Slaim, Syria
History
Inhabited in the Roman period, its ancient name was Selaema in Latin. In 1596 it appeared as Salam in the Ottoman tax registers, part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya of the Hauran Sanjak. It had a population of 17 Muslim households. Among the inhabitants were a group of settled Bedouin. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 20% on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 4,800 akçe.
Slaim was resettled by Druze in the 18th century. It was often used, according to explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, by the local inhabitants to evade conscription or taxation by the Ottoman authorities. The Druze Banu Abu Assaf family historically inhabited and dominated the village.
In 1838 Eli Smith noted Slaim as being located in Jebel Hauran, and inhabited by Druze and Christians.
Archaeology
Slaim contains the ruins of a 2nd-century Roman temple. It was first surveyed in 1819 W. J. Bankes, then again in the early 20th century by Howard Crosby Butler and finally between 1980 and 1988 K. S. Freyberger. The temple has "a unique plan and its architectural decoration is quite rich", according to historian Ted Kaizer. It consists of a pronaos, a naos and an adyton. The building has a rectangular layout and was built on 2.4 meter high pavilion.
References
- ^ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 218.
- ^ Firro 1992, p. 212
- ^ Batatu 1999, p. 357
- ^ Smith, in Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 157
- ^ Kaizer 2008, p. 99
- ^ Kaizer 2008, pp. 99–100.
- ^ Kaizer 2008, p. 100
Bibliography
- Batatu, H. (1999). Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691002541.
- Firro, Kais (1992). A History of the Druzes, Volume 1. BRILL. ISBN 9789004094376.
- Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Kaizer, Ted (2008). The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East In the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. BRILL. ISBN 9789004167353.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
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