Bosra, Suweida and Shahba

by Anthony Horrobin - 17 September 2010

The Roman Empire later adopted Christianity and the region continued to flourish. During this period a large number of important churches and cathedrals were constructed. During the 7th century instability began to set in, when the Muslim Arab’s began to expand their empire northwards from the Arabian Peninsula and the area was caught in a crossfire between the Shi’a Fatimids from Cairo and the Sunni ‘Abbasids from Baghdad and then again later on between the Muslims and the Crusaders. The main city of the Hawran, Bosra was attacked twice by Crusaders, however both attempts were unsuccessful. The area is now largely populated by Druze. 

Bosra

Bosra is located 140km south of Damascus, the drive taking approximately 2 hours. The city of Bosra is the second most important Roman city in Syria, after Palmyra. The distinctive black basalt buildings make a striking contrast between the pale, sand-stone buildings of Palmyra.
One of the main draws for tourists coming to Bosra is the Roman Theatre which is generally regarded as one of the world’s best preserved Roman Theatres and it was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980. The Roman Theatre is surrounded by a 13th-century Ayyubid Fortification and this along with the black basalt make the theatre even more striking. Originally the Theatre had a capacity of 15,000; spread over 37 rows with room for a further 2000-3000 standing spectators. The capacity of the Bosra’s theatre puts it in the same category as Leptis Magna in Libya which accommodated 16,000 spectators. The excellent condition of the theatre can be accounted to the fact that the theatre was full of sand, blown in throughout the centuries and that it was converted into an Ayyubid Fortress and thus, was regularly maintained.
Every second September a large festival is held in Bosra which is certainly worth a visit, it last for 15 days and features dancing, music and drama.

Suweida

Suweida is located 128km south of Damascus and is the modern capital of the Hawran. The city today has a bustling centre with a population of more than 25,000. In modern times the city is famous only for being the home of the popular 1950’s singer Farid Al-Atrache. The Al-Atrache family are still a prominent and highly regarded family within the Syrian Druze community.
Due to Suweida’s continuous population many of the cities ancient ruins have been buried or reused so that only a very few Roman columns can be seen today.
Despite having a lack of ancient ruins to visit, the city does have an excellent museum, which displays a fine selection of Roman Shahba Mosaics and sculptures. The museum has three mosaics which special attention is often paid to. The Mosaic of Artemis taking her bath – dating from the 3rd century AD, Venus at her toilet – dating from the mid 3rd century AD and then a later mosaic dating from the 4th Century AD – depicting a banquet scene.

Shahba

Shahba is located just 87km south of Damascus. The town is heavily populated by the Lebanese Druze population and is dwarfed by Tell Shihan, the towns extinct volcano. The summit of the Tell Shihan has become a religious spot for the Druze where they come to make sacrifices and to stay a while in purpose built buildings.
Despite being a heavily populated town, a surprising number of Roman ruins remain throughout the city and these are very well signposted. The sheer scale of the Roman monuments give a good idea of how important this town once was and the town walls are still noticeable, showing the town covered a square of approximately 800m.
Many tourists come to Shahba today to visit the museum. The museum is fairly small but very well laid out and definitely worth a visit. The museum is home to probably Syria’s best example of mosaics from the late Roman period. The museum was actually constructed directly over the mosaics to preserve them.
The Roman baths are located directly opposite Shahba Museum and are built to a very high standard – actually a better standard than the Caracalla baths in Rome itself! Originally there would have been 6 rooms within the baths, each offering different heat levels and traces of the original under floor heating can still be seen today.

We offer a full day trip from Damascus to visit the cities, however an extra night in Damascus may be required. This is a flexible tour which can be adjusted to spend more time at sites of particular interest to yourself.