Karbala Souk  Bsths in the Ottomans Period and its Impact on the Social Life: An Archeolegical and cultural Study

Bahy,; . Dr. Adil Muhammad  Ziyada Al, Prof

	Karbala Souk Bsths in the Ottomans Period and its Impact on the Social Life: An Archeolegical and cultural Study
KARBALĀʾ HERITAGE Quarterly Authorized Journal Specialized in Karbalāʾ Heritage
Article 1, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 28-103
Authors
; Prof . Dr. Adil Muhammad Ziyada Al
Abstract
Abstract The Islamic culture inherited the traditional baths or souk bath as part of what is inherited from the previous cultures . The baths spread all over the Islamic word cities , east and west . Life necessities forced the Muslims in their societies in general to grasp the idea of the Beezentik- Romanbath and they made it a public utility in the strict sense of the word . All through time and with the development of the civil structures people started to possess baths inside their houses . As a consequence , people started to desert public baths , which led to their being destructed and exterminated in most Islamic cities such as Karbala . After their number being thousands in some cities such as Baghdad , Cairo , Damascuss and others , but nowadays we can notice very few of them and in a bad condition or in their way to the inevitable fate which is destruction or removal . From their start , the souk baths aimed at serving the society in all respects . This is why I have decided to present a simple and specified study on such type of the social architecture which is widely spread in the Islamic cities to provide wanted and urgent need in the Islamic society . By structures I mean souk baths and as for their necessary services for the society , they may be summarized by keeping cleanness and purity which help perform the duties and rituals required from all people of the Islamic society in addition to what has resulted from it like traditions and customs which spread among all the communities of the Islamic cities starting from the Islamic architectic design characterizing the baths to the marriage and circumcision ceremonies and other traditions and customs which have been completely considered part of Islamic cities. Due to the fact that Karbala province is considered the most important and ancient of the Iraqi cities it has also witnessed the building of a great number of the souk baths all through the Islamic period which have never been different , in their designing and architectic and artistic element from those found in the other Islamic cities . But unfortunately , Karbala lost a great number of such baths and it kept very few of them . What has contributed to that is the fact that the people of Karbala have deserted those baths as their houses have had private baths in addition to the removal of most of them for the purpose of architectic reasons whose performers lacked any knowledge of the value and importance of the Islamic architectic heritage . This caused a noticeable decrease in their number . This study is going to show the importance of dealing with this subject and also the architectic description of the souk baths still found in Karbala together with their architectic characteristics as an architectic heritage in addition to their origins in the Greek and Roman cultures and how Muslims adopted their idea and the contribution of the Islamic architectic thinking to it in constructing it in accordance with the Islamic taste and art . The study them will then deal with the social traditions and customs represented by the marriage and circumcision ceremonies and the other occasions related to the baths .
Keywords
Karbala Souk Bsths in the Ottomans Period and its Impact on the Social Life

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