Uqayribat ( ar, عقيربات
ALA-LC
ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script.
Applications
The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...
: ''ʿUqayribāt'') also spelled ''Oqeirbat'', ''Uzeiribat'', ''′Aqayrbat'', ''′Agareb'', ''Aaqerbate'', ''Occariba'' or ''Occaraba'' is a
Syrian town in the
Uqayribat Subdistrict of the
Salamiyah District
Salamiyah ( ar, سلمية ') is a district ( mantiqah) administratively belonging to Hama Governorate, Syria. At the 2004 Census it had a population of 187,123. Its administrative district is the city of Salamiyah.
Sub-districts
The district of ...
in
Hama Governorate. It is situated at the western foot of Jabal Bal'as and along the route connecting
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
(
Tadmur
Palmyra (; ar, تَدْمُر, Tadmor; Palmyrene: ''Tadmor'') is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is located in an oasis in the middle of the Syrian Desert northeast of Damascus and southwest of the Eu ...
) to the southeast with
Salamiyah to the west.
According to the
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), ′Uqayribat had a population of 2,745 in the 2004 census.
History
Uqayribat is identified as the site of the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
-era town of Occaraba, listed on the
Peutinger Table
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-ce ...
. In the ''
Notitia Dignitatum'', a Roman document, Occaraba is mentioned as a garrison of the ''equites promoti Illyriciani'' legion.
The Czech explorer
Alois Musil
Alois Musil (30 June 1868 – 12 April 1944) was a Czech theologian, orientalist, explorer and bilingual Czech and German writer.
Biography
Musil was the oldest son born in 1868 into an poor farming family in Moravia (then Cisleithanian pa ...
did not locate any Roman remains in the village during his early 20th-century expedition in the region.
According to the 9th-century
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
geographer, Ibn Khordazbeh, during the
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
era, Uqayribat was one of the administrative subdistricts of
Homs, along with al-Qastal,
Salamiyah and Zumayn, all of which were part of the larger district of
Jund Hims
''Jund Ḥimṣ'' ( ar, جند حمص, " military district of Homs") was one of the military districts of the caliphal province of Syria.
Geography
The capital of Jund Hims was Homs, from which the district received its name. Its principal urb ...
.
It remained an administrative subdistrict of Homs by the 13th century as well.
In 1900, the modern-day village of Uqayribat was founded by a group of farmers who migrated 100 kilometers northwest from their hometown of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
to cultivate and settle the place.
The settlement was built on a small elevation.
The
Ottomans, who ruled Syria between 1517 and 1917, established a
gendarme
Wrong info! -->
A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...
post at the new settlement.
Uqayribat soon after became the center of the surrounding region, which too was developing agriculturally and which was increasingly settled by formerly nomadic
Bedouin tribesmen throughout the early 20th century.
In 1908, Musil noted that the village and its agriculturally productive vicinity belonged to the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
sheikh of Palmyra.
During the
Syrian Civil War, ISIS captured the town from the
Syrian Armed Forces in 2014. On 3 September 2017 the town was regained by the
Syrian Arab Army
" (''Guardians of the Homeland'')
, colors = * Service uniform: Khaki, Olive
* Combat uniform: Green, Black, Khaki
, anniversaries = August 1st
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles = 1948 Arab–Israeli War
Six-D ...
. However, on 9 September 2017, the army lost large parts of the town. On 15 September 2017, the Syrian army recaptured the town Uqayribat after the huge counter-attack and the heavy air raids of the Russian aircraft and helicopters. Many civilian casualties occurred.
In 2018, a large
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
was discovered in Uqayribat which belongs to an early
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
church.
References
{{Hama Governorate, salamiyah
1900 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
Towns in Hama Governorate
Populated places established in 1900
Populated places in Salamiyah District