Burj Qa'i (, also spelled Burj al-Qa'y or simply al-Burj) is a village in central

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, administratively part of the

Homs Governorate Homs Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥimṣ'') is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in central Syria. Its geography differs in various locations in the governorate, from to . ...

, located northwest of

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

. Nearby localities include

Taldou Taldou (, also spelled Tall Daww, Taldo, Tall Dhu or Taldao) is a town in the Houla region of northern Syria, north of Homs in the Homs Governorate. Nearby towns include Burj al-Qa'i to the east, Tallaf to the northeast, Kafr Laha and Tell Dah ...

and the

Houla The Houla Region or Houla Plain ( ''Al-Ḥūla'') is an area consisting of three villages in the Homs Governorate of central Syria, northwest of the city of Homs. The biggest village in the Houla region had 20,041 inhabitants in 2004 and is calle ...

5 kilometers to the west, Talaf to the north,

Kisin Kisin (Cyrillic: Кисин) may refer to * Cizin, a Maya god of death and earthquakes * Kisin House in Rostov-on-Don, Russia * Kisin (surname) See also * Kissin (disambiguation) {{disambiguation, surname, geo ...

to the northeast,

Kafr Nan Kafr Nan (, also spelled Kfarnan) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate, located north of Homs. Nearby localities include Burj Qa'i to the west, Kisin to the northwest, Gharnatah to the northeast, al-Zaaf ...

to the east, Tasnin and

Akrad Dayasinah Karad Dayasinah (, also known as ''Akrad Dayasinah'' or ''Akrad Dasnieh'', also known as Shamah) is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Homs District, located northwest of Homs. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statis ...

to the southeast and Ghur Gharbiyah to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Burj Qa'i had a population of 2,351 in the 2004 census.General Census of Population and Housing 2004
. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. Its inhabitants are predominantly

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

s and ethnic Turkmens.Rosen, Nir
A Tale of Two Syrian Villages: Part two
''

Al-Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is the first global E ...

'' (AJE). 2011-10-26. During the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

in Syria, Burj Qa'i was a village of army veterans by the 3rd-century CE. The local

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

was Semea, a goddess previously worshiped in northern areas of Syria. A temple dedicated to Semea was constructed in 196-97 upon the decision of the village's Council of Six.

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

later spread to Burj Qa'i during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period, as evidenced by the existence of a Christian tomb in the village dating to 457. A Christian

martyrion A ''martyrium'' (Latin) or ''martyrion'' (Greek) (: ''martyria)'', sometimes anglicized martyry (: "martyries"), is a church or shrine built over the tomb of a Christian martyr. It is associated with a specific architectural form, centered on ...

built in 539-40 through funds raised by a bishop named Peter also exists in Burj Qa'i. The building's construction was supervised by the episcopal officials Leontius and Isaiah, who were ''

oikonomos ''Oikonomos'' (, from - 'house' and - 'rule, law'), Latinization of names, Latinized œconomus, oeconomus, or economos, was an Ancient Greek word meaning "household manager." In Byzantine Empire, Byzantine times, the term was used as a title of ...

''.

Pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

s and Christians inhabited Burj al-Qa'i simultaneously in the period between 457 and 532. In 1838, during late Ottoman rule, Burj al-Qa'i was classified as a

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

village in the

region by Americal biblical scholar

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

. The village was also mentioned in passing in the fifth volume of the ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' in the mid-1840s. In the aftermath of the

Houla massacre The Houla massacre () was a mass murder of civilians by Ba'athist Syria, Ba’athist Syrian government forces that took place on May 25, 2012, in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, in the town of Taldou, in the Houla Region of Syria, a string o ...

on 25 May 2012, during the ongoing Syrian civil war, Burj Qa'i hosted around 5,000 refugees fleeing nearby

, the scene of the massacre. Most refugees took shelter in schools, public buildings or the homes of host families. The

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

(ICRC) visited in June to provide food, medicines and mattresses to the displaced. In early October 2012 Syrian state television reported that

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

forces killed several opposition fighters in Burj Qa'i.Turkey warns Syria it will respond 'with greater force' if shelling persists
''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

''. 2012-10-10.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burj Qai Populated places in Homs District