29 January 2017
The Dead Cities of Syria: Ancient Abandoned Cities Now Repopulated by Refugees
The Church of Saint Simeon Stylites is perhaps the most famous of the buildings in the area. It is the oldest Byzantine church in the world and dates back to around 475 CE. It commemorates Saint Simeon who sat atop a high pillar to preach to those who came from far and near to hear him. This vast martyrium has almost as much floor space as the Haga Sophia in Istanbul (which was, of course, then called Constantinople). The church has received extensive damage since the civil war began – and graffiti, shell damage and bullet holes are all evident.
Saint Simeon's pillar is still in place, transported to the church after his death. Yet over the many centuries, pilgrims have chipped away at it for souvenirs until the pillar now is little more than a boulder.
Between the cities of Aleppo and Hama there is a limestone massif and it is here these ancient settlements were built by their once prosperous peoples. The area is about thirty kilometers in width yet is several times longer – extending to almost 140 kilometers in length. It isn’t hard, considering this thin, long concentration of settlements to divine the reason for their presence – trade.
The names of the cities are numerous: Jaradeh, Jabal Al Zawiya, Telanissos, Bara, Surkania, Dar Qita, Ruweiha, Surkania. All are silent witness to a civilization now vanished in to the footnotes of history. Their importance was, before the war, somewhat blithely underestimated by modern locals who still picked around them, occasionally planting small olive groves among the ruins.Youths would sometimes climb them as a dare - did you notice the two figures in the photograph above? Now, however, the ruins of this long forgotten civilization are all that protect many from the often ferocious shelling this area experiences.
Trade brought in gold and silver, which was used to fund the building of this exquisite Christian Byzantine architecture. The ethnic makeup of the citizens of these cities would have been diverse, as is so often the case on a trade route. Yet the practiced religion of the cities’ populations seems to have been overwhelmingly Christian. A great many of the surviving buildings are churches.
Others argue that these were, indeed, cities rather than a string of peasant collectives. The main produce of the area was olive oil and the international demand for this valuable commodity would have ensured infrastructure comparable to other towns and cities towards the end of the era of antiquity.
Bara, on the other hand, seems to have been a military base. Perhaps for this reason it survived longer than the other cities. It was conquered by crusaders in 1098 and taken back by Muslim forces thirty years later. It was a severe earthquake later in the twelfth century which forced its eventual abandonment. Bara’s retention of population is unusual in the area.
One thing is for sure: the inhabitants of most of these lost cities packed up and left slowly but surely in the sixth and seventh centuries. The area had been conquered by the Arabs and this meant that trade routes shifted. Warfare did not do for these incredible settlements but economics. The population declined and dwindled to the point that they were eventually deserted. As much as the first inhabitants of these dead cities left gradually, their new citizens are arriving daily and with great haste.
It is almost comforting to reflect that the denizens of these places, the original names of which are long forgotten were not put to the sword. Rather they headed towards more prosperous cities along newer trade routes, there to settle hopefully in peace. What chance for those who now make their homes in these ruins?
As the Arab Spring began in early 2011 the dead cities of Syria became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Perhaps when civil stability returns the local people around the dead cities will resume giving those willing to go off the beaten track a warm welcome. Yet it remains to be seen whether, in fact, the dead cities - like so many of the people of Syria - survive this latest threat to their existence.
Please note: all pictures of refugees shown here were taken in the dead city of Jabal Al Zawiya by Michal Przedlacki. Please visit his photostream on Flickr.
First Image Credit Illustir
