Mount Simeon or Mount Simon ( Jabal Simʻān ), also called Mount Laylūn (), is a highland region in
Aleppo Governorate
Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' ) is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the t ...
in northern
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. The mountain is located in the
Mount Simeon
Mount Simeon or Mount Simon ( Jabal Simʻān ), also called Mount Laylūn (), is a highland region in Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria. The mountain is located in the Mount Simeon (district), Mount Simeon and A'zaz District, Aʻzāz districts ...
and
Aʻzāz districts of
Aleppo Governorate
Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' ) is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the t ...
.
It is named for
Symeon the Stylite a Christian who lived atop a column in the region for 37 years and for whom a large monastery complex was established.
Landscape
Mount Simeon is part of the
Limestone Massif in the western part of the
Aleppo plateau
The Aleppo plateau ( ) is a low, gently undulating plateau of northern Syria. It lies at the northern end of the junction between the Arabian Plate and the African Plate at the Dead Sea Rift. The plateau lies mostly in the Aleppo Governorate and ...
. It is located about 20 km northwest of Aleppo. The mountain runs for 50 km from north to south with a width range of 20–40 km and average elevation of 500–600 m. The highest point is Sheikh Barakāt (876 m) in the southern part of the mountain.
The valley of River
ʻIfrīn runs between Mount Simeon and
Mount Kurd to the west.
Aʻzāz valley marks the northern boundary of the mountain, beyond which lies the Aʻzāz plain and
Mount Barṣa (Barṣāyā) on the
Aintab plateau. The valley of river
Quweiq
The Queiq (Modern Standard Arabic: , ''Quwayq'', ; northern Syrian Arabic: ''ʾWēʾ'', ), with many variant spellings, it was known to the Greeks in antiquity as the Belus in (, ''Bēlos''), the Chalos and also known in English as the Alep ...
runs along the eastern side of the mountain. South of the mountain lie the
Dāna
(Devanagari: , IAST: ) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms, in Indian religions and philosophies.
In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is the practice of cultivating generosi ...
and
Atarib plains. Old routes connecting
Qinnasrin
Qinnašrīn (; ; ; ), was a historical town in northern Syria. The town was situated southwest of Aleppo on the west bank of the Queiq (historically, the Belus) and was connected to Aleppo with a major road during Roman times.
Some scholars p ...
to
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...
run through these plains to the ʻIfrīn valley at its westward turn and separate Mount Simeon from
Ḥārim Mountains to the south.
References
External links
* William Kelly Prentice
Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Syria Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909.
{{Aleppo landmarks
Aleppo
Geography of Aleppo Governorate
Simeon
Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew, Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated in English as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Sy ...