Androna, also known as al-Andarin (), is a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

site spread over a vast area at the edges of the semi-desert, about 25 kilometers beyond the more well-known Byzantine site of

Qasr Ibn Wardan Qasr Ibn Wardan () is a hamlet and 6th-century archaeological site located in the Syrian Desert, approximately northeast from Hama and about northeast of al-Hamraa. The hamlet is separated from the Byzantine-era ruins by a road, with the for ...

History

Androna was built as a defense line against nomadic skirmishes in the

Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...

. The fortified city contains many churches, palaces and baths; and was famous for its vineyards and high-quality wine in which it was mentioned by

Amr ibn Kulthum ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm ibn Mālik ibn ʿAttāb ʾAbū Al-ʾAswad al-Taghlibi (; 526–584) was a poet and chieftain of the Taghlib tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. One of his poems was included in the ''Mu'allaqat''. He is the grandson of the poet Abu L ...

in his ode. The following is the opening verse of his ode:

References

Archaeological sites in Aleppo Governorate Former populated places in Syria {{NEast-archaeology-stub