Afqa Spring… The Secret of Life in “Palmyra”

Afqa spring is located to the west of the Palmyra oasis at the southwestern end of the city and at the foot of the Al-Kayed Mountain, as it extends 350 meters inside the al-Muntar Mountain.

Thanks to  Afqa spring, which flows from ancient caves, the Palmyra oasis was created, as the spring was the secret of life in the city of Palmyra, the icon of the Syrian Desert.

It dates back to more than six thousand years, and it is locally called a bathroom, as it is called Afqa, which means in the Aramaic language the water exit i.e. the spring.

At the entrance to the cave several carved stone altars were found (some of them are in Palmyra Museum), in addition to writings indicating that water was distributed to citizens within a 21-day cycle, on the orders of the sun god “Rahboul”,  as there is a responsible person who supervises this matter  called “al-Qayyim,” the Curator.

All the analyzes that has been conducted have proven that this water contains a good amount of sulfur and chlorine, and that it is rich with sodium and calcium, in addition to smaller quantities of magnesium, potassium and nickel.

Amal Farhat