Braykah

Braykah
بريكة
Breikah
Village
Braykah is located in Syria
Braykah
Braykah
Location within Syria
Coordinates: 32°50′18″N 36°34′05″E / 32.83833°N 36.56806°E / 32.83833; 36.56806
PAL297/250
Country Syria
GovernorateSuwayda
DistrictShahba
SubdistrictShahba
Population
 (2004 census)[1]
 • Total
1,055
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Braykah (Arabic: بريكة) is a village situated in the Shahba District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Braykah had a population of 1,055 in the 2004 census.[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze, with a Sunni Muslim Bedouin minority.[2]

History

Braykah is identified with the ancient village of Borechath Sabaon, which is attested in inscriptions found in the Roman-era sanctuary of Aumos, a local sun god, located a few kilometers away at Dayr al-Laban. An individual from the village attested in these inscriptions is recorded as belonging to the tribe of the Audenoi, which is also attested in the nearby Mardocha.[3]

In 1596 the village appeared in the Ottoman tax registers named Burayka, part of the nahiya (Subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya in the Hauran Sanjak. It had a Muslim population consisting of 6 households and 3 bachelors; a total of 9 taxable units. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat (1500 a.), barley (900 a.), summer crops (900 a.), goats and beehives (200 a.); a total of 3,500 akçe.[4]

In 1838, Eli Smith noted that inhabitants of Bureikeh were predominantly Druse and Catholic and "Greek" Christians.[5]

Archaeology

Braykah is home to a Roman temple that was surveyed in 1904 by archaeologist Howard Crosby Butler. The temple, which had been dismantled and rebuilt by the time of Butler's survey, still contained a significant portion of its architectural elements in situ, allowing for a reliable reconstruction.[6]

The temple stands on a rectangular podium and is of the tetrastylos prostyle type, featuring four columns across the front and a single hall. It measures approximately 8.50 × 9.65 meters and is distinguished by its Ionic columns and Syrian pediment, with semicircular niches and engaged half-columns flanking the entrance. The temple's construction and style suggest a date in the early 3rd century CE.[7]

Religious buildings

  • Maqam al-Khidr (Druze Shrine)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Deprecated link archived 2013-01-12 at archive.today. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ↑ "Druze communities in the Middle East". British Druze Society. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ Newson, Paul (2025). Imperialism and Appropriation in Rural Roman Syria. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-003-44140-3.
  4. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 219.
  5. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. 156
  6. ↑ Segal, Arthur (2022) [2013]. "Brekeh (Boureike) (39)". Temples and sanctuaries in the Roman East: religious architecture in Syria, Iudaea/Palaestina and Provincia Arabia. Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books. pp. 184–186. ISBN 9781842175262. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  7. ↑ Segal, Arthur (2022) [2013]. "Brekeh (Boureike) (39)". Temples and sanctuaries in the Roman East: religious architecture in Syria, Iudaea/Palaestina and Provincia Arabia. Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books. pp. 184–186. ISBN 9781842175262. Retrieved 11 November 2025.

Bibliography

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