For the town in Jordan, seeBozrah. For the city in Iraq, seeBasra. For the other town in Syria, seeBusra al-Harir. For the genus of moths, seeBostra (moth).
Throughout its history under various Muslim rulers the city maintained its strategic importance as Syria's southern gateway. It attracted attention fromDamascus' rulers and was governed by various lords, serving as a hub forIslamic learning and endowments. However it declined into a village during theOttoman era, only to be revitalized in the 20th century with the construction of theHijaz railway and growing archaeological interest, later promptingtourism-focused development by the Syrian government. Today it is a majorarchaeological site and has been declared byUNESCO as aWorld Heritage Site.[1]
According to theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Bosra had a population of 19,683 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of thenahiyah ("subdistrict") of Bosra, which consisted of nine localities with a total population of 33,839 in 2004.[2] Bosra's inhabitants are predominantlySunni Muslim, although the town has a smallShia Muslim community.[3]
Under theRoman Empire Bosra was renamedNova Trajana Bostra and was the residence of thelegio IIICyrenaica. It was made capital of theRoman province ofArabia Petraea. The city flourished and became a majormetropolis at the juncture of severaltrade routes, in particular theVia Traiana Nova, aRoman road that connectedDamascus to theRed Sea. It became an important centre for food production and during the reign of EmperorPhilip the Arab Bosra began to mint its own coins.[5] The twoCouncils of Arabia were held at Bosra in 246 and 247 AD. TheBabylonian Talmud andJerusalem Talmud mention Bosra as a town on the border outside Israel, but with a sizeable Jewish population. In the Jerusalem Talmud, it states thatResh Lakish was in Bosra when he saw them sprinkling water to the goddessAphrodite.[6] In the Babylonian Talmud, tractateAvoda Zara (58b) it likewise mentions howResh Lakish interacted with the population in Bosra. There are also rabbis who were identified as the sage from Bosra, such as Rabbi Jonah of Bosra. The Talmud (Shabbat 29b) also notes that there was a synagogue in Bosra.[7]
By theByzantine period, which began in the 5th century, Christianity had become the dominant religion in Bosra (Βόσρα inGreek-Byzantine). The city became a Metropolitanarchbishop's seat (see below) and a large cathedral was built in the 6th century.[5] Bosra was conquered by theSasanian Persians in the early 7th century but was recaptured during the Byzantine reconquest.
Bosra played an important part in the early life ofMuhammad, as described in the entry for the Christian monkBahira. Theforces of theRashidun Caliphate under generalKhalid ibn al-Walid captured the city from theByzantines in theBattle of Bosra in 634. Throughout Islamic rule Bosra would serve as the southernmost outpost ofBilad al-Sham, its prosperity being mostly contingent on the political importance of that city. Bosra held additional significance as a centre of the pilgrim caravan between Damascus and the Muslim holy cities ofMecca andMedina, the destinations of the annualhajj pilgrimage.[8] Early Islamic rule did not alter the general architecture of Bosra, with only two structures dating to theUmayyad era (721 and 746) when Damascus was the capital of the Caliphate. As Bosra's inhabitants gradually converted to Islam the Roman-era holy sites were utilized for Muslim practices.[9] In the 9th century,Ya'qubi wrote that Bosra was the capital of the Hauran province.[10]
A view of the citadel in Bosra (the theater is located inside)
After the end of the Umayyad era in 750, major activity in Bosra ceased for around 300 years until the late 11th century. In the last years ofFatimid rule, in 1068, a number of building projects were commissioned. With the advent ofSeljuk rule in 1076 increasing focus was paid to Bosra's defences. In particular the Roman theatre was transformed into a fortress, with a new floor added to the interior staircase tower.[9] With the coming to power of theBurid dynasty in Damascus, the generalKumushtakin was allotted the entireHauran plain as a fief by theatabegTughtakin. Under Kumushtakin, efforts to enhance the Muslim nature of the city increased with the construction of a number of Islamic edifices. One of these projects was the restoration of theUmari Mosque, which had been built by the Umayyads in 721.[9] Another mosque commissioned was the smaller al-Khidr Mosque at the northwestern part of the city, which was established under Kumushtakin in 1134. Kumushtakin also had amadrasa constructed alongside the Muslim shrine honoring themabrak an-naqa ("camel's knees"), which marked the imprints of the camel the prophet Muhammad rode on when he entered Bosra in the early 7th century.[11] In 1147 KingBaldwin III of Jerusalem led a Crusader force tocapture the city but his attempt was thwarted since the Damascene army led byMu'in ad-Din Unur managed to garrison Bosra's citadel.[12]
A golden age of political and architectural activity in Bosra began during the reign ofAyyubid sultanal-Adil I (1196–1218). One of the first architectural developments in the city was the construction of eight large external towers in the Roman theatre-turned-fortress. The project began in 1202 and was completed in 1253, towards the end of the Ayyubid period. The two northern corner towers alone occupied more space than the remaining six. After al-Adil's death in 1218 his sonas-Salih Ismail inherited the fief of Bosra and lived in its newly fortified citadel. During Ismail's rule Bosra gained political prominence. Ismail used the city as his base when he claimed the sultanate in Damascus on two separate occasions, reigning between 1237–38 and 1239–45.[13]
In 1596 Bosra appeared in theOttoman tax registers asNafs Busra, being part of thenahiyah of Bani Nasiyya in theQada of Hauran. It had a Muslim population consisting of 75 households and 27 bachelors, and a Christian population of 15 households and 8 bachelors. Taxes were paid onwheat,barley, summer crops, fruit- or other trees, goats and/or beehives and water mill.[14]
WhenJames Silk Buckingham visited Bosra in 1816, he described "a large ruined edifice, which was originally an oblong square, with one semicircular end," containing "a miserable work of the Greek Christians, by whom it was no doubt used as a place of worship up to the period of its destruction." He also noted "an old building, with a high square tower attached to it… with many Arabic inscriptions in different parts of it," as well as another plain building "with crosses sculptured in the doors and walls, and the whole appearance that of an early place of Christian worship." Among the structures of Bosra he was shown was theSerait-el-Bint-el-Yahoodi or "Palace of the Jew's Daughter," though he could not "learn the origin of this name, or obtain an account of any tradition connected with it." He remarked further on theEl-Hamam bath, with pointed arches in alternating black and white stone, and on "a large building entirely constructed out of the ruins of more ancient edifices," containing "Cufic, Arabic, and Greek" inscriptions and "a mixture of antiquity and freshness, of wealth and poverty, of skill and ignorance." He described ascending a great square tower of sixty-four steps, with stone doors on its stages and an open space at the top, from which "we enjoyed a commanding view of the ruins of Bosra." Buckingham also saw "a Roman arched gateway, not unlike that of Jerash," Corinthian colonnades standing in the town's streets, and the castle of Bosra, which he thought showed "a mixture of styles which rendered it exceedingly difficult to say in what age or by what people they were constructed," containing Roman sculpture and Arabic inscriptions dated to 722 AH.[15]
Today Bosra is a major archaeological site, containing ruins fromRoman,Byzantine and Muslim times, its main feature being the well-preserved Roman theatre. Every year a national music festival is held in themain theatre.
