6. Rogers and the Qubbat al-Khazna

Even though Rogers is not primarily known for collecting manuscripts, he can be linked to the opening of the Qubbat al-Khazna, a dome inside the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus which contained numerous manuscripts .

The name of Edward Thomas Rogers is associated with the manuscripts of Qubbat al-Khazna in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus before the official opening of the Qubbat al-Khazna. Since Rogers did not write any account of his travels, we do not have any record from his own hand of his entry into the Qubba.

Nevertheless, Boris Liebrenz noted that the recounting of Rogers’ entry into the Qubbat al-Khazna was first reported several decades later by the German scholar Hermann von Soden (1852–1914) and the Syrian historian Ḥabīb al-Zayyāt (1872–1954) . According to al-Zayyāt and von Soden, Rogers had stolen some of the manuscripts:

ويظهر أن أول من دخلها في النصف الثاني من هذا القرن روجرسقنصل انكلترا زارها ليلا مع بعض السياح منذ ٣٥ سنة والتقى (انتقى) اشياء منها فيما بلغني.

It appears that the first person who entered it (the Qubbat al-Khazna) in the second half of this century was Rogers, the consul of England. He visited it at night with some tourists 35 years ago, and took (lit. “met”) items of it, as I was told.

Dieselben fanden die entgegenkom­mendste Aufnahme, und ich erhielt die Aufforderung, über die ganze Angelegenheit im Zusammenhang dem Auswärtigen Amt zu berichten. Nach einiger Zeit kam von Konstantinopel die Nachricht, daß die Kubbeh schon in den vierziger Jahren ein­ mal geöffnet worden sei, daß damals ein zufällig anwesender Engländer ein griechisches Neues Testament an sich gebracht habe, das übrige seitdem in der Bibliothek der Moschee ausgestellt sei. Es lohne sich also wohl kaum, den Sultan aufs neue mit der Sache zu behelligen.

It is unknown whether the two scholars are talking about the same person. Al-Zayyāt directly mentions Rogers‘ entry into the Qubbat al-Khazna, but it is not mentioned whether he removed any of the manuscripts, unless we understand that the verb التقى means, “He took.” Moreover, Zayyāt claimed that Rogers entered the Qubbat al-Khazna 35 years prior, which means he entered it sometime around 1866-1867. 

Unlike al-Zayyāt, Herman von Soden only mentioned that an Englishman had entered it, but confirmed that he had stolen items of the New Testament in the Greek language. The entry date of this person does not match what al-Zayyāt had mentioned (above). He says that he entered in the 40’s, but when we look at Rogers‘ biography, we find that he actually started his travels to the Levant in 1848 but did not go to Damascus in the years 1848 or 1849. Did one of the writers make a mistake in the date?

Mary Eliza Rogers, Edward’s sister, wrote describing how Edward Thomas could use his position to open every door. After discussing the fact that the gates of the bazaars in Damascus were closed at night, she wrote:

I have frequently ridden, at midnight, with my brother through the deserted bazaars. How well I remember the long arched and vaulted vistas, scantily illuminated by pendant oil lamps, the night-silence broken now and then by the angry barking of the bazaar-dogs, or by the kawasses, shouting to the wardens at every barrier, to “open the gate for the consul”. This was always willingly done. 

Given what Mary wrote, what Zayyāt wrote makes sense. It is possible that he entered the Qubbat al-Khazna at night and therefore stole some items; moreover, this leads us to the possibility that he  was aware of its contents, or more than that, he may have entered it once previously and recognized its contents. 

The information given in other sources is also inconsistent. For example, Isabel Burton, who was the wife of Sir Richard Francis Burton, the explorer, adventurer, writer, and Rogers’ successor, wrote a piece of new information that the Qubba is opened about once every five years . According to Socin, the Qubba was never opened .

After Socin’s brief description of the Qubbat al-Khazna in his book, Charles W. Wilson in 1881, gave a short account with an image in his book, Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, where he wrote that the Qubbat al-Khazna had never been opened to strangers .

Thus, we cannot be certain that Rogers really entered the Qubba or even stole a manuscript from it, because none of these sources give us complete and reliable information to confirm this.

However, Fabio Ioppolo uncovered new evidence from a record in the British Museum dated 13 December 1862, where we find a mention of a letter received from Rogers when he was in Damascus, dated 6 November. He mentioned “antiquities at the Hauran and offering to negotiate  for the purchase of an inscribed tablet found at Nablus and of certain Cufic books and manuscripts” . Ioppolo received this information through correspondence with the archivist at the British Museum, because the original letter could not be accessed. So far, this is the only evidence from Rogers himself that he was interested in manuscripts, but he never himself mentioned entered the Qubba.

1. According to the source in the reading section, a man named Rogers took manuscripts from the Qubbat al-Khazna. What other links are there to affirm the connection between this Edward Thomas Rogers and this repository of documents and manuscripts?
2. According to the Obituaries mentioned in the other sections, Rogers was rather known for collecting antiquities such as coins and pottery. Why would he suddenly find interest in the acquisition of manuscripts from the Qubbat al-Khazna? Look at Rogers close family and try to reconstruct. (Rogers, Mary Eliza: Domestic Life in Palestine)