Hauran: Rise and Decline

Abstract

THE visitor to Hauran finds on all sides numerous remains of ancient civilizations, ranging from dolmens-the handiwork of primitive man-to the magnificent buildings and sculptures of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Sassanid craftsmen. These ruins testify to the antiquity of man's habitation in this territory east of the Jordan-the Bashan of the Bible.! They reflect the ebb and flow of victory and defeat in the eternal struggle of man against nature, and of man against man. History lies written in the stones of the ruins scattered on Hauran's hillsides and valleys and visible to all passers-by. But apart from these surface remains, who can tell what a wealth of historical material lies hidden beneath the soil of Hauran, one of the least explored districts of Syria. The spade of the excavator has hardly touched Hauran which is still a virgin field for the archaeologist. The history of Hauran is the history of human civilization, wrote Professor Henrik Scharling, the nineteenth century Danish traveller and explorer. He described Hauran with its ruined temples, gateways and pillars as a second Pompeii, a Pompeii not below but above the ground. The difference between the two ,vas that the treasures of Pompeii were