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The Sursock family (also Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has been recorded as living in Beirut since 1714. The family. through lucrative business ventures, savvy political maneuvering, and strategic marriages, embarked on what Leila Fawaz has called “''the most spectacular social climb in the nineteenth century,''” and, by their peak, had built a close network of relations to the families of Egyptian, French, Irish, Russian, Italian and German aristocracies and a manufacturing and distribution empire spanning the Mediterranean.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.stambouline.com/2014/08/ghosts-of-lebanese-summers-past.html )〕 The Sursocks are one of Beirut's aristocratic Christian families, along with the Bustros, Ferneini, Araman, Boutros, Trad, and Tueni families and were readily admitted into Ottoman, Egyptian and European high societies. The Sursocks were part of an international bourgeoisie that constantly moved between the cities of Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, Istanbul, Paris and Rome and are effectively one of the "Seven Families" which define Beirut's aristocratic nobility.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/fouadgm/5021964602 )〕 The Sursocks ultimately became an integral part of an international set that circulated amid Europe's major capitals. Their wealth and sophistication are also reflected in their stunning residences, equal in elegance to any Italian palazzo.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 )〕 The Sursocks made their fortune in the beginning of the 17th century through their successful manufacturing and transportation empire, which extended from Turkey to Egypt and ultimately to the United Kingdom.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://blog.samabeirut.com/destination/sursock-ashrafieh’s-prettiest-palace )〕 Dimitri Sursock was the original founder of the "Sursock and Brothers," a prominent firm in nineteenth century Beirut which acted as an agent for Lascaridi and Company in the 1850s and 1860s and shipped grain to London, Cyprus and throughout Europe. The firm and its assets were taken over by his seven sons after his death: Nicolas, Khalil, Moussa, Ibrahim, Joseph and George. In the 17th century, members of the Sursock family served as tax collectors and held other positions on behalf of the Ottoman Empire, allowing them to benefit greatly from the 1858 Ottoman land reforms, during which they acquired large tracts of fertile land in northern Palestine, in addition to their already extensive holdings ranging from Egypt to Beirut.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424602596.html )〕 The means by which this Greek-Orthodox Ottoman family came into possession of such particularly palatial real estate were multiple. As a long line of land owners and tax collectors, the Sursocks were able to leverage their finances and capital using their connections to American, Russian, German and French consuls over the decades to establish extensive economic and political connections.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.stambouline.com/2014/08/ghosts-of-lebanese-summers-past.html )〕 The family developed wide social ties and was close to key Ottoman and European figures, frequently playing host to a wide range of royals and diplomats, including King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Emperor William of Germany and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, amongst other monarchs. In addition to their manufacturing and export activities, the family increased its fortune as landowners in the Ottoman Levant, amassing profits from both rent and tax collection. as well as from the sale of their many properties.〔()〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://adonis49.wordpress.com/tag/sursock-family/ )〕 Their financial activities were wide ranging, and included shipping, silk, and the production of other goods built for transport to London and throughout the region. The Sursocks also became heavily involved in banking in Egypt and Lebanon, where they helped finance major projects including the Suez Canal, the Beirut-Damascus highway, and the Beirut Harbour Company. The family also served as direct creditors to Ismail Pasha and other members of Egyptian royalty, who soon found themselves heavily involved with and indebted to the family. As a result of the extent of their financial activities, the family was once dubbed “the Rothschilds of the East,” and indeed was associated with the Rothschild banking family during their sale of the Jezreel Valley to the Jewish National Fund.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://the-polyglot.blogspot.com/2011/01/hani-jean-samaha.html )〕 However, members of the family gained notoriety for taking advantage of the famine in Lebanon during the First World War by selling overpriced basic food supplies, and for selling large swaths of Arab land in Palestine to Jewish settlers who demanded the forceful eviction of the peasant residents.