Sadad, Syria
| Sadad صدد |
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 Sadad
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| Coordinates: 34°18′48.44″N 36°55′27.08″E / 34.3134556°N 36.9241889°E | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Homs Governorate |
| District | Homs District |
Sadad (Arabic: صدد / ALA-LC: Șadad) is a town in Syria, 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Homs, and 101 kilometres (63 mi) northeast of Damascus.
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[edit] History
Sadad is a very old village; it is probably the one mentioned in the Old Testament[1] as the northeastern boundary of the biblical land of Canaan, under the name Zedad, translated as Sedada in the Vulgate.
Isolated on the edge of the desert, the community has remained predominantly Syriac orthodox, even after the Muslim conquest of Syria during the 7th century. Aramaic is still spoken there. Sadad had been an important bishopric in the past. There was a close connection between Sadad and the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian; according to Istifan ad-Duwayhi, some of the monks of that monastery came from Sadad.[2]
In a report of 1881, a French military attaché described the state of insecurity of Sadad, whose inhabitants seemed to suffer attacks from the Bedouins. Despite the tax they regularly paid to the tribes that camped in the region, they were always at risk of being depredated. The villagers had therefore planted gardens around Sadad like barricades, thus preventing anyone on horseback to enter without dismounting, which an isolated Bedouin rarely did in enemy territory.[3]
[edit] Demographics
The village is nowadays populated by approximately 3 000 inhabitants.
[edit] Main sights
The village is well-known for its several churches, in particular, the church of Mar Sarkis and the church of Saint Theodore, which both have elaborate frescoes; it is indeed unusual to find paintings on the walls of Syrian churches.[2]
[edit] Notable people
- Barsum Hilal of Sadad, priest and calligrapher in the 16th century.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Book of Numbers, 34:8; Book of Ezekiel, 47:15.
- ^ a b Dodd, The Frescoes of Mar Musa al-Habashi: a Study in Medieval Painting in Syria.
- ^ De Courtois, The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans, 4.
- ^ Barsum, The Scattered Pearls: a History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, 547.
[edit] External links
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Coordinates: 34°18′48.44″N 36°55′27.08″E / 34.3134556°N 36.9241889°E
