Bosra Overview

Jacqueline Dentzer-Feydy
This grant will be used for the publication of the final report entitled Bosra nabatéenne. The Nabataean settlement in the eastern part of Bosra was excavated by a French archaeological team lead by Prof. Jean-Marie Dentzer from 1981 to 1991.

Bosra is located 100 km south of Damascus (Syria), in the southern part of a large volcanic area consisting of extinct volcanoes (Jabal al-‘Arab), fields of lava (Leja) and high fertile lands sloping south-west (Hawran). The city has grown in the middle of these fertile lands which receive 250 mm rain per year and water flowing from the Jabal al-‘Arab. The first known city, a Middle Bronze Age settlement enclosed in oval ramparts, was built near a permanent spring. Bosra is a well-known Romano-Byzantine city with porticoed streets, large public baths, public fountains, a circus and an exceptionally well-preserved Roman theater. The city is also well-known as a medieval, mainly Ayyubid, city with several mosques and madrasas and an impressive citadel built around the Roman theater. Before becoming the capital of the new Roman province of Arabia in 105/106 A.D., Bosra had also been the most important city of the northern part of the Nabataean realm, while Petra, the capital of the realm, was located in the land of Edom, in the southern part of modern Jordan. During the first century A.D. a new quarter of Bosra was laid out east of the main W.-E. street. After H.C. Butler’s exploration of Syria in the first years of the 20th century and until the eighties, a well-preserved gate with Nabataean capitals was the only known Nabataean building of this town.

For the French archaeological team, excavations in this eastern quarter of Bosra had several aims : 1) to pursue the study of the transitional period between the Hellenistic and Roman periods in southern Syria, begun in the sanctuary of Sî‘ (Jabal al-‘Arab) ; 2) to discover new aspects of Nabataean settlements in this area by comparing architectural planning, building techniques and ceramics with archaeological remains in Petra ; 3) to improve our knowledge of the most important antique city of southern Syria before its Roman development. The eastern gate with Nabataean capitals and the architectural complex around it were excavated and studied from 1981 to 1985. A new archaeological terrain was discovered when the Department of Antiquities in Bosra expropriated a large area of 19th-20th century houses in the eastern quarter. The excavations in this area revealed the remains of a very large 6th century church complex built above a first Christian building (ruined by seismic activities). This first Christian building was set up in a Nabataean porticoed courtyard with stuccoed capitals and decorative pink limestone slabs. This courtyard, partially explored deep under the 6th century church complex, was probably a part of the well-known Nabataean sanctuary of Dusarès, the god of the king Rabbel II (70-106).

Several preliminary articles have been published by Prof. J.-M. Dentzer et alii between 1985 and 2002 in various international reviews and acts of congresses. The final report on these excavations and studies will be published by the Institut Français du Proche-Orient in the series « Bibliothèque Archéologique et Historique » (B.A.H.). In this volume, thirteen contributors will present 1) the archaeological results and the architecture of the two main areas (the gate with Nabataean capitals and the Nabataean courtyard), 2) the Nabataean archaeological material carried out in other areas of the city and other pieces of evidence relating to the development of the city during the Nabataean period, 3) studies on archaeological finds, Nabataean inscriptions, coins and cults. The editors of the volume were given official permission by the Department of Antiquities of Syria to study and publish all relevant research material.