six to ten meters high, as well as storerooms with ceilings from three to three and a half meters in height. As a result, the rooms on the upper floors were not all on the same level and one had to go up or down from two to as many as ten steps in passing from one room to another.
The house was built like a small fortress and could withstand weeks of siege. This was a necessary precaution as uprisings, anarchy, and looting were frequent before Muhammad Ali Pasha seized power in 1805. Disputes would often arise between the Mamluks, the Albanian soldiery, and the Sudanese soldiery. These uprisings would last a number of days or weeks, until order was restored. In the meantime, shops in the marketplace would close and supplies would become scarce.
The ground floor consisted of two large reception mandaras (rooms) for men and an open takhtabush (portico), as well as several storerooms, a stable, a mill, a well of brackish water, and a water cistern paved and lined with marble slabs. Once a year, at the time of the Nile floods, this cistern was thoroughly cleaned, fumigated with incense, and refilled with pure water. The stores contained a plentiful supply of wheat, beans, maize, jars of clarified butter, different jams, pickled olives, and cheese. Sheep, poultry, and pigeons were also kept. No importance was given to the main staircase, which did not receive light by any window. The bathrooms were on the second floor and consisted of two apartments, an outer one where clothes were removed and an inner one which had hardly any ventilation, light being admitted through glazed holes in the ceiling. This was to better concentrate the heat. All the windows of the upper stories were adorned with fine wooden mashrabiyas (latticework) which enabled the female occupants to see—without being seen—what passed in the courtyard and the surrounding streets.
The uppermost story was reserved for the master of the house. On account of his great age, he preferred to be undisturbed by the children—of whom Marcus was one—who were allowed to go up to kiss his hand once a day. His private drawing room was reached by an open portico covered by a slanting malqaf (roof), constructed so as to catch the northern breeze. This portico ended in a large latticed window facing north and was the antechamber to the qa‘a, this last room being the most important and best adorned in the house. It was divided into two liwans, separated by a turka (passage) about ten centimeters lower than the level of the two liwans. Guests would leave their shoes and slippers in this turka, before stepping barefooted into the carpeted liwans. The turka extended from the door of the qa‘a to a suffa—a characteristic low mantelpiece adorned with tiles and surrounded by stained glass windows—at the other end. On the suffa were placed coffee cups, narguiles, a basin and ewer for washing hands before and after meals, water bottles, and ashtrays. The gullas (alcazars) were generally placed in a receptacle in the middle of the latticed windows, so that the drafts could keep the water cool, while the several-feet-long, long-stemmed chibouks (pipes) had a special place in the wall cupboards. The furniture of the room was simple. Its floor was strewn with mats covered with carpets, and seating accommodation consisted of mattresses and cushions covered with rugs of fine workmanship. There were also a number of cupboards fixed to the walls with shelves and pigeonholes, where Hajj Birmawy kept a beautiful collection of blue china and urns in carved copper.
The work of the house was carried out by female slaves. These were supplied by gallabs (slave dealers), who generally sent a batch of three or four for the mistress of the house to choose from. They were usually young girls, twelve to fifteen years of age. They would be displayed to the lady of the house naked, but for a girdle around their loins, and a few beads around their necks, resembling bronze statues. If the mistress of the house was dissatisfied with any of her slaves, the gallab was sent for and a substitute chosen, taking into account any difference of price between the two. When their good fortune led them to a kindly household, these slaves were generally well treated, and on growing old, regarded themselves and were looked upon as members of the family.
The household duties were divided among the slaves. Some prepared bread with great skill. On baking day, they would rise at dawn, particularly during the summer months to avoid flies, there being no glass panes to the kitchen windows. Other slaves were responsible for the washing, others for the cleaning and tidying of rooms; still others cooked or looked after the children. Slavery in Egypt was to disappear gradually in the 1880s and the 1890s.
The ladies of the house supervised the work of the slaves and did the sewing and mending. They were skilled at embroidery, and ecclesiastic vestments were often made by their pious hands. In those days, unfortunately, very few women were taught reading and writing. Upon his grandfather’s death, Marcus recounted how the house was plunged into deep mourning according to Coptic tradition.
On my grandfather’s death, my mother and her sisters, as was the custom in those days, turned down the carpets, had all furniture covered with black sheets, veiled the mirrors, sprinkled the walls with indigo, and in their grief they broke the fine collection of old blue china which adorned the shelves of the drawing room. I still remember vividly my pain as I piously collected some fragments. Later I searched and found a few dishes and bowls that are still in my possession.6
| 2 | A Love of Learning |
Marcus’s father was a devout man who almost never missed a church service either by day or by night. He often took Marcus with him. Like their ancestors, the early Christians of Egypt, every leading Coptic family consecrated one or two of its sons to the service of the Church, and Marcus had been chosen by his father for holy orders.
Marcus started his education at the Coptic Patriarchal School, in the immediate neighborhood of his home. This school, founded by Patriarch Cyril IV (r. 1854–61), was entirely maintained by the Coptic patriarchate and was open to children of all nationalities and denominations free of charge. It also contained a boarder section for poor Coptic boys from the provinces, who were accepted there without fees. Most of the students, however, came from well-to-do Coptic and Muslim families. Copts were not allowed to attend state schools, and it was only when Ali Pasha Mubarak, on the orders of Khedive Isma‘il (r. 1863–79), decreed in 1867 that Copts could attend state schools and also study abroad at state expense that this law was abolished. It was under this new ruling that Abd al-Messih and Rizqallah, the two elder brothers of Marcus, were sent to the School of Law on their graduation from the Patriarchal School, soon to be followed by Marcus’s younger brother Abdallah.
At school, Marcus studied the Bible and learned Coptic, Greek, and Arabic. His father forbade him to learn any European languages, lest they distract Marcus from ecclesiastic studies and interfere with his plan of consecrating Marcus to the service of the Church. At that time, young men possessing knowledge of one or more European languages were in great demand and commanded high pay in most of the state departments, especially in the railways administration. Marcus was keen on learning and begged and begged to be allowed to study a European language—English or French—but to no avail. One day, Marcus overheard the boys of his age, who attended the English language class, translating into Arabic the legend of the battle between the king of Persia and Queen Semiramis. This lesson was taught from a general history textbook entitled Peter Parley’s Universal History, on the Basis of Geography.7 He heard how the soldiers of the great king came to battle mounted on elephants, and how the troops of Queen Semiramis went out to meet them riding on camels camouflaged with elephant skins, and how the real elephants trampled the camels to death. The story fascinated him, and he resolved to find a way to convince his father to allow him to learn English.
I went home that night refusing to take any food and declaring that I would continue to keep a strict fast until I was allowed to attend the English class. After many entreaties and the shedding of many tears, my parents at last allowed me to learn English and I went to work with such good-will that before long I was at the top of the class.8
Marcus always acknowledged that his success was thanks to the help of his eldest brother, Abd al-Messih, who not only assisted him in his
