Marjayoun or Jdeidet Marjayoun (:
Lebanese pronunciation ), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") which reflects the area's lush landscape and abundant water resources and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a municipality, in the
Marjeyoun District
The Marjayoun District is a district in the Nabatieh Governorate of 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 Arabia ...
,
Nabatieh Governorate
Nabatieh Governorate (, ') is one of the nine governorates of Lebanon. The area of this governorate is 1,058 km2. The capital is Nabatieh.
Districts
The governorate is divided into four districts (Aqdiya, singular qadaa) containing 130 mu ...
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 ...
.
History
Crusader period
On June 10, 1179, during the
Battle of Marj Ayyun
The Battle of Marj Ayyun was a military confrontation fought at Marj Ayyun near the Litani River (modern-day Lebanon) in June 1179 between the Kingdom of Jerusalem under Baldwin IV and the Ayyubid armies under the leadership of Saladin. It ende ...
, the
Ayyubid
The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...
s defeated the
Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...
. The Crusader king narrowly escaped capture.
Ottoman period
In 1596, 'Jadida' appears in the
daftar
A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...
of
Ottoman ''
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
Tibnin
Tibnin ( ''Tibnīn'', also Romanized ''Tibnîn'', ''Tebnine'' etc.) is a municipality spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre ...
in the ''
liwa'
A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian.
Banners were a common organization of nomad ...
'' (district) of
Safad
Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel.
Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...
, as a Muslim village of 28 households and 12 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
,
barley
Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
, olive trees, vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,606
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. 182]
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 ...
visited Marjayoun (which he called ''Djedeideh''), and found 2,000 inhabitants, mostly "
Schismatic Greek" (i.e.
Melkite
The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in West Asia. The term comes from the common Central Semitic root ''m-l-k'', meaning "royal", referrin ...
Uniats), but also some
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
and Muslims.
Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
's Cathedral, built in 1892, was restored in 1968 after a fire. It was also later restored in 2009.
20th–21st centuries
During the
Syria-Lebanon Campaign of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, British and Australian forces advancing from
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
entered the town on 11 June 1941, but were forced to withdraw on 15 June following a
Vichy French
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against G ...
counterattack. The
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
recaptured the town on 24 June in the
Battle of Merdjayoun.
Marjayoun was the headquarters of the
South Lebanon Army
The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; , ), also known as the Lahad Army () or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-dominated militia in Lebanon. It was founded by Lebanese military officer Saad H ...
, the militia that controlled southern Lebanon during Israel's occupation of the region after the
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...
until its withdrawal from the region in 2000. Following the pullout, many residents of Marjayoun fled to Israel, fearing accusations of collaboration.
On August 10, 2006, after the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations in the
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
, Israeli forces took control of Marjayoun. The next day, a convoy of 3,000 people fled from the town. The convoy was attacked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) northeast of
Hasbaya en route to
Kefraya
Kefraya ( / ALA-LC: ''Kifrayā'') is a village in the Western Beqaa District of the Beqaa Governorate in the Republic of Lebanon, approximately northwest of Joub Jannine. The village is home to a mixed population of Sunnis and Greek Catholics ...
, in the south of the
Bekaa valley. The bombing killed at least seven people, and is known as the
Marjayoun convoy incident.
Geography
Marjayoun is above sea level, standing on the west side of the
Jordan Rift Valley
The Jordan Rift Valley, also Jordan Valley ( ''Bīqʿāt haYardēn'', Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr), is an elongated endorheic basin located in modern-day Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, Palestine. This geographic region includes the entire length o ...
just across from the ancient regional capital,
Caesarea Philippi
Banias (; ; Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: , etc.; ), also spelled Banyas, is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan (mythology), Pan. It had been inhabited for 2,000 ...
, which was located at the foot of
Mount Hermon
Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...
on the east side of the Rift Valley.
Marjeyoun stands on a hill facing Mt Hermon to the east, the
Crusader castle of
Beaufort, set above the
Litani River
The Litani River (), the classical Leontes (), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding in length, the ...
and overlooking
Mount Amel (Jabal Amel), to the west, the
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round.
Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...
range with the Rihan and Niha peaks to the north, with the fertile Marjeyoun plains extending southward into the
Galilee
Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ).
''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...
plains and the
Golan Heights
The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...
.
Demographics
In 2014
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
made up 74.36% and
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 25.36% of registered voters in Marjayoun. 39.05% of the voters were
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
, 18.98% were
Greek Catholics Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to:
* The Catholic Church in Greece
* The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite:
** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church
** The Belarusian Gre ...
and 19.69% were
Sunni Muslims
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
.
The town of Marjayoun has a Christian majority population of about 5,000 people.
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
Christians compose the vast majority of the town's population, however, there are also
Maronite
Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...
and
Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to:
* The Catholic Church in Greece
* The Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...
Christians living in Marjayoun. Many Marjayouni Christian families trace their roots to the
Hauran
The Hauran (; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, to the northeast by the al-Safa field, to the east and south by the Harrat ...
region, in present day
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 ...
. Outside the town, most villages in the surrounding valleys and mountains are predominantly
Shia
Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...
Muslim.
The Melkite
Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
's Cathedral was built in 1892 and restored in 1968 after a fire and in 2009. Marjayoun is the seat of the
Melkite (Greek Catholic) Archeparchy of Baniyas, which includes the southeastern part of Lebanon.
Parliamentary representation
The
district of Marjayoun, which includes the town, is largely
Shia Muslim
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
. It holds three seats in the Lebanese government, two belonging to Shia Muslims and one belonging to
Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
Christians.
