جولة ۱۱ : حماه - سلمية ٢_a .. كتاب في ربوع سورية

Before and after it - he can see facing it to the north, Jabal Al-Khader, towering to a height of about

580 metres.

Salamiyah is an ancient city in its history, ancient in its existence. History has not yet been able to reveal the name of its first builder, nor the peoples who settled in it and lived in it. In addition, no official archaeological excavations have been conducted in it to show the antiquity of its ancient past, to be added to its known antiquity in the Roman and Byzantine eras and their post-Islamic era. Salamiyah was mentioned in ancient history as being inhabited during the Sumerian era (3000-3400 BC), and during the era of the Amorites, as there are many Amorite villages in its vicinity, as in the village that was found east of Jabal Al-Khidr. In the site of Sheikh Ali, east of Salamiyah, there is an archaeological hill that is not similar to other archaeological hills in the Salamiyah area, being hollow, similar to the hill of al-Mushrifah (Qatna), which was one of the main centers of residence. It was succeeded by multiple eras, which lived the height of its prosperity in the Greco-Seleucid era and the Roman and Byzantine eras, and this is indicated by the effects of those eras that remain until now. Desolation and destruction befell it at the end of the Byzantine era as a result of the Persian invasion, and it remained so until it was reconstructed in 136 AH, to develop greatly. The second and third centuries AH, from which the Qarmati movement began, and from which the Fatimid state emerged, and in which the book Ikhwan al-Safa and Khallan al-Wafa was written. At the end of the third century AH, it was devastated at the hands of the Qarmatians. Its decline and ruin was increased by Tamerlane’s invasion of it in the year 803 AH while he was heading to Damascus, to remain deserted and empty until the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was rebuilt and modernized in the year 18481847 AD by a group of Ismaili families who came to it from the coastal mountains (Masyaf al-Qadmus, Khawabi, Akkar, with permission). From the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Majid and was named after Majid Abad, to become in the year 1900 a district center and to be known by its old name in

peaceful. Their first residence was in its old castle, to expand outside it since the beginning of the twentieth century, and the castle was demolished in 1926 AD, and its place is now replaced by the Government House. cotton. Since the beginning of the seventies, the city has been developing steadily until today it has become five times as peaceful as it was thirty years ago. It is spread over an area of ​​approximately 13 km2, with a diameter of about 4 km. It currently consists of several neighborhoods, the Western Neighborhood, the Eastern Neighborhood, the Northern Neighborhood, the Southern Neighborhood, Dahr Al Mughar, Al Muntar, Tal Al Ghazala Neighborhood, East and South Neighborhoods, Maamal Al Basal). It is bisected by five main streets (Hama Street, Homs Street, Ikhwan Al-Safa Street, Al-Thawra Street, and Saan Al-Jundi Street).

The city of Salamiyah is full of ancient monuments, the most important of which are: Salamiyah Castle, which used to stand in place of the Government House, and part of its old walls still exist to the north of the Government House as part of its wall. The construction of the castle dates back to the Seleucid era, although it witnessed restoration and renewal after that era. And the old city wall, which was about 3800 meters long, with four gates in it (the northern, the southern, the western, and the Palmyra gate), and the wall does not exist now. And the shrine of Imam Ismail, whose first building dates back to the era of Greece, where it represented the temple of the god Zeus, to be transformed by the Romans into a temple of the god, Jupiter, and to become a Christian cathedral during the Byzantine era and to be converted into a mosque during the presence of the first Ismailis at the end of the second century AH and the third century, and when the Ismaili imam died Radhi al-Din Abdullah bin Ahmed al-Wafi bin Muhammad al-Maktoum bin Ismail was buried in it and his shrine is still standing there, known as Imam Ismail. Therefore, the whole building was known as the shrine of Imam Ismail, which is located in the center of the city to the north of the city.

The old archaeological bath is about 0.200 m. Among other monuments, we mention the archaeological bath with Roman bases and entrances and beautiful Arab-Islamic domes, which is located in the city center near the Government House.

Among the historical monuments and monuments that surround the city of Salamiyah, we mention; Shmemis Castle and the shrine of Al-Khader (Al-Khader Mosque), which is located on Jabal Al-Khader, located about 3 km northwest of Salamiyah, next to dozens of Roman water canals around the city. There are many archaeological hills that appear lofty around the city of Salamiyah, as in the aforementioned Tell Sheikh Ali and the large archaeological Tell Ghazala located directly south of the city and currently surrounded by urbanization, and near it a sulfur water well whose waters can be used for recreation and hospitalization, Tell Arbeed south of Salamiyah, and Tell Sayada north of Salamiyah.

Trace - and Salamiyah, the center of the region to the province of Hama, and is located to the east of Hama by about 33 km and to the north and northeast of Homs by about 45 km. Its annual rainfall is about 310 mm, its summer is hot, dry and desert, its winter is rainy and somewhat cold, and its air is sweet. Agriculture is still its main source of livelihood, along with rural trade (agricultural and animal) and some light industries. Among the governmental industries, there is a cotton gin and an onion drying plant. Its main market is located in its public square and on its aforementioned main streets. Its population is currently estimated at about 50,000 people - based on the 1981 census and the extent of the general increase, although the number of those registered in the civil registry is much higher. Despite the urban expansion of the city, its construction is simple, as there are few multi-storey houses, and luxurious palaces are rare.

It is a rural city organized and beautiful in its simplicity, and it is generally devoid of any tourist facility, and how much it needs that, for its ancient history and immortal monuments are worthy
To know her closely far and near.