Zira'a ( ar, زراعة, also spelled Zerraa, Zirhagh or Zar'a) is a village in central
Syria, administratively part of the
Homs Governorate
Homs Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حمص / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its area differs in various sources, from to . It is thus geographic ...
, located southwest of
Homs. Situated on a hill just east of the
Orontes River, nearby localities include
Rableh
Rablah ( ar, ربلة; also spelled Rableh, Ribla or Ribleh) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located southwest of Homs. Just east of the border with Lebanon, nearby localities include al-Nizariyah to th ...
to the immediate southwest,
al-Qusayr to the north,
Jandar to the northeast and
Hisyah
Hisyah ( ar, حِسْيَاء, Ḥisyāʾ, also spelled Hasya, Hasiyah, Hesa or Hessia) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located about 35 kilometers south of Homs. Situated on the M5 Highway between Hom ...
to the southeast. According to the
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Zira'a had a population of 2,250 in the 2004 census.
[General Census of Population and Housing 2004](_blank)
Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly
Sunni Muslims.
The ancient site of
Riblah
The ancient town of Riblah, today a Tell (archaeology), tell covered by a cemetery not far from the town of Rablah, Ribleh on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, was in Hebrew Bible, biblical times located on the northern frontier of the la ...
was located on the site of the village and not in nearby Rableh after which it was named. Between the 7th and 9th centuries BCE Riblah served as the principal military and administrative center of the
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
s in Syria. Although a small place today, in the early 19th-century during late
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
rule, Zira'a was described as a village larger than al-Qusayr, which is now a city. It possessed an abundance of cultivated fields and trees.
[Buckingham, 1825, p. 491.]
References
Bibliography
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{{Homs Governorate, qusayr
Populated places in al-Qusayr District