Dhibin
Dhibin
ذيبين Dhaybin, Thibin | |
---|---|
Village | |
Coordinates:32°26′13″N36°33′53″E/ 32.43694°N 36.56472°E | |
Grid position | 297/205 |
Country | ![]() |
Governorate | As-Suwayda |
District | Salkhad |
Subdistrict | Dhibin |
Population (2004) | |
• Total | 2,562 |
Dhibin(Arabic:ذيبين;also spelledDhaybinorThibin) is a village in southernSyria,administratively part of theSalkhad Districtof theal-Suwayda Governorate.It is located south ofal-Suwayda,near the southernborderwithJordan.Nearby localities includeBakkato the north,Salkhadto the northeast,Umm al-Rummanto the east,Samajto the west andSamadto the northwest. In the 2004 census it had a population of 2,562. It is the administrative center of the Dhibin Nahiyah, which consisted of three villages with a collective population of 6,900 in 2004.[1]
History
[edit]Dhibin was a mainly grain-growing village in the late 16th century, duringOttomanrule.[2]In the Ottomantax registersof 1596, it was a village located thenahiya(subdistrict) of Butayna, in theQadaa of Hauran.It had a population of twelve households and four bachelors, allMuslims.They paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 1,000akçe.[3]
By the early 19th century, the village had been abandoned like many of the other villages ofJabal Haurandue toBedouindepredations.[2]Druze migrants from other parts of Syria populated the villages of Jabal Hauran by the 1860s. Dhibin became part of the sheikhdom of theBani al-Atrashclan under the leadership ofIsmail al-Atrashbetween 1860 and 1867.[4]The inhabitants of Dhibin moved to annex and seasonally inhabit the village ofUmm el-Jimal(in modern-dayJordan) in 1909.[5]Dhibin's families divided the ruins of its ancient houses among themselves in 1910.[5]They lived there on and off until around 1930, when they permanently abandoned Umm al-Jimal.[5]Dhibin was the birthplace ofSalim Hatum,a Syrian Army officer and key participant in theBaathist-led1966 Syrian coup d'état.[6]
Archaeology
[edit]Funerary material from the Middle Bronze Age has been found at Dhibin.[7]A mid-4th-century inscription on a ruined building recording the name of Roman emperorValentinian Ihas been found in the village as well.[8]
References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Akkermans, P.;Schwartz, Glenn M. (2003).The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c. 16,000-300 BC).Cambridge University Press.
- Batatu, H.(1999).Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics.Princeton University Press.ISBN0691002541.
- Brown, Robin M. (2009)."The Druze Experience at Umm al-Jimal: Remarks on the History and Archaeology of the Early 20th Century Settlement"(PDF).Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan.X.Amman.
- Firro, Kais (1992).A History of the Druzes, Volume 1.BRILL.ISBN9789004094376.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (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.ISBN3-920405-41-2.
- Kennedy, D.(2004).The Roman Army in Jordan(PDF).The Council for British Research in the Levant.
External links
[edit]- Map of the town,Google Maps