Braykah

Braykah
بريكة
Breikah
Village
Braykah is located in Syria
Braykah
Braykah
Location within Syria
Coordinates: 32°50′18″N 36°34′05″E / 32.83833°N 36.56806°E / 32.83833; 36.56806
PAL297/250
Country Syria
GovernorateSuwayda
DistrictShahba
SubdistrictShahba
Population
 (2004 census)
 • Total
1,055
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Braykah (Arabic: بريكة) is a village situated in the Shahba District of Suwayda Governorate, in southern Syria. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Braykah had a population of 1,055 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze, with a Sunni Muslim Bedouin minority.

History

Braykah is identified with the ancient village of Borechath Sabaon, which is attested in inscriptions found in the Roman-era sanctuary of Aumos, a local sun god, located a few kilometers away at Dayr al-Laban. An individual from the village attested in these inscriptions is recorded as belonging to the tribe of the Audenoi, which is also attested in the nearby Mardocha.

In 1596 the village appeared in the Ottoman tax registers named Burayka, part of the nahiya (Subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya in the Hauran Sanjak. It had a Muslim population consisting of 6 households and 3 bachelors; a total of 9 taxable units. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat (1500 a.), barley (900 a.), summer crops (900 a.), goats and beehives (200 a.); a total of 3,500 akçe.

In 1838, Eli Smith noted that inhabitants of Bureikeh were predominantly Druse and Catholic and "Greek" Christians.

Archaeology

Braykah is home to a Roman temple that was surveyed in 1904 by archaeologist Howard Crosby Butler. The temple, which had been dismantled and rebuilt by the time of Butler's survey, still contained a significant portion of its architectural elements in situ, allowing for a reliable reconstruction.

The temple stands on a rectangular podium and is of the tetrastylos prostyle type, featuring four columns across the front and a single hall. It measures approximately 8.50 × 9.65 meters and is distinguished by its Ionic columns and Syrian pediment, with semicircular niches and engaged half-columns flanking the entrance. The temple's construction and style suggest a date in the early 3rd century CE.

Religious buildings

See also

References

  1. 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004 Deprecated link archived 2013-01-12 at archive.today. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Al-Suwayda Governorate. (in Arabic)
  2. ↑ "Druze communities in the Middle East". British Druze Society. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011.
  3. ↑ Newson, Paul (2025). Imperialism and Appropriation in Rural Roman Syria. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-003-44140-3.
  4. ↑ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 219.
  5. ↑ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Second appendix, B, p. 156
  6. ↑ Segal, Arthur (2022) [2013]. "Brekeh (Boureike) (39)". Temples and sanctuaries in the Roman East: religious architecture in Syria, Iudaea/Palaestina and Provincia Arabia. Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books. pp. 184–186. ISBN 9781842175262. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  7. ↑ Segal, Arthur (2022) [2013]. "Brekeh (Boureike) (39)". Temples and sanctuaries in the Roman East: religious architecture in Syria, Iudaea/Palaestina and Provincia Arabia. Oxford and Oakville: Oxbow Books. pp. 184–186. ISBN 9781842175262. Retrieved 11 November 2025.

Bibliography