• Pasted on public and private building walls, political posters commemorating martyrs were a familiar feature of Lebanon’s civil war. Twenty-five years later, they serve as a window into the culture of the era. Based on 86 political posters collected from the 1960s through the 1980s in Beirut, this research examines how people viewed martyrdom during that period. Using a semiotic analysis, it studies how different political players promoted and used martyrdom to revive deceased leaders and militiamen, and frame their memory as one of valiant heroism. The study finds that, although martyrdom was promoted as a secular notion at the beginning of the war, it was still venerated as an honor along the tradition of Abraham’s divine sacrifice. Mostly used for political, ideological and publicity purposes, martyrdom enabled the various militias to change their losses into victories, strengthen their bonds with their constituents and acquire credibility as people who have offered blood. •
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