al-Furqlus ٱلْفَرْقَلُس Fırıklus[1] | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 1936 aerial view of Furqlus | |
  al-Furqlus Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates:34°36′0″N37°5′0″E / 34.60000°N 37.08333°E /34.60000; 37.08333 | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Homs |
| District | Homs |
| Subdistrict | Furqlus |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 5,096 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (EEST) |
Furqlus (Turkish:Fırıklus,[1]Arabic:ٱلْفَرْقَلُس,romanized: al-Farqalus,Furglus orFurklus) is a town in centralSyria, administratively part of theHoms Governorate, east of the city ofHoms. Situated at the eastern approaches of theSyrian Desert, the town is located betweenal-Qaryatayn to the south,Sadad to the southwest,Shinshar to the west,Fatim al-Amuq andal-Sayyid to the northwest,al-Mukharram to the north andPalmyra to the east. According to theCentral Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Furqlus had a population of 5,096 in the 2004 census.[2]
During theByzantine Empire era in Syria, Furqlus was known as "Betproclis" or "Betroclus," which wereGreek transliterations of its originalSemitic name "Beth Forklos."[3] ItsLatin name was "Proclus."[4] TheArabicization of the latter part of the town's Greek name "proclis" was "Furqlus."[5]
The late 5th-century Byzantine documentNotitia Dignitatum listed Betroclus as one of the two sites in Syria where regularArab army units were stationed as part of the defense of thePhoenicia province. Although they were not listed asfoederati, their inclusion in theNotitia Dignitatum suggested that these units possessed distinguished merit. Mentioned asindigenae, Betroclus was the only one of the two where the unit's make-up was entirely indigenous.[6]
During the 5th century CE, the town was controlled either by theSalihids or theTanukhids.[7] By the 6th century, theGhassanids gained power in the region as vassals of the Byzantine Empire.[8]
The 13th-century Syrian geographerYaqut al-Hamawi visited Furqlus in 1226, duringAyyubid rule. He wrote that it was "a spring nearSalamiyah in Syria. The name is foreign, not Arabic."[9] In 1293, thecommander of the Bedouin tribes in Syria,Muhanna ibn Isa, his sonMusa ibn Muhanna and his brotherFadl ibn Isa, were arrested at Furqlus during a meeting with theMamluk sultan,al-Ashraf Khalil, who was there on a hunting expedition.[10]
In 1838 Furqlus was described as an abandoned village by English scholarEli Smith.[11] In the late 19th century, Furqlus, which by then had been re-inhabited, suffered a majorBedouin raid,[12] a common occurrence in the town which was surrounded by Bedouin encampments.[13] According to Western traveler John Kelman, the Bedouin seized harvested crops and "emptied the houses ... of every piece of brass that they contained." Furqlus was abandoned until theOttoman government inIstanbul established a sizable cavalry garrison there for theOttoman army. Returning residents had to pay extra sums for the state protection which markedly reduced the rate of Bedouin incursions, although they continued steadily nonetheless.[12]
The houses in Furqlus during that period were known as "beehives." Instead of the common flat roof homes present in most ofOttoman Syria, the houses were topped by tall white domes that rose to sharp angles at their pinnacles and were intended to protect the residences from rain damage.[14] Furqlus was administered by Arabsheikhs who each headed their own clan or tribe.[15]
In the 1960s, Furqlus was a large village with houses built onterraced land. In the eastern part of the village, a few houses were built frommud brick with cone-shaped dome roofs.[16]
In 2009, the Syrian government, in a joint venture with the governments ofIran,Venezuela and the al-Bukhari Group ofMalaysia, began construction of an oil refinery in al-Furqlus. The estimated cost of the project was $3 billion and the plant would have the capacity to refine 140,000 barrels per day.[17]
The gas plant was destroyed by ISIS in March 2016.[18]
Furklus.
Lajjun Guy le Strange.
