Archaeological Imperial Temple in Shahba a Witness to Great Civilization in Syria’s Southern Region

In the city of Shahba  to the north of Sweida ,  the Roman Imperial Temple stands as a model of ancient architecture and its walls tell a history dating back thousands of years.

Archaeologist  Hassan Hatoum told SANA  that the Roman Imperial Temple represents a large and organized architectural collection  around a large and paved square located to the southwest of the main Roman road (Decumanus) which was an East-West oriented road.

He  pointed  out that the French archaeologist  Melchior de Vogue’  named  in 1865  this unique architectural monument and  a series of other religious buildings in the region as  (Kalepe).  This term denotes religious buildings dedicated to the dwelling of the gods or their statues.

Hatoum indicated  that the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums acquired in 1974 the houses that   covered the large part of this archaeological building, which   contributed to showing the original remains of the building.

The archaeologist   noted  that many archaeological excavations and restoration work took place to highlight this historical building . The façade of the 30-meter-wide building, which overlooks the square from the western side, has been uncovered containing  three rooms. The middle of which is a large ( mehrab)  niche , topped by a dome and preceded on the eastern side by a large platform similar to the stage of the theater and its front façade is decorated with semicircular niches .  This platform overlooks another platform with the same width of the façade and  ends with a staircase that goes down to the large paved patio.

He  added that the archaeological excavations uncovered  domed architectural columns on which the platform and stairs were based.

It is noteworthy to mention that  Shahba city includes many important archaeological monuments that are still present till  this day, mainly  the Roman theater, the great archaeological baths, the (Filipino) cemetery, which was built as a funeral temple for the family of Emperor Philip the Arab, in addition to  Shahba Museum, which contains many mosaic paintings and the Roman Imperial Temple..

Rawaa Ghanam