Significant social and economic changes have affected Bosra since the end of the French Mandate in 1946. Whereas until the 1950s the shopkeepers of Bosra were fromDamascus, since then most have lived in the town. In the late Ottoman era and the French Mandate period the agricultural relationship was between the small landowner and the sharecroppers, but since the agrarian reforms in the late 1950s and 1960s the relevant relationship has been between the landowners and the wage laborers. Many of its residents have found work in theGulf Cooperation Council states, sending the proceeds to their relatives in Bosra. Social changes and increased access to education have largely diminished traditional clan life according to historianHanna Batatu.[17]
During the presidency ofHafez al-Assad (1970–2000), Bosra and the surrounding villages were largely free of government interference and for the most part were politically dominated by members of the prominent al-Mokdad clan, who served as intermediaries of sorts between the residents of the town and the governor ofDaraa and theBa'ath Party branch secretary.[17]
On 14 October 2012, there was intense gunfire from government forces stationed at checkpoints on the main road running through the town.[citation needed] On 13 November 2012, fierce fighting was reported in the east of the town.[citation needed] By January 2013, after 22 months of conflict during the ongoingSyrian Civil War, some refugees fleeing Bosra were speaking of escalating violence, with many bodies being left in the streets.[18] On 15 January 2013, it was reported that the citadel was used by the army to shell the town on a daily basis.[19] After the beginning of February 2014 the city was under the control of the Syrian Army.[20] However on 31 January 2015, the Army's 5th Division confronted a contingent from the rebels near the famous Roman theatre – fierce firefights broke out between the groups.[21] On 1 February 2015, the Army forces shelled areas in the east of the town.[22] On 25 March 2015, Syrian rebels seized the town, ousting Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen afterfour days of intense battle.[23]
Bosra was recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army on 2 July 2018 following the surrender of the rebel forces. The recapture was a part of theDaraa Offensive, which involved the surrender and/or reconciliation of many rebel groups in the area.
Of the city that once counted 80,000 inhabitants there remains today only a village among the ruins. The 2nd-centuryRoman theatre of Bosra, constructed probably underTrajan, is the only monument of this type with its upper gallery in the form of a covered portico fully preserved. It was fortified between 481 and 1231.
There are also Nabatean and Roman monuments, Christian churches, mosques, and Madrasahs within the half-ruined enceinte of the city. The structure of the cathedral, a central plan with eastern apses flanked by two sacristies, exerted a decisive influence on the evolution of Christian architectural forms and to a certain extent on Islamic style.Al-Omari Mosque of Bosra is one of the oldest surviving mosques in Islamic history.[24]
Bosra has acold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classificationBSk). Rainfall is higher in winter than in summer. The average annual temperature in Bosra is 16.4 °C (61.5 °F). About 247 mm (9.72 in) of precipitation falls annually.
In the late 1990s, Bosra had an estimated population of 12,000.[3] Its population increased to 19,683 according to the 2004 census by theSyria Central Bureau of Statistics. The population of its metropolitan area was 33,839.[2]
Bosra's inhabitants are predominantlySunni Muslims and are mostly divided between seven major clans. The leading clan is the al-Miqdad whose members immigrated to Bosra fromal-Suwayda in the mid-18th-century. During this era they also dominated the nearby villages ofGhasm,Maaraba andSamaqiyat. However, the oldest clan of Bosra are the Hamd, a largely fair-skinned people, many members of which have blond hair and blue eyes. They claim to be descendants of the ancient Roman governor of Bosra, although other townspeople believe they are of Crusader origins. Regarding land ownership, the Hamd clan owns around 1,000 hectares in the town while the al-Miqdad clan owns roughly 12,000.[3] The latter's members were historically influential in theHauran region and beyond, having had one of their own in the Ottoman parliament ofAbdul Hamid II inConstantinople during theYoung Turks period and in the Syrian parliament during the French Mandate period. As of the late 1990s, members of the al-Miqdad clan occupied the positions of mayor, the chief imam of the mainal-Omari Mosque, the chief of the town's bureau of antiquities as well as manager of Bosra's carpet workshop and the owner of the principal coffeehouse. While their members traditionally resided in the eastern quarter of old Bosra, they are currently prevalent throughout the town.[17]
Bosra also has a smallShia Muslim community of some fifty families. According toPalestinian American historianHanna Batatu, the Shia inhabitants of Bosra were "relatively recent arrivals" and immigrated to the town from the city ofNabatieh inSouth Lebanon. Most of the working members of the Shia community are artisans or laborers.[3] Batatu also asserts that social changes in Bosra since Syrian independence have led to tribal diffusion, with intermarriage between the clans and between the Sunni and Shia communities having increased significantly.[17]
^abSharon, M. (2007-01-01),"Sites",Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, Addendum, Brill, pp. 43–44,ISBN978-90-474-2073-6, retrieved2024-02-13{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
