Al-Mushannaf ( also spelled ''Mushennef'') is a village in southern

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 ...

, administratively part of the

al-Suwayda Governorate As-Suwayda or Al-Suwayda Governorate () is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is the southernmost governorate, covering an area of 5,550 km², and is part of the historic Hawran region. The capita ...

, located northeast of

al-Suwayda Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of Suwayda Governorate, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South, Daraa Governorate ...

. Nearby localities include Tarba to the north,

Shahba Shahba ( / ALA-LC: ''Shahbā'') is a city located south of Damascus in the Jabal el Druze in As-Suwayda Governorate of Syria, but formerly in the Roman Empire, Roman province of Arabia Petraea. Known in Late Antiquity as Philippopolis (in Arabia ...

and

Salkhad Salkhad () is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It has a population of 15,000 inhabitants. It is located at 1350 metres above sea level ...

to the northwest,

Qanawat Qanawat () is a village in Syria, located 7 km north-east of al-Suwayda. It stands at an elevation of about 1,200 m, near a river and surrounded by woods. Its inhabitants are entirely from the Druze community. According to the Central ...

to the west and

al-Kafr Al-Kafr (, also spelled ''al-Kefr'') is a village in as-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. It is located 8 km to the southeast of as-Suwayda. It is known for its forest and good wine, and it was the site of a number of battles during the ...

to the southwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Mushannaf had a population of 2,581 in the 2004 census. The town is also the administrative center of the al-Mushannaf ''

nahiyah A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' of the

al-Suwayda District as-Suwayda District () is a district of the as-Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. The administrative centre is the city of as-Suwayda Suwayda (), also spelled Sweida, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border ...

consisting of 14 villages with a combined population of 17,134.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate.

History

Al-Mushannaf (ancient ''Nela'' or ''Nelkomia'') was a part of the province of

under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

on the borders with the province of

Arabia Petraea Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province or simply Arabia, was a frontier Roman province, province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century. It consisted of the former Nabataean Kingdom in the southern Levant, th ...

. Druze tribes settled in the village between 1856 and 1858.Firro, 1992, p
152
/ref>

Roman-period temple

The village has a well preserved Roman prostyle

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

dating to the first century BC that was dedicated to the gods

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

and

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

.Ball, 2002, p
242
/ref>Shahîd, 1995, p
498
/ref> The temple stands on a podium, measuring ,Ward, 1907, pp. 1-6. and faces a rectangular ''

temenos A ''temenos'' ( Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy g ...

'' which is surrounded by four walls and looks out on an artificial pool from its south side and colonnades on the other ones. The temple's entrance is aligned to the north and the courtyard has steps that lead to the inner sanctuary. The whole temple is built from the local black basalt rocks. The walls are built without binding materials and display beautiful ornaments including capitals and entablature,Kaizer, 2008, pp
101
102 while the courtyard is paved with flat stones of various sizes. An inscription inside the temple states that it was built in celebration of the

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς με ...

king

Agrippa I Herod Agrippa I ( Roman name: Marcus Julius Agrippa; ), also simply known as Herod Agrippa, Agrippa I, () or Agrippa the Great, was the last king of Judea. He was a grandson of Herod the Great and the father of Herod Agrippa II, the last known k ...

. The temple was excavated in the early 1900s by

Howard Crosby Butler Howard Crosby Butler (March 7, 1872 Croton Falls, New York – August 13, 1922 Neuilly) was an American archaeologist. Butler graduated from Princeton University, and later pursued special studies at the Columbia School of Architecture and at th ...

and later by Clarence Ward, and was partially restored by the Syrian government.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

Map of the town
Google Maps {{DEFAULTSORT:Mushannaf Populated places in as-Suwayda District Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate Roman sites in Syria Towns in Syria Druze communities in Syria

History

Roman-period temple

See also

References

Bibliography

External links