Maharda
Mharda
محردة Maharda, Mahardah, Muharda, Mharada, Mahardeh, Muhardeh, Mhardeh | |
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 Ancient Roman bridge in Maharda | |
  Mharda Location in Syria | |
| Coordinates: 35°15′N 36°35′E / 35.250°N 36.583°E | |
| Country | Syria |
| Governorate | Hama |
| District | Mahardah |
| Subdistrict | Mahardah |
| Elevation | 280 m (920 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 17,578[1] |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Mharda (Arabic: محردة, romanized: Mḥarda, IPA: [maˈħarda]; also transliterated Mhardeh, Muhardah or Mahardah) is a city in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located about 23 kilometers northwest of Hama. It is situated along the Orontes River, near the Ghab plain. Nearby localities include Halfaya and Taybat al-Imam to the east, Khitab to the southeast, Maarzaf to the south, Asilah and Jubb Ramlah to the southwest, Shaizar, Safsafiyah, Tremseh and Kafr Hud to the west and Kafr Zita and al-Lataminah to the north.
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Mharda had a population of 17,578 in the 2004 census. It is the center of Mahardah District, one of the Hama Governorate's five districts, and the nahiyah ("subdistrict") of Mharda, which contained 21 localities with a combined population of 80,165 in 2004.[1] Mharda's population was estimated to be 22,442 in 2010.[2] Its inhabitants are predominantly Christians of the Greek Orthodox Church.[3][4]
The Orontes River was dammed 3 kilometers north, and the Mahardah Dam on the Ghab plain is used to generate hydroelectric power.
History
[edit]Mharda dates back to the same Hellenistic period of Apamea and the most notable archaeological remnant from this period is an old temple with stone doors and columns with Corinthian capitals transformed later into a church.[citation needed] The numerous Christian ruins in the village attest to an ancient Christian presence in Mharda. Mharda's inhabitants claim descent from the Ghassanids, a prominent Arab Christian tribe from the Byzantine era. Along with al-Suqaylabiyah and Kafr Buhum, it is one of the few Greek Orthodox, Arab Christian localities in the Hama region.[4]
During the uprising of the Ummayads in the year 690, the christian population of Muhradah was intimidated by the uprising of a muslim empire. As a result, huge, vacated tunnels were dug and still lie beneath the town and can continuously be accessed to this day. These tunnels are up to 1400 years old and can be described as cubic, intertwined rooms with a roof that has a cross-like shape, each point of the cross going from each corner (according to locals and local priests).
Ottoman period
[edit]In 1728, the Christian residents of Mharda, represented by their chief, were indebted over 5,000 piasters to a moneylender in Hama, Husayn Effendi al-Kaylani. Part of the sum was to help cover jizya (poll tax on Christians) payments to the government.[5] In an 1828 or 1829 tax record, the village consisted of 46 feddans and paid 4,730 akce (450 of which was jizya payment) to the government treasury, as well as the relatively high sum of 13,250 akce to the mutasallim (local governor) of Hama, Faraj Agha, which the government later determined was an illicit collection by the mutasallim.[6]
In the Monastery of St. George in Mharda, whose date of construction is not known, the oldest manuscript there dates to the late 19th century.[7] In 1882 the American Presbyterian church opened a school in Mharda, which the Ottoman governor of Syria closed in 1906 citing the lack of a permit.[8]
Post-Syrian independence
[edit]In the early 1960s Mharda was described as "a large Christian village where the houses lie in terraces amid the vines".[9]
Syrian civil war
[edit]During the Syrian Civil War, Mharda has been targeted by rebels, yet remained under government control.[10] Between 2011 and 2018, 97 civilians were killed in rebel attacks on the town.[11] According to pro-government media, the rate of attacks on Mharda increased during the course of the 2017 Hama offensive.[12]
Notable people
[edit]- Ignatius IV of Antioch (1920–2012), Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All The East from 1979 to 2012.
- Ghada Shouaa, (born 1972) heptathlete and Syria's only Olympic gold medal winner.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Hama Governorate. (in Arabic)
- ^ H̨amāh: Les villes les plus grandes avec des statistiques de la population, Gazetteer.de
- ^ Syria acting to safeguard chemical weapons, says Russia. BBC News. 2012-12-22.
- ^ a b Comité de l'Asie française (April 1933). "Notes sur la propriété foncière dans le Syrie centrale (Notes on Landownership in Central Syria)". Bulletin du Comité de l'Asie française (in French). 33 (309). Comité de l'Asie française: 130–137.
- ^ Reilly 2002, p. 102.
- ^ Douwes 2000, pp. 144, note 51, 181, 224.
- ^ Panchenko 2016.
- ^ United States - Department of State 1909, pp. 1385–1387.
- ^ Boulanger 1966, p. 369.
- ^ "′Those who don′t want to kill leave Syria′ | Middle East". Deutsche Welle. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
- ^ Westcott, Tom (26 September 2018). "Syria's Christian city: Seven years under fire at the Idlib frontline". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 2024-12-31.
- ^ "Russia dispatches forces to defend key Christian city in Syria". Al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
Bibliography
[edit]- Boulanger, Robert (1966). The Middle East: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran. Libraire Hachette.
- Panchenko, Constantin Alexandrovich (2016). Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans 1516–1831. Holy Trinity Publications.
- Reilly, James A. (2002). A Small Town in Syria: Ottoman Hama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Peter Lang. ISBN 3-906766-90-X.
- United States - Department of State (1909). Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Part 2. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
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