Sahnaya (, also spelled Sihnaya or Sehnaya) is a town 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

Rif Dimashq Governorate Rif Dimashq Governorate (, Literal translation, lit. "Damascus Countryside Governorate" or "Damascus Suburb") is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the southwestern part of the country. ...

, located southwest of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in the western Ghouta. Nearby localities include Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Darayya, Muadamiyat al-Sham, Jdeidat Artouz, Khan Danun and Al-Kiswah. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Sahnaya had a population of 13,993 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. The town is also the administrative center of the Sahnaya ''

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 ...

'' consisting of two towns with a combined population of 44,512. Sahnaya is one of the few towns in the Ghouta with a majority

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

community, along with Jaramana, Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and Deir Ali.

History

Sahnaya's residents are predominantly

and

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 ...

. The cavern of St. Paul near the town was supposedly the hiding place of

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

when he was pursued in Damascus. In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

noted ''Sahnaya'' as being located in the ''Wady el-'Ajam'', and being populated with

and "Greek"

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 ...

. A former

Metropolitan of Argentina, Malatios Alsweti, comes from Sahnaya. The town is also known for its old olive trees, some of which are around 500 years old. Until the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Sahnaya was home to the main campus of the Little Village private school. The school relocated to some unconnected campuses in Damascus.

Geography

Sahnaya has a rural population and a hot climate. Most houses are simple; they are mostly made of cement because it is located in

, one of the oldest cities in the world.

Climate

In Sahnaya, there is a local steppe climate. Rainfall is higher in winter than in summer. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BSk. The average annual temperature in Sahnaya is . About of precipitation falls annually.

Population

Before the Syrian civil war, Sahanya was a Druzo-Christian town ( nearly 55% Druze 45% Greek Orthodox Christians) Recently, however, and due to the armed conflicts in Syria, other religious groups ( mainly Sunni Muslims) moved to live in Sahnaya. The town has an old church built from stone & named after Prophet Elijah and a

majlis (a Druze religious council for worshiping and meeting ).

References

Bibliography

* * Populated places in Darayya District Towns in Syria Druze communities in Syria {{RifDimashqSY-geo-stub