Bosra

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Bosra

Bosra (also Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra, Busra Eski Sam, Busra ash-Sham, Nova Trajana Bostra) is an ancient city administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
. It is a major archaeological site and has been declared a UNESCO

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
.

settlement was first mentioned in the documents of Tutmose III and Akhenaton (14th century BC).

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Syria

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945....
World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

History

The settlement was first mentioned in the documents of Tutmose III and Akhenaton (14th century BC). Bosra was the first Nabatean city in the 2nd century BC. The Nabatean Kingdom was conquered by Cornelius Palma, a general of Trajan

Trajan

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperors who reigned from 98 until his death in 117. Born Marcus Ulpius Traianus into a nonpatrician family in the Hispania Baetica province , Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian, serving as a general in the Roman army along the Limes G...
, in 106

106

Events...
.

Under the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, Bosra was renamed Nova Trajana Bostra, and was the residence of the legio III Cyrenaica

Legio III Cyrenaica

Legio tertia Cyrenaica , a Roman province), was a Roman legion probably levied by Mark Antony around 36 BC, when he was governor of Cyrenaica....
and capital of the Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
Arabia Petraea
Arabia Petraea

For the Achaemenid satrapy of Arabia, see Arabia Arabia Petraea, also called Provincia Arabia or simply Arabia, was a frontier Roman province of the Roman Empire beginning in the second century; it consisted of the former Nabataean kingdom in modern Jordan, southern modern Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saud...
. The city flourished and became a major metropolis

Metropolis

A metropolis , also referred to as a metropolitan, is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its Agglomeration....
at the juncture of several trade route

Trade route

A trade route is a Logistics identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing Good s to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance Arterial road which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial and non commercial transportation....
s, including the Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire, by enabling the Romans to move Military history of ancient Rome and Roman commerce goods and to communicate news....
to the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a salt water inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden....
. The two Councils of Arabia

Councils of Arabia

The Councils of Arabia were two councils of the early Christian Church held in Bostra, in Arabia; one in 246 and the other in 247. Both were held against Beryllus, the bishop of the local Episcopal See, and his followers, who believed that the soul perished upon the death of the body, but that it would one day resurrection of the dead with t...
were held at Bostra in 246 and 247 AD. The city continued under the Byzantine Empire, was conquered by the Sassanid Persians in the early 7th century, and finally conquered by the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate

Rashidun army

The Rashidun Caliphate Army or Rashidun army was the primary military body of the Rashidun Empire's armed forces during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, serving alongside the Rashidun Navy....
under Khalid ibn Walid in the Battle of Bosra

Battle of Bosra

Battle of Bosra was fought to capture Bosra, which was the first important town to be captured by the Rashidun Caliphate army in Syria, as it was capital city of the Ghassanids kingdom, which was under the rule of the Byzantine Empire....
in 634

634

Events...
.

Bosra played an important part in the early life of the Prophet of Islam

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
, Mohammed as described in the entry for the Christian Monk, Bahira

Bahira

According to Islamic tradition, Bahira was a Nestorian Assyrians Christian monk who foretold to the adolescent Muhammad his future prophetic career....

Today, Bosra is a major archaeological site, containing ruins from Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
, and Muslim

Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
times. The city features what is thought to be the best-preserved Roman theater in the world. Every year there is a national music festival hosted in the theater.

Bosra today

Of the city which once counted 80,000 inhabitants, there remains today only a village of striking beauty settled among the ruins. The second century Roman theater, constructed probably under Trajan, is the only monument of this type with its upper gallery in the form of a covered portico which has been integrally preserved.

This unique monument, enclosed by the walls and towers of a splendid citadel, fortified between 481 and 1231 A.D, alone would suffice for the glory of Bosra. However, Nabatean and Roman monuments, Christian churches, mosques and Madrasahs all equally as celebrated, are to be found within the half ruined enceinte of the city. The structure of this monument a central plan with eastern apses flanked by 2 sacristies exerted a decisive influence on the evolution of Christian architectural forms, and to a certain extent on Islamic Forms as well. Al-Omari Mosque

Al-Omari Mosque (Bosra)

The Al-Omari Mosque is an early Islamic-era mosque in the Roman city of Bosra, Syria. The mosque is one of the oldest surviving mosques in Islamic history....
of Bosra is one of the oldest surviving mosques in Islamic history.

Close by are the Kharaba Bridge

Kharaba Bridge

The Kharaba Bridge is a Roman bridge in the fertile Hauran region, Syria, close to the Antiquity city of Bostra.The bridge crosses the Wadi Zeidi, a tributary of the Yarmouk River, 3.5 km northwest of Bostra....
and the Gemarrin Bridge

Gemarrin Bridge

The Bridge of Gemarrin is a Roman bridge in the vicinity of the antiquity city of Bostra , Syria. The bridge, which belonged to the Roman road to Soada Dionysias , crossed the Wadi Zeidi some kilometers north of Bostra....
, both Roman bridges.

Notable people from Bosra

Titus of Bostra
Titus of Bostra

Titus of Bostra was a Catholic theologian and bishop. Sozomen names Titus among the great men of the time of Constantius II....
, fl. 4th century AD, Christian theologian
Saint Antipater of Bostra
Antipater of Bostra

Antipater of Bostra was a Greek people prelate and one of the foremost critics of Origen. He lived in the 5th century A.D.External links...
, fl. 5th century AD, Christian bishop
Bahira
Bahira

According to Islamic tradition, Bahira was a Nestorian Assyrians Christian monk who foretold to the adolescent Muhammad his future prophetic career....
, ca. 600 AD, Assyrian
Assyrian people

The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people are an ethnic group whose origins lie in the Fertile Crescent, their Assyrian/Syriac homeland today being divided between Northern Iraq, Syria, Western Iran, and Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia....
monk
Ibn Kathir
Ibn Kathir

Ismail ibn Kathir was an Islamic scholar and renowned commentator on the Qur'an....
(1301-1373), Islamic scholar

Ancient Roman theater

Other ruins

External links

- 360 degree interactive imaging