View source for Harran, as-Suwayda

{{Infobox settlement
| official_name          = Harran
| native_name            = حران<!-- for cities whose native name is not in English -->
| other_name             =
| settlement_type        = Village
| image_skyline          =
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| pushpin_map            = Syria <!-- the name of a location map as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Location_map -->
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| pushpin_mapsize        = 250
| pushpin_map_caption    = Location in Syria
| coordinates            = {{coord|32|53|12|N|36|23|1|E|region:SY|display=inline,title}}
| grid_position          = 279/255
| subdivision_type       = Country
| subdivision_name       = {{Flag|Syria}}
| subdivision_type1      = [[Governorates of Syria|Governorate]]
| subdivision_name1      = [[As-Suwayda Governorate|as-Suwayda]]
| subdivision_type2      = [[Districts of Syria|District]]
| subdivision_name2      = [[Shahba District|Shahba]]
| subdivision_type3      = [[Nahiyah|Subdistrict]]
| subdivision_name3      = Ariqah
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| established_title      = <!-- Settled -->
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| unit_pref              = Metric <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired-->
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| population_footnotes   = <ref name="CBS"/>
| population_total       = 1,523
| population_as_of       = 2004
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| timezone               = [[Eastern European Time|EET]]
| utc_offset             = +2
| timezone_DST           = [[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
| utc_offset_DST         = +3
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}}
'''Harran''' ({{langx|ar|حران}}) is a village in the [[as-Suwayda Governorate]] in southwestern [[Syria]]. It is situated in the southern [[Lajat|Lajah]] plateau, northwest of the city of [[as-Suwayda]]. Harran had a population of 1,523 in the 2004 census.<ref name="CBS">[https://web.archive.org/web/20191215070731/http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB13-11-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004]. [[Central Bureau of Statistics (Syria)|Syria Central Bureau of Statistics]] (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. {{in lang|ar}}</ref>
During the early [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] era, Harran's Arabic-speaking inhabitants were pagans, but by the late 6th century, the population had become [[Christians|Christian]]. A bilingual [[Greek language|Greek]] and Arabic inscription known as the [[Harran inscription]] found in the village is among the earliest known appearances of written Arabic in Syria. In the early [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] era (16th century), Harran was a grain-producing Muslim hamlet. It was later abandoned, and then in the mid-19th century it was settled by [[Druze]], who still inhabit the village.
==History==
===Byzantine era===
Harran was inhabited during the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] era in Syria, as attested by an inscription found in the village dedicated to the goddess Athena dating from 212 to 375 CE.<ref name="Trombley369">Trombley, 1995, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NRfVBVZhXa0C&pg=PA369 369]</ref> A public hostel was built by four of the village's administrators in 397/98.<ref name="Trombley369"/> It is unlikely that a majority of the Arabic-speaking inhabitants of Harran were Christians at that time.<ref name="Trombley369"/>
By the late 6th century, Harran's inhabitants were Christians and the village was part of the [[Ghassanids|Ghassanid]] tribal kingdom, a vassal of the Byzantines. A bilingual Arabic and Greek inscription was found in Harran dating from 568/69 CE.<ref name="Fowden163">Fowden, 1999, pp.[https://books.google.com/books?id=UC5v4mgERxwC&pg=PA163 163]–164</ref> The inscription describes a [[martyrium (architecture)|martyrium]] built by an [[Arab]] [[phylarch]] (equivalent to sheikh, chieftain) named Sharahil ibn Zalim.<ref name="Fowden163"/> Sharahil may have been associated with the Ghassanids, since his name is not found in records mentioning the tribe.<ref name="Fowden163"/>
The inscription of Harran, along with two other Arabic inscriptions including the [[Zabad inscription]] found near [[Aleppo]] and the [[Jebel Usays inscription|inscription at Jabal Usays]] mountain east of Damascus depict the earliest known appearance of Arabic in [[Syria (region)|Syria]].<ref name="Robin307">Robin, 2012, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hOgBBx-ljrMC&pg=PA307 307]</ref> The development of written Arabic in Syria at this time was likely to facilitate the spread of Christianity among Arab tribesmen living in the region's desert fringes.<ref name="Robin307"/> The [[Harran inscription]] read: <blockquote>I, Sharahil, son of Zalim, have built this martyrium in the year 463 (568 CE).<ref name="Fowden163"/></blockquote>
===Ottoman era===
In 1596 Harran appeared in the [[Ottoman Syria|Ottoman]] [[Defter|tax registers]] as part of the ''[[nahiya]]'' (subdistrict) of Bani Abdullah in the [[Hauran Sanjak]]. It had an entirely [[Muslim]] population consisting of four households. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; the taxes totaled 3,350 [[akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 216</ref>
In 1838, Harran was noted as a ruin, situated "in the [[Lejah]] itself".<ref>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/156/mode/1up 156]</ref>
Harran was among five villages in the heart of the [[Lajat|Lajah]] plateau that was settled by Druze by 1862; the villages were settled sometime between the early 19th century and 1862.<ref>Firro, 1992,  p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA175 175]</ref>
==See also==
* [[Druze in Syria]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|first=Kais|last=Firro|title=A History of the Druzes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC |volume=1|publisher=BRILL|year=1992|isbn=9004094377}}
*{{cite book|last=Fowden|first=Elizabeth Key|title=The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran|date=1999|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520922204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UC5v4mgERxwC&pg=PA163}}
*{{cite book
| last1 = Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth
| last2 = Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah
| title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ
| year = 1977
| publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft
|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Robin|first=Christian Julien|title=The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOgBBx-ljrMC&pg=PA307|chapter=Arabia and Ethiopia|isbn=978-0-19-999633-9 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|  location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=3}}
*{{cite book|last=Trombley|first=Frank R.|title=Hellenic Religion and Christianization: C. 370–529|date=1995|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004096914 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRfVBVZhXa0C&pg=PA369}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
*[https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8874609,36.3758396,3013m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en Map of the town], Google Maps
*[http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-vn745520-s20m Ezra-map, 20m]
{{Al-Suwayda Governorate|shahba}}
[[Category:19th-century establishments in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate]]
[[Category:Druze communities in Syria]]
[[Category:Populated places in Shahba District]]