Sweida city ..an open-air museum

Sweida, SANA- Sweida city, with its monuments, lanes and alleys, constitutes an open-air museum that amazes those who visit it and leaves in the imagination the imprint of bygone eras. Sweida tourism Director Ya’rub al-Arbeed said, in a statement to SANA reporter, that Sweida throughout its history, has been titled with many names, such as (Jera Noai), an Assyrian name meaning hollow land, and (Trahunitide), a Greek name meaning land of stones. Al-Arbeed added that Sweida was also known as (Aurantide) or (Aurantes), which is a Roman name meaning the land of the cave, and (as for Danus), where the Romans gave it this name for its resources and the availability of pure water springs in it, and (Bashan), which is the name given to it by the Canaanites, which means the land of fertility and water. According to researcher in archeology of the region, Hassan Hatoum, many civilizations have passed through Sweida city as it still preserves various monuments of Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine style buildings. The ancient city consists of three neighborhoods built during different eras, on the northwest side is the first city (Sawada), whose construction dates back to the Bronze and Iron Ages (Canaanite and Aramaic eras), and the eastern side has a neighborhood dating back to the pre-Roman era from the end of the Hellenistic era in addition to the south side, there is the neighborhood that dates back to the Byzantine era, starting from the 2nd century AD until the 6th century AD.