Maria Theresa Asmar

Who is Maria Theresa Asmar?

Maria Theresa Asmar an ethnic Assyrian, is the author of Memoirs of a Babylonian Princess, which consists of two volumes and 720 pages. This book was written in the early 19th century, describing her travels through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel and the harem system used in Turkey. It was translated into English in 1844. Maria Theresa Asmar died in France before the Franco-Prussian War, and was known as Babylon's Princess in Europe.

Facing tremendous obstacles, Asmar, an Assyrian Christian woman, set up a school for women in Baghdad and welcomed with open arms western Christian missionaries, who then bribed the Turkish government to give them the licence for the school and forbid Maria to carry on with her project. Left frustrated and angry to have been treated this way by fellow Christians, she sought sanctuary with the Muslim Bedouins. She set about recording their daily lives, everything from the weddings and celebrations to their assaults on other tribes. She explains in great detail Bedouin life.