Shahba

Roman history

The oasis dounset nou namit, Shahba, haed been the native hamlet o Philip the Arab. Efter Philip became the emperor o Roum in 244 CE, he dedicatit hissel tae rebiggin the little commonty as a colonia. The contemporary commonty that wis replacit wi the new construction wis so insignificant that ane author states that the ceety can be considered tae hae been built on virgin soil, makkin it the last o the Roman ceeties foondit in the East.

The ceety wis renamit Philippopolis in dedication tae the emperor. The emperor is said tae hae wantit tae turn his native ceety intae a replica o Roum hersel. A hexagonal-style temple and an open-air place o wirship o local style, cried a kalybe, a triumphal airch, baths, a stairkly unornamentit theatre facit wi basalt blocks, a lairge structur that haes been interpretit as a basilica, an the Philippeion (illustration, richt) surroondit bi a great waw wi ceremonial gates, wur laid oot an built follaein the grid plan o a teepical Roman ceety.

The public structurs formit wha author Arthur Segal haes cried a kynd o "importit facade". The rest o the urban airchitectur wis modest an vernacular. The ceety wis neiver completit—biggin stoppit abruptly efter the daith o Philip in 249.

The new ceety follaeed the extremely regular Roman grid-plan, wi the main colonnaded cardus maximus intersectin a colonnaded decumanus maximus at richt angles near the centre, lesser streets marked aff insulae, mony o which niver wur built upon wi the hooses oreeginally planned.

Ottoman history, an efter

In 1596 Shahba appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Sahba an wis pairt o the nahiya o Bani Miglad in the Qada o Hauran. It haed an entirely Muslim population consistin o 8 hoosehaulds an 3 bachelors, who paid taxes on wheat, baurley, simmer crops, goats an/or beehives.

Acause it wis far frae population centres that wad hae required cut stane for biggin an micht hae quarriet it frae those desertit in Philippopolis, Shahba the day contains well-preservit ruins o the auncient Roman ceety.

A museum locatit in the ceety exhibits some bonnie examples o Roman mosaics. The especially rich iconografie o the figurative mosaic on the theme, The Glory of the Earth, discovered in 1952 in the so-cried "Maison Aoua", is conservit the day in the museum o Damascus an haes pruivit a rich resource for iconographers.

The relatively well-preservit Roman brig at Nimreh is locatit in the vicinity.

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