Qabrikha (), also spelled Abrika or Kabrika, is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Marjayoun District, in southern
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
.
Etymology
According to
E. H. Palmer, the name ''Abrika'' comes from a
personal name
A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...
.
History
In 1852
Edward Robinson noted: "On approaching the village, we came upon the ruins of dwellings, some of them of hewn stones; and I afterwards found among them a curved stone of an arch with a projecting shoulder, such as is seen in the remains of the theatre at
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
. The ruins we had come to examine are in the village itself. They consist of two rows of
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...
s of an ancient temple, extending from east to west. The columns are of a whitish
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
. Of the northern row there are four standing in place, two prostrate, and fragments of two others. Of the southern row, three are standing and two are lying. One of the upright columns has an
Ionic capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
with delicate tracery work below the
volute
A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...
s. Its height in all is about twelve feet. Many large hewn stones are built into the walls of hovels around and among the columns; but there are none that seem to be in place. That here was an ancient heathen temple there can be little doubt, but whether it was of Phoenician, Greek, or Roman origin, there exists no historic trace whatever to afford light or reward inquiry."
In 1875,
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (; 15 September 1821 – 21 September 1890) was a French people, French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included ...
found the village to have 150
Metuali inhabitants.
In 1881, the
PEF's
''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it: "A village, built of stone, containing about 150
Metawileh
Lebanese Shia Muslims (), communally and historically known as ''matāwila'' (, plural of ''mutawālin''; pronounced as ''metouéle'' in Lebanese Arabic), are Lebanese people who are adherents of Shia Islam in Lebanon, which plays a major role ...
, situated on a hill-top. It was evidently an early Christian village
. The country round is cultivated with figs, olives, and arable land; there is a rock-cut birkeh and several cisterns in the village. Traces of an ancient paved road are to be found to the north in the valley, that may have formerly led up to the village."
They further noted: "There are here the remains of an early Christian church. Two of the columns still stand ''
in situ
is a Latin phrase meaning 'in place' or 'on site', derived from ' ('in') and ' ( ablative of ''situs'', ). The term typically refers to the examination or occurrence of a process within its original context, without relocation. The term is use ...
'' in the village, and one bears its capital of
Corinthian design, resembling-those at
Yarun. Several pedestals are also ''in situ'', with the doubtful traces of an
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
. Under this there is a rock-cut tomb, with the entrance outside the east end of the church, and the local under where the altar would probably be placed. The
loculi are ordinary square-headed kokim; the tomb was too much filled with chopped straw to see how many there were. A large stone, used as a
lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...
in one of the houses, bears the representation of a vase; and there is also a stone
niche built into the wall of a modern house. There are several well-dressed stones of considerable size, and some rock-cutting showing foundations of ancient buildings."
On 23 June 1999 a woman in Qabrika was wounded by Israeli shellfire.
Hezbullah responded by firing rockets into
northern Israel, claiming that there had been 21 attacks on eleven
Lebanese villages in
southern Lebanon
Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa districts, the southernmost distr ...
over the previous five days. Israel responded with two devastating air raids on 24-25 June. Two power stations and a telephone company where destroyed as well as the
Al-Manar
Al-Manar () is a Lebanese satellite television station owned and operated by the Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah, radio station in
Baalbeck and five bridges between
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
and
Sidon
Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...
. A second Hizbullah salvo of
Katusha rockets killed two people in
Kiryat Shimona. It was estimated that the Israeli air strikes caused $52 million direct damage. Eight Lebanese were killed including three firemen, and seventy people were seriously wounded.
Demographics
In 2014
Muslims
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 ...
made up 99.43% of registered voters in Qabrikha. 98.42% of the voters were
Shiite Muslims.
[ https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/النبطية/مرجعيون/قبريخا/المذاهب/ ]
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
Qabrikha Localiban
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 2
IAAWikimedia commons{{Marjayoun District
Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000
Populated places in Marjayoun District
Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon