Nawa, Syria Explained

Official Name:Nawa
Native Name:نوى
Settlement Type:City
Pushpin Map:Syria
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Syria
Coordinates:32.8889°N 36.0431°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Daraa
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:'Izra
Subdivision Type3:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name3:Nawa
Unit Pref:Metric
Elevation M:563
Population Total:59,170
Population As Of:2007

Nawa (Arabic: نَوَىٰ|Nawā) is a city in Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate. It has an altitude of 568m (1,864feet). In 2007 it had a population of 59,170, making it the 28th largest city per geographical entity in Syria.

During classical antiquity, it was known as Neve - a name encountereded by the Bordeaux Pilgrim in 333-334 and still mentioned by Abulfeda (1273–1331) in Mamluk times - or Naveh, and was part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea.[1] [2] [3] [4] In the Byzantine period it was a Jewish city.[4]

History

Roman and Byzantine periods

See also: Palaestina Secunda.

During the Roman and Byzantine periods, Nawa had a large Jewish population.[1] [2] [3] [4] The city is mentioned in ancient Jewish sources, such as the 3rd century Mosaic of Rehob and the Midrash Rabba; it is also referred to by George of Cyprus ("Descriptio orbis romani", ed. Heinrich Gelzer, 54) in the 7th century.[5]

Numerous basalt architectural elements from the Byzantine period, bearing Jewish symbols—most prominently the menorah—were discovered reused as spolia within Nawa (A. Reifenberg, 'Ancient Hebrew Arts', 1952).

Early Islamic period

Under the Islamic caliphates of the Rashidun, Umayyads, and Abbasids, it was a part of Jund Dimashq and the principal city of Hauran. Al-Mas'udi wrote in 943 that a mosque dedicated to Job was located 5km (03miles) from Nawa.[6]

Ayyubid period

By the 13th century, its status declined; Yaqut al-Hamawi recorded in 1225 that Nawa was "a small town of the Hauran," formerly the capital of the region. He describe it as the city where Job dwelled in and the burial place of Shem, the son of Noah.[7] In 1233, Imam Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, a prominent Muslim scholar, was born in the city.[8]

Ottoman period

In 1596 Nawa appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Nawi and was part of the nahiya of Jaydur in the Hauran Sanjak. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 102 households and 43 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 26,000 akçe.[9]

Syrian civil war

In July 2018, the citizens of Nawa were subject to heavy Syrian government and Russian military bombardment, in an effort to rid the city from its anti-government forces.[10]

Geography

Climate

Al-Shirqat has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSk). Most rain falls in the winter. About 308mm of precipitation falls annually.

Ecclesiastical history

The bishopric of Neve (Nawa) was a suffragan of Bostra, the metropolitan see of Arabia Petraea. Two of its bishops are known:

Isaac, mentioned by Le Quien as a third bishop, of about 540 (Oriens christiana, II, 864), was a bishop not of Neve but of Nineve, and lived at the end of the seventh century ("Échos d'Orient", IV, 11).[5]

The Diocese of Neve is noticed in the Notitia episcopatuum of the patriarchate of Antioch in the 6th century ("Échos d'Orient", X, 145).[5]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. [Midrash Rabba]
  2. Goodman, Martin (2002), Jews in a Graeco-Roman World, Clarendon Press: Oxford, p. 70 .
  3. Hüttenmeister and Reeg (1977), Die antiken Synagogen in Israel ('The Ancient Synagogues in Israel', in German), vol. 1, Wiesbaden, pp. 336–339 .
  4. Book: Schumacher . G. . Gottlieb Schumacher . Oliphant . L. . Laurence Oliphant (author) . Le Strange . G. . Guy Le Strange . Across the Jordan; being an exploration and survey of part of Hauran and Jaulan . New York . Scribner and Welford . Nawa . 167-180 (see 172-174) . 1886 . 3 June 2024.
  5. Encyclopedia: Siméon . Vailhé . Neve . 10 . . New York . 1911 .
  6. Le Strange, 1890, p.515
  7. le Strange, 1890, p.516
  8. http://www.bysiness.co.uk/ulemah/bionawawi.htm Yahya ibn Sharaf
  9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 207
  10. News: Syrian city Nawa bombarded in deadly campaign after reconciliation talks fail . Associated Press . 18 July 2018 . 18 July 2018 .