Borj Rahal ( ar, برج رحال ) is a town in the

Tyre District The Tyre District is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon. History Ancient history Founded at the start of the third millennium BC, Tyre originally consisted of a mainland settlement and a modest island city that lay a short distance o ...

in South

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Name

According to

E. H. Palmer Edward Henry Palmer (7 August 184010 August 1882), known as E. H. Palmer, was an England, English oriental studies, orientalist and explorer. Biography Youth and education Palmer was born in Green Street, Cambridge the son of a private schoo ...

in 1881, the name ''Burj Rahhal'' means "the traveller’s tower".

History

In the 1860s,

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...

found here seven singular constructions in a row, three being open, the rest closed. He was also informed that to the north-east of these, there were seven more hidden under grounds. The locals call them the Tombs of the Tyrian Kings, ''Kubur el Moluk''. In 1875,

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...

found here a village with 400

Metawileh Lebanese Shia Muslims ( ar, المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيين), historically known as ''matāwila'' ( ar, متاولة, plural of ''mutawālin'' ebanese pronounced as ''metouali'' refers to Lebanese people who are adherents ...

inhabitants. "Here are seen good cut stones lying here and there, taken from an ancient fort."Guérin, 1880, p
248
as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
58
/ref> He further noted: "Ten minutes to the west of the village I observed three good subterranean magazines contiguous and parallel. Partly cut in the rock and partly constructed of cut stones, they measure ten metres in length by a breadth not greater than a metre and a half. They are covered within by a stony cement, in which are inserted fragments of pottery, and arc surmounted by great inclined slabs forming a triangular roof. These are covered over by a layer of earth, so as to form a platform. Several other similar caves are adjoining them, but they are at the present moment closed. Formerly they probably served as oil and wine- cellars, or stores for corn. The place is called ''Kh. Mahatma.''" In 1881, the PEF's ''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) described it as: "A large village built of stone, containing 150

, on a ridge, surrounded by figs, olives, and arable land. There is a good spring and well near." They further noted: "A few more minutes to the west, Guérin found a ruin called ''Kh. Kerry el Meserta'', where he observed the uprights of grooved oil-presses, broken

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

, mill stones, numerous little cubes of mosaic scattered about, and a great

cistern A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...

extending under a platform. At twenty minutes' march west-south-west of ''El Meserta'', he observed a hillock with the remains of a ruined village called ''Kh. Halua''. Not far from this place, to the east-north-east, he found a platform surrounded by a wall of large stones, having a great cistern hollowed in the middle. It is called B''ir el Mellaha''."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p
58
/ref>

References

Bibliography

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External links

Localiban *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 1
IAAWikimedia commons
{{Tyre District Populated places in Tyre District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon