Rayʿān | |
Native Name: | Arabic: رَيْعَان |
Native Name Lang: | ar |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Pushpin Map: | Yemen#Middle East#West Asia |
Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
Pushpin Mapsize: | 300 |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Yemen |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Yemen |
Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
Subdivision Name1: | Sanaa |
Subdivision Type2: | District |
Subdivision Name2: | Hamdan |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
Timezone: | Yemen Standard Time |
Utc Offset: | +3 |
Coordinates: | 15.3662°N 44.0855°W[1] |
Elevation M: | 2,543 |
Rayʽan (ar|رَيْعَان) is a village in Hamdan District of Sanaa Governorate, Yemen.[1] [2] It is located a short distance from the head of the Wadi Dahr near Bayt Naʽam, so that all the water coming down to the wadi from Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb passes through a steep, narrow valley, just north of Rayʽan.[1]
There was once a dam in the valley north of Rayʽan, until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 245 A.H. (859 C.E.). The dam's exact purpose is unclear, but Robert T.O. Wilson suggested that it "may have helped to control floodwaters which would otherwise pass unchecked into Wadi Dahr." Such a flood happened in 1974. From the Rasulid period onward, Rayʽan was frequently used as a military encampment.[2]