Masharah
Masharah (Arabic: مسحرة), also spelt Mashara, is a village in southwestern Syria, administratively part of the Quneitra Governorate.[1]
History
[edit]Masharah is situated in the historical region of Gaulanitis.[2] Archaeological findings in the modern town include architectural fragments, sculptured reliefs, altars, and column heads, possibly originating in the area's ancient Ituraean population.[3] Among the remains is a basalt lintel decorated with a high relief of two gods and a goddess, along with other decorations.[3][4] Additionally, multiple inscriptions were found in the town, mostly made of basalt, featuring Greek inscriptions, and dating from the 2nd to the 7th century.[2]
Transhumance shaped settlement in the Golan for centuries because of its harsh winters. The winters "forced tribespeople until the 19th century to live in hundreds of rudimentary 'winter villages' in their tribal territory. Starting in the second part of the 19th century, settlement in villages like Ghadir al-Bustan became "fixed and formed the nucleus of fully sedentary life in the 20th century Golan."[5] According to the mayor, the first houses in the village were constructed in the 1920s, with a population of around 50 people.[1] By 2010, the population had reportedly grown to approximately 3,200.[1]
Sources
[edit]- ^ a b c ""مسحرة"... صلة الوصل بين "درعا" و"القنيطرة"". www.esyria.sy (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-12-31.
- ^ a b Julien Aliquot. Histoire et épigraphie de la Gaulanitide : le cas de Mashara (Syrie). Al-Bassel Centre for archaeological research and training, The Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, Ministry of Culture. The history and antiquities of Al-Golan. The international colloquium 2007-2008, Al-Bassel Centre for archaeological research and training, The Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, Ministry of Culture, p. 129
- ^ a b Barkay, G.; Ilan, Z.; Kloner, A.; Mazar, A.; Urman, D. (1974). "Archaeological Survey in the Northern Bashan (Preliminary Report)". Israel Exploration Journal. 24 (3/4): 182–183. ISSN 0021-2059.
- ^ Ben-Dov, M. (1974). "A Lintel from the Bashan Depicting Three Deities". Israel Exploration Journal. 24 (3/4): 185–186. ISSN 0021-2059.
- ^ Roy Marom, “Sukayk and al-Summāqah: Mamluk Rural Geography in the Northern Jawlān/Golan Heights in the Light of Qāytbāy’s Endowment Deeds,” in Kate Raphael and Mustafa Abbasi (ed.s), The Golan in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods: an Archaeological and Historical Study: Excavations at Naʿarān and Farj, In Honour of Moshe Hartal, Yigal Ben Ephraim and Shuqri ‘Arraf, Annual of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion Volume xiv (2024): 69-70.
