Rakhlah ( ar, رخلة; also spelled Rakhleh or Rakhlé), previously known as Zenopolis, is a village situated west of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

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 ...

. also known as "The town of Wine and Poetry". According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, the village had a population of 368 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Rif Dimashq Governorate. The population is predominantly

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 ...

. The main family is Abou Kheir,

Ancient history

In Late Antiquity, the city was known as Zenopolis ( el, Ζηνούπολις), in the Roman province of

Phoenice Paralia Phoenice or Phoenike ( el, Φοινίκη) was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians.: "To the north the Chaonians had expelled the Corcyraeans from their holdings on the mainland and built fortifications at Buthrotum ...

(or "Phoenicia Prima"). It became a city and a bishopric at the end of the 5th century. Rakhlah is a possible location of the bishopric of "Rachlea"The diocese of Rachlea is in the Province of Fenicia I and under Bishop of

Tiro Marcus Tullius Tiro (died 4 BC) was first a slave, then a freedman, of Cicero from whom he received his nomen and praenomen. He is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters. After Cicero's death Tiro published his former master's collecte ...

. It should not be confused with Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina. included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'', p. 957 In his account of this bishopric, which he calls that "of the Rachlenes" (Latin ''Rachlenorum'', Greek Ραχληνῶν), Le Quien says that, at a provincial synod held at Tyre in 518, Elias, spoken of in the acts as Bishop of the Rachlenes, signed as Ἠλίας ἐπίσκοπος Ζηνουπόλεως (Elias Bishop of Zenopolis); and that the acts of the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 bear the signature of "Anastasius by the mercy of God Bishop of the Rachlenes in the province of the Tyrians".

Ancient temples

There are the ruins of two Roman-Phoenician temples in the village that are included in a group of Temples of Mount Hermon. The smaller, apsidal temple was cut out of bedrock. The other, larger temple may have been used as a church and is constructed of enormous blocks of limestone; it measures by . It features two rows of ionic columns that run along the walls from the entrance to a semi-circular altar. One of the walls of the temple is adorned with a relief of the face of a

sun god A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The ...

, possibly Ba'al within a wreath that is aligned to look at Mount Hermon and measures in diameter. Two stones close to the gate show depictions of a bird with outstretched wings that was suggested to have been part of the temple's

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

. The carving was described as ''"essentially Assyrian in character"'' by Edward Robinson when visiting the site in 1852. He further suggested that the stone was brought to the site from a far distance. He considered the construction of the temples was likely to have taken place ''"many centuries before the

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", ...

"''. He noted several Greek inscriptions and took some copies. The

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

information derived from the inscriptions at Rakleh has supported the existence of a local settlement and given details of the names and positions of the temple officials. One of the texts starts with the invocation ''"to the Good Fortune"''. It is also known from the inscriptions that the Greek goddess of the sea, Leucothea, was worshipped in the temple from 60 CE onwards. Two of the texts show that the officials exercised an unspecified authority. They detail the restoration of the temple using funds, implying they owned estates or assets earning interest. A building constructed in 253 CE was said to have been paid for ''"at the expense of the goddess taken from the interest"''. The treasurers of the temple also funded a new door in 379 CE. A few other rock cut tombs and caverns have been noted around the area.

References

External links

Photo of Rakhlah on panoramio.comJohn D. Miller, The Business of Baal, Premier community christian media, December 13, 2011Rakhlah on wikimapia.org
{{Rif Dimashq Governorate, qatana Populated places in Qatana District Archaeological sites in Rif Dimashq Governorate Ancient Roman temples Phoenician temples Roman sites in Syria Assyrian art and architecture Tourist attractions in Syria Druze communities in Syria

Ancient history

Ancient temples

See also

References

External links