4.7 'Athens ta Asiya' a Palaestina: Gaza a matsayin Cibiyar Adabin Gargajiya da Balaga ta Bahar Rum

4.7 'Athens ta Asiya' a Palaestina: Gaza a matsayin Cibiyar Adabin Gargajiya da Balaga ta Bahar Rum - Falasdinu: Tarihin Shekaru Dubu Hudu | Quran Course

A cikin karni na 12 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa, Filistinawa sun maida Gaza babbar birni a cikin Pentapolis na Filistiya. Kamar yadda muka gani a sama, ana ta danganta Gaza da manyan biranen Filistiya da kuma tsoffin Filistinawa. An ambace ta a cikin wasiƙun Amarna a matsayin ‘Azzati’, Gaza ta zama babban birnin gwamnati na tsohuwar Masar a Falasdinu. A karni na 5 da na 4 kafin haihuwar Annabi Isa, biranen Filistiya sun ci gaba da hulɗar kasuwanci ta duniya, kuma sun ƙirƙiri tsabar kuɗinsu na musamman na Philisto-Arabian; birnin ya ci gaba da bunƙasa a ƙarƙashin Romawa, kuma a karni na 2 bayan haihuwar Annabi Isa an buga tsabar kuɗin tagulla na daular Roma a Gaza. A cikin dogon lokacin nan biyu da Falasdinu ta kasance ƙarƙashin Romawa da Byzantine, Gaza ta faɗaɗa, kuma tashar jiragen ruwanta ta Bahar Rum, wacce take a wuri mai muhimmanci, ta ci gaba da wadata. A shekara ta 635 bayan haihuwar Annabi Isa, Gaza ta zama ɗaya daga cikin biranen farko a Falasdinu da sojojin Larabawa Musulmi suka ci, kuma cikin sauri ta zama babbar cibiyar ilimin shari'ar Musulunci. A yau birnin Gaza, mai yawan jama'a sama da 500,000, shi ne birni mafi girma na Larabawa a Falasdinu; yawancin mazauna Gaza Musulmai ne, amma akwai kuma ƙaramar al'ummar Kiristoci Larabawa.

In the 12th century BC the Philistines made Gaza the leading city of the Pentapolis of Philistia. As we have seen above, Gaza was always identified with the key cities of Philistia and with the ancient Philistines. Mentioned in the Amarna letters as ‘Azzati’, Gaza served as ancient Egypt’s administrative capital in Palestine. In the 5th and 4th centuries BC the cities of Philistia maintained their international trading links and developed their distinct Philisto-Arabian coins; the city continued to flourish under the Romans and in the 2nd century AD imperial Roman bronze coins were struck in Gaza. In the course of the two long periods of Palestine under the Romans and Byzantines, Gaza expanded and its strategically located Mediterranean port continued to prosper. In 635 AD, Gaza became one of the first cities in Palestine to be conquered by the Arab Muslim army and it quickly developed into a major centre of Islamic jurisprudence. Today the city of Gaza, with a population of over 500,000, is the largest Arab city in Palestine; the majority of Gaza’s inhabitants are Muslims, but there is also a Christian Arab minority.

A yau ba a koyar da gadon ilimi mai girma na zamanin ƙarshen Zamanin Da (Late Antiquity) a Falasdinu; Falasdinawa masu ilimi sun fi tuna gadon ilimin Bayt al-Hikmah (Gidan Hikima), babbar cibiyar ilimi a Bagadaza a duk tsawon Zamanin Zinariya na Musulunci daga karni na 9 zuwa na 13, fiye da yadda suke tuna Makarantar Bayani ta Gaza ta zamanin da ko Laburaren Caesarea Maritima na zamanin da. Duk da haka, ilimin bayani (fasahar magana) da falsafa suna da muhimmanci sosai ba kawai ga rayuwar ilimi ta zamanin da, ta zamanin gargajiya da ta bayan zamanin gargajiya ba, har ma ga gadon ilimi na zamanin ƙarshen Zamanin Da a Falasdinu. In babban birnin Palaestina Prima, Caesarea, ya bunƙasa a zamanin ƙarshen Zamanin Da, har ya zama cibiyar Bahar Rum ta koyi da tsarin gargajiya, ilimi, tiyoloji da rubuce-rubucen tarihi, to birnin Gaza na Bahar Rum ya zama, a cikin ƙarshen karni na 5 da farkon karni na 6, gidan wata Makarantar Bayani ta Kiristanci da ke koyi da tsarin gargajiya (Kennedy, G. 1994: 255). A Makarantar Gaza, al'adar gargajiya ta haɗu sosai da ta Kiristanci. Sauran biranen Falasdinu mafi girma, kamar Ascalon ('Asqalan) da Scythopolis (Beisan), su ma sun sami gagarumin sauyi sakamakon wannan sabuwar wayewar Kiristanci ta bayan zamanin gargajiya na ƙarshen Zamanin Da.

Today the spectacular classical heritage of Late Antiquity Palestine is not taught in Palestine; educated Palestinians are more likely to recall the classical heritage of the ‘House of Wisdom’ (Bayt al-Hikmah), a major intellectual centre in Baghdad throughout the Golden Age of Islam from the 9th to the 13th centuries, than the classical Rhetorical School of Gaza or classical Library of Caesarea Maritima. Yet the disciplines of rhetoric (the art of discourse) and philosophy were central not only to ancient, classical and post-classical intellectual life but also to the classical heritage of Late Antiquity Palestine. If the capital city of Palaestina Prima, Caesarea, flourished in Late Antiquity, developing into a Mediterranean centre of classicising, learning, theologising and historical writings, the Mediterranean city of Gaza became in the course of the late 5th and early 6th centuries the home of a classicising Christian School of Rhetoric (Kennedy, G. 1994: 255). In the School of Gaza, the classical tradition had become deeply intertwined with the Christian one. Other cities of greater Palestine, such as Ascalon (‘Asqalan) and Scythopolis (Beisan), were also profoundly transformed by this post-classical Christian renaissance of Late Antiquity.

Duk da haka, abin da muka sani game da shi ya fi fitowa ne daga wasiƙunsa da kuma enkomion (a Helenanci: enkomion, ma'ana kai tsaye yabon mutum) na almajirinsa kuma magajinsa, Chorikios na Gaza. Shi kuwa Chorikios wani babban masanin balagar magana ne na Falasdinu, kuma wakili ne na Makarantar Balagar Magana ta Gaza a zamanin Sarki Anastasius I (491–518 AD). Enkomion na abin da ya zama sananne sosai da sunan Makarantar Balagar Magana ta Gaza shi ma yana ambaton fitattun sifofi na koyar da balagar magana da nau'o'in balagar magana na Zamanin Ƙarshe na Tsufa waɗanda suka bunƙasa suka kuma yi fice. Ayyukan Chorikios na Gaza da suka rage, waɗanda suka ƙunshi manyan nau'o'in balagar Helenanci ta bayan zamanin gargajiya, an gabatar da su cikin salon ƙayatarwa na Makarantar Balagar Magana ta Gaza, tare da siffofinta na musamman da kuma yadda take ƙin barin sautin wasali ya haɗu da wani wasali a kalma (hiatus) cikin tsari mai ɗorewa. Aikin Chorikios ya kuma shahara saboda bayanansa cike da yabo na majami'u biyu a Gaza, bayanan da suke cikin manyan misalan farko na ekphrasis – bayanin zane-zanen fasaha da kalmomi cikin tsari mai ban sha'awa da kuma zahiri – na gine-ginen coci.22

However, what we know about him comes mainly from his letters and from the encomium (Greek: enkomion, literally the praise of a person) of his disciple and successor Chorikios of Gaza. The latter was another major Palestinian rhetorician and a representative of the Gaza School of Rhetoric in the time of Emperor Anastasius I (491–518 AD). The encomium of what became widely known as the Gaza School of Rhetoric also refers to the distinct aspects of rhetorical pedagogy and rhetorical genres of Late Antiquity that developed and flourished. The surviving works of Chorikios of Gaza, which encompass the main genres of post-classical Greek rhetoric, are represented in the elegant style of the Gaza School of Rhetoric with its special features and peculiarly persistent avoidance of hiatus. Chorikios’ work became also known for its panegyrical descriptions of two churches in Gaza, descriptions which consist of some of the most prominent early examples of ekphrasis – a graphic, dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art – of church buildings.22