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Husn Suleyman

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HobWahid
HobWahid
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3 out of 5
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Husn Suleyman

  • January 26, 2005
  • Rated 3 of 5 by HobWahid from Damascus, Syria
Husn Suleyman

Without a doubt, Husn Suleyman is the hardest site to find in all of Syria. The ruins are hidden deep in the Jebel Ansariye amidst a maze of narrow roads that snake through the mountains, destroying any sense of direction that you may still have. The maps we had were hopeless, and even though the guidebook had directions, we had to be cheeky and come from a completely different direction, rendering the guidebook useless. The one saving grace was that Syria loves to put up road signs, even if they often are just in Arabic. The major problem, though, is that sometimes when you are at an intersection of three roads, the direction the sign is pointing isn’t always clear. Thus, mainly by a lot of luck and a few stops for directions, about an hour and half after leaving Hama, we arrived at Husn Suleyman. It may not have been the most direct route, but nothing in Syria ever is.

Husn Suleyman is another one of the sights in Syria that fantastically displays its ancient past. First built as a Canaanite temple in the 4th century BC, Husn Suleyman then became a Phoenician center of worship. Before long it passed into the hands of the Romans, when the dedication of the temple switched from Baal to Jupiter and it remained so long after the region became heavily Christianized.

As you approach the temple, nestled in the center of a small villiage, from the hills above, it doesn’t look so spectacular, but once you park you car at the entrance and see the sheer size of the rocks forming the outer walls, all doubt dissipates. The rocks, larger than Volkswagens, are absolutely gigantic. When you consider the location of the temple, high up in the Jebel Ansariye, the rocks seem even more impressive as you try and imagine just how they managed to move these rocks around.

The entrance contains a nicely decorated lintel and two small alcoves on either side that presumably held statues. Once through the entrance, you are confronted with the enormous cella or inner-chamber of the temple with its long staircase leading up to what is now a few towering pillars and a pile of rocks. It is not hard to imagine, though, just how enormous the structure was 2,000 years ago. From the top of the cella, you get some good views of the surrounding mountains, although the view is destroyed a bit by the surrounding houses and villages. Much of this area exists mainly as a summer retreat for Syrians who escape to the mountains to enjoy the cooler air, but during the winter, the towns are all but empty. Thus, if you visit during the winter, you will no doubt be alone like I was, although due to the remoteness of the site, it is hard to imagine that it gets too crowded in summer either.

Across from the main temple complex is a small secondary temple, but not much remains besides the walls.

From journal Hama and the Orontes Valley

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