Al-Dana, Syria

History

Al-Dana has been identified with the Aramaean city of "Adennu" or "Adinnu." Adennu was the first Aramaean city conquered by the Assyrians during Shalmaneser III's military campaign against Syria in 853 BCE. The city was captured without resistance.

As part of the so-called Dead Cities, al-Dana, and its vicinity contain numerous ancient ruins which date back to the 3rd and 4th-century CE. A well-preserved Roman pyramid tomb, made of yellow stone and bearing elaborate carvings, is located to the north of the modern town center. A Roman gateway and the porticoes of several other Roman-era edifices also survive.

In the late 11th-century CE, al-Dana and nearby Sarmada were sacked by the Crusaders. The 13th-century Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi visited al-Dana in the 1220s, noting that it was located on the slopes of Mount Lebanon near Aleppo in the al-'Awasim area. He described the village as a "very ancient place" near which was a "large platform, as wide as a horse-racing course, cut in the hillside, square and leveled. At its center is a dome, within which is a tomb, as one of the ancient Adites, but of whom it is not known."

In the mid-19th-century al-Dana was visited by English traveler James Silk Buckingham who noted that the village was built along the slopes of a rock in the center of a plain. Most of its houses were built from the ruins of older structures, suggesting to Buckingham that al-Dana had previously been a considerable settlement. Around 500 Muslims lived in the village and worshiped in a small mosque, with a minaret and six domes arranged in two separate rows corresponding with each interior aisle.

The town is currently under the control of the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army.

On 16 February 2022, 3 civilians were killed in the town after Syrian Arab Army bombarded the town with artillery.

References

Notes

Bibliography

References

2. [http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB07-15-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004] {{webarchive. link. (2012-12-20 . [[Central Bureau of Statistics (Syria)). Syria Central Bureau of Statistics]] (CBS). Idlib Governorate. {{in lang. ar
3. Balfour-Paul, 2012, p. 99.
4. Lipinsky, p. 259.
5. Yamada, p. 154.
6. Darke, 2010, p. 160.
7. Buckingham, 1825, p. [https://archive.org/details/travelsamongara00buckgoog/page/n593/mode/1up 573]
8. Davis, p. 334.
9. Le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft/page/436/mode/1up 436]
10. Buckingham, 1825, p. [https://archive.org/details/travelsamongara00buckgoog/page/n594/mode/1up 574]
11. "Idlib, civilians trapped between Assad's raids and jihadist violence". AsiaNews.it.