As-Suwayda-Sana
The ancient city of As-Suwayda witnessed many stages of development since the Bronze Ages during the third and second millennium BC until the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras.
The researcher in the region’s archeology Hassan Hatoum indicated in a statement to SANA reporter that the city of Suwayda knew civilization since the third millennium BC and was inhabited by the ancient Arabs, especially the Canaanites and the Aramaic, and it was part of the Aramaic kingdom of Damascus as it was part of the kingdom of “Bashan” and then inhabited by the Nabatean Arabs until It fell under the rule of the Roman Empire, “a state together” starting from the first century BC, as it flourished and developed during the Roman and Byzantine periods, and various civil and religious buildings spread in it.
Hatoum shows that the first upper city or the so-called “Acropolis” is located on the northern side of the present city in the form of a high plateau or hill equipped with stone walls, a citadel with thick walls, and the remains of the ruler’s palace, which probably dates back to the bronze and iron ages from the third millennium to the third millennium AD. The first is BC, where this city was fed by water from the nearby pond called “Syrian”, which is 75 meters in diameter and about 15 meters deep. It was filled in in the seventies of the last century.
The researcher in the area’s archeology pointed out that on the eastern side of the city, there is a neighborhood dating back to the end of the pre-Roman Hellenistic era, and it includes a pagan temple from the Nabatean era in the first century BC and the first century AD, in addition to a huge open water pool called the “Hajj Pool”, while there is in The southern side is a neighborhood dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods, built perpendicularly, and includes a large theater, of which very few architectural elements have survived.
On the southeast and southwest sides, the basilica or the great church is located, which is considered a beautiful architectural model. It was a huge building oriented towards the east, in addition to the small theater building “The Odeon”, which was dedicated to meetings of city notables and private concerts, as well as the remains of a large commercial market and roads Paved to the north and other buildings “cathedral”, a small church, the Temple of the Water Nymphs, bathrooms, wells, water tanks, channels, walls, and others.
He also pointed out that the diversity in architecture in the houses in the old city of As-Suwayda proves that this city was inhabited by people from different nations and in many places.
It is worth noting that the city of As-Suwayda was known during ancient times as “Sawada” due to its volcanic nature and black basalt stones.
Suhail Hatoum