Hospital
Marjayoun is home to a regional government hospital founded in 1960, and a
Lebanese Red Cross
The Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) (, ''al-Ṣalīb al-aḥmar al-lubnānī'') is a humanitarian organization and an auxiliary team to the medical service of the Lebanese Army. Its headquarters is in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut. Founded in 194 ...
First Aid Center. This government hospital was closed due to
Israeli attacks to Lebanon in October 2024 and killed and injured number of hospital staff.
Marjayoun Airfield
An abandoned airfield is located south of Metula. Ruins of buildings and outline of the runways and taxiway are all that remains.
In a strategic triangle linking Lebanon with Israel and Syria are located the ruins of "Marjayoun Airport" or what is known as "Al-Marj Airport" or "English Airport". The green color of the Marjayoun Plain is only disturbed by forgotten walls from the days of World War II, their hard stones separating the fertile agricultural lands of the Marjayoun Plain. During the Second World War, the region of the Marjayoun Plain formed an arena of confrontation between the allies on one side and the German army on the other, so the allies had to fortify themselves, specifically in the Marjayoun Plain, which was a defensive area or a back line of confrontations if Egypt fell into the hands of the German army, or if the German Army managed to advance into Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
Notable people
*
Michael DeBakey
Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was an American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College of Medi ...
(1908–2008) – cardiac surgeon, whose parents are from Marjeyoun
*
Richard Rashid
Richard Farris Rashid is the founder of Microsoft Research, which he created in 1991. Between 1991 and 2013, as its chief research officer and director, he oversaw the worldwide operations for Microsoft Research which grew to encompass more than ...
— founder of
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
, father from Marjeyoun.
*
Brigitte Gabriel – journalist, author and lecturer
*
Walid Gholmieh – director of the ''
Le Conservatoire libanais national supérieur de musique''; born in Marjeyoun
*Major
Saad Haddad
Saad Haddad (; 1936 – 14 January 1984) was a Lebanese military officer and the founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) during the Lebanese Civil War. Originally a Major in the Lebanese Army, he defected and formed the SLA and creat ...
– founder and head of the
South Lebanon Army
The South Lebanon Army or South Lebanese Army (SLA; , ), also known as the Lahad Army () or as the De Facto Forces (DFF), was a Christianity in Lebanon, Christian-dominated militia in Lebanon. It was founded by Lebanese military officer Saad H ...
(SLA) during the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
The religious diversity of the ...
*
James Jabara – Lebanese-American U.S. Air Force Major, the first jet ace of the Korean war, flew missions in WW II and Vietnam; born in 1923 in
Muskogee, Oklahoma
Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...
, both his father, John Jabara, and mother being immigrants from Marjeyoun
*
Dr. Richard Jabara, born in Marjeyoun (1920–1967), philanthropist, founded several hospitals from Tripoli in Lebanon to Saudi Arabia
His contributions had a lasting impact on healthcare in the region.
*
George Jordac (1931–2014) – author and poet.
*
Alfred Naifeh, born 1915 in Covington, Tennessee, to a Lebanese immigrant family from Jdeidet Marjeyoun; U.S. naval destroyer
USS Naifeh is named after him
*
Issam Mahfouz (1939–2006) – writer, journalist
*
Anthony Shadid – journalist
*
Michael Shadid – physician, born in Marjeyoun
*
Hicham Haddad – comedian, actor and TV host
Climate
See also
*
Antiochian Greek Christians
Antiochian Greek Christians (also known as Rūm) are an ethnoreligious Eastern Christian group native to the Levant. The majority of its members identify as Arab, and some of the members reject the Arab label, and identify as Greek. They are eit ...
*
Arab Christians
Arab Christians () are the Arabs who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East was estimated in 2012 to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, bu ...
*
Christianity in Lebanon
Christianity has a long and continuous history in Lebanon. Biblical scriptures show that Saint Peter, Peter and Paul the Apostle, Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, leading to the dawn of the ancient Patriarch of Antioch, Patriarchate of Antioc ...
*
Greek genocide
The Greek genocide (), which included the Pontic genocide, was the systematic killing of the Christian Ottoman Greek population of Anatolia, which was carried out mainly during World War I and its aftermath (1914–1922) – including the T ...
*
Greek Orthodox (Roum Orthodox) Christians in Lebanon
*
History of Arab Christians
*
History of Eastern Christianity
*
*
Lebanese Americans
Lebanese Americans () are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon and Latin America.
Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the American populatio ...
*
Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians
The persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians is the religious persecution which has been faced by the clergy and the adherents of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Eastern Orthodox Christians have been persecuted during various periods in the his ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Marjaayoun Localiban
Marjeyoun Heritage Preservation Program (MHPP)marjeyoun.net - unofficial websiteInformation about Marjayoun, Lebanonat marjayoun.com
Khiam official website"Jdeideh Marjeyoun Now & Then" video(MHPP)
Marjayoun on Google Map
Photo galleries
Baladiyat Marjeyoun photo gallery(MHPP) Marjeyoun Photo and video gallery
Videos
(MHPP) Jdeidet Marjeyoun 1,000 Year History (English Version)Tour of Jdeidet Marjeyoun, Lebanon(MHPP) Road Trip To Jdeidet MarjeyounEaster 2014 in Jdeidet Marjeyoun(MHPP) Jdeida Lives Now and Then
{{Marjeyoun District
Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000
Israeli–Lebanese conflict
Populated places in Marjayoun District
Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Lebanon
Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon
Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon