A pile of roughly-hewn blocks of stone, black houses amid black rocks, Bosra seems to have fallen asleep. The vast plain of the Hauran all around - golden with wheat and barely from May on wards - only serves to emphasize Bosra’s isolation. The place remains a prisoner of its glorious past.

An extraordinary town

The ruins of this past rise incongruously among the houses of the present town; columns with splendid acanthus capitals and minarets; gigantic arches which now span unimportant streets; great pools, built to supply a metropolis with water, now seem out of all proportion; the main street is being dug up to find the paving of the former decumanus. Groups of patriarchal figures, white-turbaned and mustachioed, pursuing their endless conversations in shady corners, only serve to heighten the impression of timelessness given by this extraordinary town.

Mentioned in the list of Tutmose III and in the letters of Al Amarna (in the archives of the Pharaoh Ahkhenaton, 1334 BC), Bosra, also referred to in the Bible, became one of the leading Nabatean cities (1^st century) before being made the capital of the Province of Arabia by its Roman conquerors (106 AD). As a crossroads on the caravan routes and residence of the Imperial Legate, the city flourished and many fine buildings were erected. It still continued to expand and flourish after the decline of the Roman Empire. As the seat of an archbishop, Bosra played an important role in the history of early Christianity - as well as having links with the beginnings of Islam. According to tradition, the uncle of Muhammad greatly enjoyed his conversation here with a Nestorian monk named Bahira, who is said to have predicated the prophetic vocation of his nephew.

Bosra was the first city in Syria to become Muslim. Her square minarets are no doubt the oldest, still standing, in whole of Islam. The significance of the city as an important halt on the way to Mecca, and the prosperity that this brought, lasted until the 17^th century. By then the region was becoming unsafe and the pilgrims began to take a less dangerous route further west.

Today, the international highway to Amman and Arabia crosses the Syria frontier at Dara'a; Bosra, forty kilometers away, is now merely the terminus of a narrow-gauge railway with a little old-fashioned train which runs twice a week. But this ancient train comes to a halt at the foot of one of the most extraordinary monuments in all the Middle East - the fortress-theater recently and beautifully restored, where the best ballet, theater and folklore companies give performances every summer. This remarkable building is gradually bringing new life to Bosra through tourism.

A Roman theater in an Arab citadel

From outside it could be an Arab fortress similar to many others. On a semi-circular front, great square towers built of enormous blocks of stone (some of the corner ones are more than five meters high), project from the blind ramparts. A deep ditch, the first line of defense, is crossed on a six-arched bridge. An iron-bound gate, series of vaulted rooms, twisting passages, rampart walks, and all kinds of defensive works, given an impression of the military quality of the castle, but nothing prepares us for the discovery that right at its heart lies a splendid ancient theater!

The two structures, both equally fine, are closely engrafted into each other. The 13^th-enclosing wall completely encircles the cavea of the theater. When the Arabs entered into Bosra they immediately blocked all the doors and opening of the ancient theater with thick walls, thus transforming it into an easily-defensible citadel. But the new threats posed by the Crusaders rendered these early defenses inadequate; so in the mid-11^th century three towers were built, jutting out from the Roman building; nine other bigger ones followed, between 1202 and 1251. Later accretions overlaid the interior of the theater and its ranges of seats, but at the same time preserved them. This interior has now been fully uncovered and restored in all its majestic entirety by the Department of Antiquities, which began its work here shortly after Syria became independent.

There is room for fifteen thousand spectators to face a stage 45 meters long and 8.5 meters deep, and a stage wall whose base is emphasize by a series of Corinthian columns. Many details of its architecture proclaim the perfection of its construction and the concern of its 2^nd century builders for the comfort of the audience.

Furthermore, sources reveal that the whole amphitheater was draped with silk hangings that protected audience from both the summer sun and the winter rain. Perfumed water was also evaporated in the theater - the ultimate touch of style and refinement.

The open-air popular art museum

A cafeteria has been installed in the largest tower - the one to the west. On the terrace leading to it, a selection of classical sculptures have been arranged to form an open-air museum. There are some fine female figures similar to those at Soueida carved in hard lava stone reddish in the brilliant sunshine.

Bosra’s ancient remains lie scattered in all directions and over wide area.

From the theatre-fortress a narrow road with ancient paving stones runs alongside the southern baths before coming to the decumanus, near a triple arch known as Bab al Kandil (the Gate of the Lantern). It was built in the 3^rd century, in honor of the Third Cyrenaica Legion, garrisoned here at Bosra.

Where Rome, Byzantium and Islam all meet

Following the decumanus to the left, towards the west and the Damascus road, we pass first of all a series of small basement windows set in a hundred-meter wall which turns out to be the outside of a vast cryptoporticus which was survived almost intact. It is a vast dark vaulted passageway and served as a warehouse foe imported goods and as a store for products destined for export. This great cellar had three doors opening onto the forum. A tetrapylon a building with four pilasters) whose foundations have been recently excavated, marked the junction of decumanus and the cardo - the two axes of the city - which were both lined with porticoes that have now disappeared. A doubles-storied archway marks the western entrance to the city. Bab al Hawa, the Gate of the Wind.

If, coming down from the theatre and the central arch, we turn right rather than left along the decumanus, our eye is caught by a group of tall slender columns. The first four, set at an angle to the street, are supposed to be the only surviving elements of Nymphaeun. It is worth noting that the road leading from the four columns to the Omar mosque striking alongside the market (Khan al Dibs) has recently been cleared. On the other side of the street, two columns 25metres apart, one of which is joined to the neighboring wall by a rich entablature, are said to have been part of a "kalybea", a religious building unique to this region. The eastern exit to the town was marked by an archway which, unlike the Gate of the Wind (to the west), is said to date from the first century, the Nabatean period, of which nearly all traces are now lost, the Romans having transformed the entire city. This Nabatean gateway is unique in all Syria. Petra (in present-day Jordan) is the only place where there are similar ones, indicating the existence of pre-Roman Arab civilization.

In the vicinity of the Nabatean gateway

Beyond the Nabatean gateway a network of streets leads, on the right, to a large double-storied house which may have been an imperial palace at the time of Trajan. Near to Birkat al Hajj (south-east of the town), the Madrassa A.D. Dabbagha, otherwise known as the Madrassa Abu El-Fida, is a vast rectangular room whose roof is supported by six very fine arches resting on embedded columns. The minaret, which dates back to 1225, has neither a ceiling nor a stairway.

At a stone’s throw from the Madrassa lies the Yaqout mosque which dates from 1257. Beyond the walls lies the great southern reservoir, Birkat al Hajj, a pool 155 meters by 122, and 4 meters deep, although half filled up. From there it is easy to get back to the theatre-citadel. Leaving the Nabatean gate on the left we soon arrive at the ruins of a great building whose walls are pierced by many round-headed arches. This is the St. Serge, Bachus and Leontus Cathedral, built in 512, the first domed building to be built on a square ground plan. The Emperor Justinian was inspired by this cathedral in the building of St Sophia at Constantinople.

About thirty meters to the north of the cathedral there is a building whose walls, intact up to roof level, plainly indicate that it is a church. This is the 3^rd-4^th-century basilica, site of the famous encounter between Bahira and Muhammad.

Some delightful rustic mosque

All that remains of the Fatima Mosque (which stands between the cathedral and the church of Bahira) is its minaret, pathetic in its isolation but elegant nonetheless, with little twin openings high up on its wall.

The al Mabrak Mosque, which recalls another visit by the Prophet to Bosra is to be found outside the city, to the north-east. Thousands of graves, with great stelae of black basalt on them, keep watch at the foot of its walls, which rise unadorned like those of some isolated bastion.

The Mosque of Omar in the center of the town (called Jami-al Arouss, "the bridal mosque" by the Bosriots), was a pagan temple to begin with. It is the only mosque surviving from the early Islamic period to preserve its original facades. All its columns remain in place. Many bear inscriptions in Greek, Latin or Nabatean. Its fine square minaret dates only from the 12^th century.

Mamluk architecture

The Manjak Hammam, dating back to 1372, is a prototype of Mamluk architecture. Founded by Manjak Al Youssoufi (Governor of the Damascus province), this was the last Islamic edifice to be built in Bosra. It shows how important this town was right up until a late date in the Middle Ages. As it was situated at the crossroads of trade routes, Bosra was also a stop-off point for Muslim pilgrims heading to the holy towns of Mecca and Medina.

The al khidr mosque, 200 meters south of the al Jahir spring, is considered to be one of Bosra’s oldest Islamic constructions. Built out of black basalt in 1134 on the site of an earlier seven meters long. Its twelve meter high minaret was built one and a half meters to the west of the mosque. Arabic inscriptions engraved in the plaster can be seen above the mihrab.

Surroundings rich in vestiges

Visiting this prodigal town or venturing on into southernmost Syria where the little roads and small but drivable tracks lead to villages rich in historic vestiges, is no longer problematic as a modern hotel (the Bosra Cham Palace) has recently been built in Bosra.

Some sites are specially of interest to experts , whilst others can be more generally appreciated.

Salkhad (23 km east of Bosra on a surfaced road) has a citadel dating from the time of the Crusades. A circular structure rises above a steep glacis to crown a volcanic hill.

At Al Inat (26 km south-east of Salkhad by track) there is a great reservoir (birkeh) dug out of the rock in 1238 - 1240, as an Arabic inscription informs us. Further out, at Umm Al Qotein, almost on the Syro-Jordanian frontier, there are extensive ruins.

Another track leads from Salkhad south to Anz (13 km) where there are also ancient ruins.