〔 (Beirut how you've changed ... or have you? )〕〔(MidEastWeb The Report of Sir John Hope Simpson, 1930 )〕 In the wake of the Lebanese Civil War, many members of this old Greek-Orthodox aristocratic dynasty chose to relocate, spreading throughout various European and Asian capitals, and can now be found in Athens, Nice, London and Hong Kong.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2015/05/12/as-expat-high-school-seniors-plan-for-college-overseas-their-families-prepare-to-miss-them/ )〕 ==History== For many decades, the Sursocks were Lebanon's leading business family. As business partners of the Otis Elevator Company, they were successful industrialists and played a key role in the development and manufacturing of elevators.〔(Saudi Aramco World : Made In: Lebanon )〕 The Sursocks have shaped Lebanon’s history from the late Ottoman period to present; indeed, the selection of Beirut, which would come to be known as the 'Pearl of the Orient,' as the provincial capital was in no small part the result of their entreaties to the Porte.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.stambouline.com/2014/08/ghosts-of-lebanese-summers-past.html )〕 According to Lady Cochrane Sursock, daughter of Alfred Bey Sursock and Donna Maria Theresa Serra di Cassano, the name is a corruption of Κυριε Ισαακ ("Kyrie Isaac", meaning Lord Isaac).〔(Lady Cochrane Sursock: Information and Much More from Answers.com )〕 The family left Constantinople at its fall in 1453, settling near Jbail. Towards the close of the 18th century the Sursock family moved to Beirut and subsequently became successful traders, exporting grain from Syria and Turkey to the United Kingdom, while also engaging in the importation of textiles from Europe to be sold throughout the Middle East. Nicolas Sursock founded the Banque Sursock and purchased extensive properties throughout different parts of the Ottoman Empire.〔 The Sursocks soon became protégés and dragomen to several European and American consul-generals and were afforded political privileges and protection by the various countries with whom they had ties, including Russia and Germany. Moussa Sursock, the 8th Duke of Cassano and father to Alfred Sursock, and his brothers are reported to have travelled on Greek and Russian passports as well as to have gained protégé status with other European consulates in Beirut as a result of their wide-ranging activities.〔 Furthermore, the Sursock's heavy involvement in Egyptian banking allowed the family to form close relations with the Egyptian monarchy, affording them preferential deals on large infrastructural projects and extravagant public works.〔 The Sursocks′ success was measured by their admission to the highest circles of both the Ottoman and European elite political spheres. They formed close connections with officials in Istanbul, while aristocrats often approached them to intercede on their behalf with the Ottoman government. One sign of their closeness to the sources of Ottoman power was the appointment of Alfred Sursock to the post of secretary at the Ottoman embassy in Paris in 1905, who joined Moussa, Michel and Yusuf Sursock in taking seats within the Ottoman power structure.〔 In addition to connections with Paris, a French report written the following year listed Moussa Sursock as dragoman of the German Consul,〔 and a year later, Mathilde Sursock married Alberto Theodoli, the Italian president of the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission, in Paris, thereby increasing the family's reach around the Mediterranean.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=50109 )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://geneall.net/en/name/164296/mathilde-sursock/ )〕 Further evidence of the Sursocks' influence can be found in the court accounts recorded under Russian Grand Duke Nicolai Nikolaevich, identifying Nicolas Sursock, who held a strong relationship with the Duke, as an "Honorary Dragoman" of Russia. Alfred, meanwhile, moved throughout the titled circles of Europe and married Donna Maria Serra di Cassano, daughter of Francesco Serra, 7th Duke of Cassano, who came from an old Italian princely family.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=7156 )〕 Their daughter Yvonne eventually became Lady Cochrane after marrying Sir Desmond Cochrane, 3rd Baronet. Michel Sursock, a member of Ottoman parliament, became infamous during the great famine in the First World War for hoarding grain and speculating on the supply. He would not sell the grain, which cost 40 piastres in peacetime, for less than 250 piastres.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sursock family」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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