Dhibin (; also spelled ''Dhaybin'' or ''Thibin'') 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

Salkhad District Salkhad District () is a district of the Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria. Administrative centre is the city of Salkhad Salkhad () is a Syrian city in the As-Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one ...

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 ...

. It is located south 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 ...

, near the southern

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. Nearby localities include Bakka to the north,

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 northeast, Umm al-Rumman to the east, Samaj to the west and

Samad Samad or Samed (, ''Ṣamad'') is an Arabic male given name. Given name *Abd al-Samad ibn Ali, Abbasid governor of Jazira in 780s. * Samed Abdul Awudu (born 1984), Ghanaian football player *Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (born 1983), Iranian basketball p ...

to the northwest. In the 2004 census it had a population of 2,562. It is the administrative center of the Dhibin Nahiyah, which consisted of three villages with a collective population of 6,900 in 2004.

History

Dhibin was a mainly grain-growing village in the late 16th century, during Ottoman rule.Brown 2009, p
379
/ref> In the Ottoman tax registers of 1596, it was a village located the ''

nahiya 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 ...

'' (subdistrict) of Butayna, in the

Qadaa of Hauran The Hauran Sanjak (, ) was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire, spanning the southern areas of Ottoman Syria, located in modern-day Syria and Jordan. The city of Daraa was the sanjak's capital. The sanjak had a population of 182,805 in 1914. Subdistr ...

. It had a population of twelve households and four bachelors, all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 1,000

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 215 By the early 19th century, the village had been abandoned like many of the other villages of Jabal Hauran due to

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

depredations. Druze migrants from other parts of Syria populated the villages of Jabal Hauran by the 1860s. Dhibin became part of the sheikhdom of the Bani al-Atrash clan under the leadership of

Ismail al-Atrash Ismail al-Atrash () (died November 1869) was the preeminent Druze sheikh (chieftain) of Jabal Hauran, a mountainous region southeast of Damascus, in the mid-19th century. His family had moved to the area in the early 19th century. As relative newc ...

between 1860 and 1867. The inhabitants of Dhibin moved to annex and seasonally inhabit the village of

Umm el-Jimal Umm el-Jimal (, "Mother of Camels"), also rendered as Umm ej Jemāl, Umm al-Jimal or Umm idj-Djimal, is a village in northern Jordan approximately 17 kilometers east of Mafraq. It is primarily notable for the substantial ruins of a Byzantine and ea ...

(in modern-day

) in 1909.Brown 2009, p
383
/ref> Dhibin's families divided the ruins of its ancient houses among themselves in 1910. They lived there on and off until around 1930, when they permanently abandoned Umm al-Jimal. Dhibin was the birthplace of Salim Hatum, a Syrian Army officer and key participant in the Baathist-led

1966 Syrian coup d'état The 1966 Syrian coup d'état refers to events between 21 and 23 February during which the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was overthrown and replaced. The ruling National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party were removed from power ...

Archaeology

Funerary material from the Middle Bronze Age has been found at Dhibin. A mid-4th-century inscription on a ruined building recording the name of Roman emperor

Valentinian I Valentinian I (; 32117 November 375), also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. He ruled the Western Roman Empire, Western half of the empire, while his brother Valens ruled the Byzantine Empire, East. During his re ...

has been found in the village as well.Kennedy, 2004, p
76
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

Map of the town
Google Maps {{Al-Suwayda Governorate, salkhad 19th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate Druze communities in Syria Populated places in Salkhad District