Mahmood Faris: Agatha Christie in Mosul

Agatha Christie in Mosul

Article by Prof. Ibrahim Al-Allaf

Translated by Mahmood Faris, MD

Agatha Christie, the renowned detective story writer, author of novels: " Murder in Mesopotamia 1936" , '' Absent in the Spring 1944'', '' Murder on the Orient Express 1934'' , and others whose events occurred on the lands of Akkad, Assur, and Sumar. ...... Mesopotamia..... IRAQ..... She had extensive memories in Iraq..... Where she had met her husband, the archaeologist, Max Mallowan in 1933, in one of the villages called Arpajia which is now one of the quarters of Mosul ( Hay Qadissya II). Mallowan had worked as an excavating archaeologist, while Christie came as a tourist to discover the great civilization of Iraq. Since 1933, she had visited Iraq for many times, and her last visit was in 1960, when she attended an archaeological conference. Her marriage life had lasted 45 years till her death in 1976.

Abd Al-Kinani said in his article which was published in Athauraa newspaper by the title '' Folded Pages of the Life of Agatha Christie in Iraq'' (22nd of June 2001) : '' Many Iraqi archaeologists worked with Mallowan, met Christie and accompanied her in most of the archaelogical sites, of them is Dr. Behnam Abu Alsoof and Dr. Tariq Mathloom. Abu Alsoof had mentioned that Christie was 16 years older than Mallowan'', and she was very admiring of Iraqis' respect toward women, and when her husband discovered an invaluable statue made of ivory of a beautiful woman in 1952 at Nimrod, Christie insisted to call it '' Mona Lisa of Nimrod'', the statue is dated back to the Eighth century BC. And what is interesting also is the opening of an expedition at the British Museum in London about '' Agatha Christie and the Excavation in Mesopotamia'' narrating her experience in Iraq. Muheadeen Al-Lathekanee points out in an article published in Athuraa newspaper (15th of November 2001): '' that a special cart was purchased in Italy out of the Orient Express train, this cart was eternized by Agatha Christie in her novel '' Murder on the Orient Express'' and the importance of Christie and her husband Lord Mallowan's expedition budded due to the rare photo Christie had taken by a hand camera ( this photo which was converted into a TV show later on) through which the audience got to know the moments of discovering Nebuchadnezzar's Palace, the Royal Graveyard of Ur, and the Sumarian Harp, which is the oldest musical instrument in the world.

The attached photo is of Agatha Christie with skin wrinkles covering her face, and when a photo was taken of her, she said she advised women to marry from archaeologists like her, since they highly appreciate women as they advance in age and more skin wrinkles in their face which symbolize the old times they came from with their old experiences.