Sursock family

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, when they began to establish positions of power within the growing Ottoman Empire. The family, through lucrative business ventures, savvy political maneuvering, and strategic marriages, embarked on what Leila Fawaz 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.

The Sursocks are one of Beirut's aristocratic Christian families, along with the Bustros, Ferneini, Fayad, Gebeili, Trad, and Tueni families and were readily admitted into Ottoman, Egyptian and European high societies. The Sursocks became an integral 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. Their wealth and sophistication are also reflected in their stunning residences, which, equal in elegance to any Italian palazzo, remain largely unscathed despite fifteen years of unrelenting mortar fire and violence.

In the 17th century, members of the Sursock family served as tax collectors and held other positions on behalf of the Ottoman Empire, eventually 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. 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. 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, William I, Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, amongst other monarchs.

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