrons to local chiefs, through whom they could maintain their informal empire in the region. The decision to adopt the device of issuing manumission certificates was therefore intended to enable the British to retain the influence afforded by both aspects of their position. The certificates could be presented as clear evidence of Britain’s endeavour in working for abolition, while simultaneously helping ensure that her informal empire in the region would not collapse. To reconcile those two facets of their Empire the British were therefore forced to work delicately to manage the expectations and requirements of various stakeholders.

The city of Ḫarrān in northern Syria, the northernmost part of Mesopotamia, has a history of more than 3,000 years, extending from the 3^rd millennium BCE to the 13^th century CE. Ḫarrān has long been famous as a religious center of the worship of the moon god Sîn, though he may have originated from the moon god Nanna/Sîn of the Sumerian city Ur. Sîn was politically and religiously developed the most during the Neo-Assyrian Era. Therefore, in order to explore his essence, this paper analyzes the icons and the inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian steles related to him.

During the Neo-Assyrian Era, Ḫarrān was in the realm of the Aramaeans. The Assyrian Empire used Sîn of Ḫarrān for its own western expansion policy. Examination of the steles engraved with the crescent moon, the symbol of Sîn of Ḫarrān, reveals that this god was the guarantor of boundaries and had the character of a war god and was incorporated into the Assyrian pantheon. Furthermore, from the distribution of the excavated steles, it is presumed that his original range of influence extended to the whole of northwestern Syria. It is probable that, due to the activities of the Aramaeans and the expansion policy of Assyrian Empire, his influence extended even to present-day Palestine and Jordan.

In the Aramaean realm of the western territory of the Assyrian Empire, Sîn of Ḫarrān became the guardian god of Assyria’s western expansion policy and possessed overwhelming authority as a guarantor and maintainer of agreements between nations. The steles related to Sîn of Ḫarrān in the Neo-Assyrian Era were the products of this complex view of religion. Eventually, the authority of Sîn of Ḫarrān led to Sîn’s being conceived as the national god by Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

This essay examines the assemblage and their meaning of grave goods found in a child’s pit grave that was unearthed in 2015 from the Third Intermediate Period settlement at Akoris (Tihna al-Gabal). Based on stratigraphic and typological observations, the grave is dated between the 21^st and 22^nd Dynasties. The deceased was interred with two pairs of hand-shaped wooden clappers under the legs, a round reed “mat” on the chest, and jewellery such as a necklace and an anklet. The accompanying clappers are particularly unique in burials of this period.

It is known that besides being a percussion instrument, hand-shaped clappers had the conceptual function as a symbol of birth and rebirth, which originated in the creation myth of Heliopolis. On the basis of its colour scheme and position on the body, round reed mat could have been regarded as a substitute for a mirror to give the power of rebirth to the deceased. Therefore, the clappers and the reed mat seem to have had the function of helping the deceased’s resurrection in the afterlife.

Another possibility for the presence of the clappers in the grave is that they were identity markers of the dead child, since clappers were not common grave goods even prior to the Third Intermediate Period. New Kingdom tomb scenes sometimes depict musicians accompanied by a young girl who is dancing and is occasionally holding clappers. From this tendency, it is tempting to think that the deceased in the pit grave at Akoris was a musician trainee.

The late Second Temple period was a time when Jews had to confront different cultures, especially Hellenism. Understanding the changes in their burial practices during this period will help to clarify their relationship with different cultures.

The origin of loculi tombs, a type of tomb which appeared during the second century BC, has been debated by various researchers, and in recent years the mainstream theory has been that although they originated in the surrounding area, they also inherited traditional elements from Iron Age II Israel. However, these studies are not quantitative, and research on the tombs’ internal structures that are taken to be ethnic markers is scarce. Therefore, in this paper, I clarify the changes in the internal form of the loculi tombs in Jerusalem in order to elucidate some aspects of the way Jews buried their dead in the face of different cultures.

The analysis reveals that most of the loculi tombs from the second to first centuries BCE have features in common with the earlier bench tombs, such as burial chambers with pits, especially U-shaped burial chambers, and collections of bones, indicating that it is likely that familial burial practices continued. On the other hand, in the first century CE, pit structures declined and flat types became the majority, with a slight increase in auxiliary structures. These trends may be related to the increased use of ossuaries. It is also clear that the form of the loculi had remained constant until the second century BCE, but then was changed to make it suitable for Jewish reburial. These results suggest that while the Jews were confronted with different cultures, there was little influence on burial, but rather that they developed their own burial system, incorporating the loculi structure into their reburials.

Man/animal power played a large role in pre-modern transportation. Istanbul was no exception, and its gigantic economy always required a workforce of hammals, that is, baggage carriers. Baggage carriers were divided into two occupational organizations, arka hammalları (porters) and at hammalları (mule drivers). These organizations had characteristics different from the normal artisans’guilds, or esnafs. This article discusses how the organizational structure of these organizations was formed and how it worked.

Both organizations consisted of immigrants from the Anatolian region, and, especially, the membership of the porters’ organization was very fluid. Those two organizations were made up of bölüks (subordinate groups) organized around wharves, bazaars, and neighborhoods and were managed by kethüdâs (foremen). The bölüks of the porters’ and the mule drivers’ organizations were united under başkethüdâs (wardens) as occupational groups recognized by the governmental authority.

However, this does not mean the kethüdâs were totally subordinate to the başkethüdâs. The başkethüdâs’ authority was sustained by the kethüdâs’ support and did not involve the operation of bölüks. In some cases, outsiders held the office of başkethüdâ. It can be pointed out that the jurisdiction of the başkethüdâs was limited, and the substantial authority lay with the kethüdâs. The kethüdâs’bölüks were to a certain extent independent of the başketkethüdâs, and the başkethüdâ’s role was mostly just authorizing those groups as parts of the organization through the kefâlet (surety system).

The bölüks had designated territories that could not be infringed by outsiders, including other subordinate groups of the same organization. The bölüks could not enter other bölüks’ territories. These were set by the bylaws, and their boundaries were defined by space, goods, and routes. It can be said that the bölüks were in a competitive relationship with each other.

Thus, autonomy and a competitive relationship are the characteristics of the porters’ and mule drivers’ organizations. In this, we may be able to discern the socioeconomic structure of the early-modern Ottoman laborers’ society.