As-Suwayda ( ar, ٱلسُّوَيْدَاء / ALA-LC romanization: ''as-Suwaydāʾ''), also spelled ''Sweida'' or ''Swaida'', is a mainly

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

city located in southwestern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, close to the border with Jordan. It is the capital of

As-Suwayda Governorate As-Suwayda or Al-Suwayda Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة السويداء / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat as-Suwaydā’'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is the southernmost governorate and has an area of 5,550 km² ...

, one of Syria's 14

governorate A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either State (administrative division), states or province, provinces, the term ''govern ...

s, bordering Jordan in the South and Daraa Governorate in the West and Rif Dimashq Governorate in the north and east. The city is referred to by some as "Little Venezuela" due to the city's influx of affluent Venezuelan Syrian immigrants.

Demographics and population

The inhabitants of the city are mainly

with a prominent Greek Orthodox Christians and

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

minority. The population of As-Suwayda Governorate is 313,231 (2004 census).

History

Ancient and Medieval eras

The city was founded by the Nabataeans as Suada. It became known as Dionysias Soada ( grc, Διονῡσιάς) in the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire, for the god

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

, patron of wine - the city is situated in a famous ancient wine-producing region. The name ''Dionysias'' replaced the former Nabataean name in 149 AD after Nabataean influence decreased and then concentrated towards the south, as a result of the then accelerating Hellenization of Coele-Syria. As-Suwayda The Agora of Dionysias

Dionysias was a part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, and received the rights of

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

during the reign of

Commodus Commodus (; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 to 192. He served jointly with his father Marcus Aurelius from 176 until the latter's death in 180, and thereafter he reigned alone until his assassination. ...

between 180–185.

was worshipped in the same Nabatean temple dedicated to Dushara. This practice of associating the worship of local and Hellenic gods was common in Hellenistic Syria. This name remained in use during the Byzantine Empire, when the town was under the influence of the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...

. Dionysias then was a diocese with a

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

from Bosra. It was mentioned in the ''

Synecdemus The ''Synecdemus'' or ''Synekdemos'' ( el, Συνέκδημος) is a geographic text, attributed to Hierocles, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of their cities. The work is dated to the reign o ...

'' of Hierocles. After the early Muslim conquests, the city was conquered by the

Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...

of the Arabs in 629 and became a titular see. Yaqut al-Hamawi noted in the 1220s that As Suwaida was "a village of the Hauran Province".

Ottoman era

In 1516, the city and the adjoining region was conquered from the Mamluk Sultanate by the Ottoman Empire. In 1596 As-Suwayda appeared under the name of ''Majdal Sawda'' in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the '' nahiya'' (subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya of the Hauran Sanjak. It had a population of 5 households and 5 bachelors, all

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 20% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 6,125

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is deri ...

. 3/4 of the revenue went to a waqf. In recent times Dionysias was firstly identified as as-Suwayda by William Waddington.

Modern era

The city has been held by the government for the duration of the Syrian Civil War and has seen relatively little fighting. On 28 October 2012, security forces launched a campaign of mass arrests in the city.

2018 As-Suwayda attacks

On July 25, 2018, the city, which had been by that time far away from the front lines, was rocked by a string of terrorist attacks. A group of at least 56 ISIS-affiliated attackers entered the city and initiated a series of gunfights and

suicide bombings A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

on its streets killing at least 246 people, the vast majority of them civilians. Many of the terrorists were reported killed during the attack, bringing the total death toll to at least 302 people. Forty-two Druze between the ages of 7 to 60 were kidnapped by ISIS and are being held captive. One has been executed bringing the total in captivity to 41.

2020 Suweida protests

On 7 June 2020, anti-government protests erupted in the city due to the deteriorating economic situation. Protesters demanded the resignation of President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

for the first time since 2015 in the city which had remained neutral during the Syrian civil war. As a result of the protests, Prime Minister Imad Khamis was sacked on 11 June and replaced by Hussein Arnous.

2022 Suweida protests

In February, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Sweida to decry corruption and worsening living standards.

Archaeology

Many archeological sites could be found in the old part of the city: *Temple of Dionysus-Dushara: eight well-decorated columns are still standing from the temple. *Saint Sergius Basilica: was built in the fifth century. It has Byzantine architectural elements, with an abbey surrounding it. The basilica was dedicated to Sergius. *The arch of the lesser church: the church itself is ruined. An arch is still standing there known locally as "The Gallows" ( ar, المشنقة ''al-Mashnaqah'') with grape motif decorations. *The theater: was recently discovered, south of the

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

. The city has many ancient reservoirs, towers and old Roman houses that are still inhabited by locals. Many parts of the old city are still to be excavated, such as the

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

, a conical reservoir, and a larger

Roman theatre Roman theatres derive from and are part of the overall evolution of earlier Greek theatres. Indeed, much of the architectural influence the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings. However ...

. There is also an old 7th century mosque built during the time of the

Climate

As Suwayda's climate is classified as warm and temperate. There is more rainfall in the winter than in the summer in As Suwayda. This location is classified as Csa by Köppen and Geiger. The average temperature in As Suwayda is 15.5 °C. About 323 mm of precipitation falls annually.

Notable people

Najat Abdul Samad Najat Abdul Samad ( ar, نجاة عبد الصمد, ''romanized:'' Najāt ʻAbd al-Ṣamad, born 1967, As-Suwayda, Syria), alternative spelling Najat Abed Alsamad, is a Syrian Druze fiction writer, poet and gynecologist. She has published sever ...

, writer, translator, and obstetrician.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Map of the town
Google Maps {{DEFAULTSORT:Suwayda Cities in Syria Populated places in as-Suwayda District Archaeological sites in as-Suwayda Governorate Roman sites in Syria Druze communities in Syria Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Syria