Al-Dumayr

Dumeir, also Dumair, Damir and Dumayr (Arabic: الضمير) is a city located 45 kilometers north-east of Damascus, Syria.

Dumeir ضمير Dumayr
Temple of Zeus Hypsistos, Dumeir
Dumeir Location in Syria
Coordinates: 33°38′31″N 36°41′34″E
Country	Syria
Governorate	Rif Dimashq
District	Douma
Subdistrict	al-Dumayr
Elevation	675 m (2,215 ft)
Population  (2004)
• Total	24,223
Time zone	UTC+3 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (EEST)

Archaeology

An altar dedicated to the Semitic deity, Baalshamin in 94 CE, now in the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, indicates that a Nabatean religious building previously stood on the site.

There is a reference to a building in a lawsuit in 216, however in 245 CE, in the reign of the Roman Emperor Philip the Arab, the Roman Temple of Dumeir, located in the center of the old town, was dedicated to Zeus Hypsistos The shape is highly unusual, and construction may have commenced as a public fountain or staging post, but in its final form it is clearly a temple.

It was fortified in the Arab period, the arch on the rear wall being filled in with stones and defensive devices. The temple has been restored as the result of much research and reconstruction work.^[1]

The Ghassanid phylarch (tribal king) al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith built a tower at Dumayr. A Greek inscription engraved by al-Mundhir credits himself for its construction and thanks God and St. Julian.^[2] A monastery associated with the Ghassanids called Dayr al-Matirun, likely an Arabicized version of the Greek martyrion, existed about 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) east of Dumayr.^[3]

Facilities

A cemetery was built in 1960 for the French casualties of WWI and WWII in Al-Dumayr.^[4] The Syrian Arab Air Force Al-Dumayr Military Airport is also located in Al-Dumayr.

See also

• Al-Dumayr offensive (April 2016)
• Desert castles - the Al-Dumayr qasr possibly dates to the Byzantine period, maybe built by the Ghassanids, but might be Umayyad as well^[5][6][7]

References

1. Burns, Ross (2009). The Monuments of Syria (3rd ed.). I. B. Taurus. pp. 147–148.
2. Shahid 2002, pp. 131, 133, 206
3. Shahid 2002, pp. 189–190
4. "Le cimetière militaire de Dmeir, en Syrie". souvenirfrancais-issy.com (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
5. Lenoir, Maurice (1999). "Dumayr, faux camp romain, vraie résidence palatiale" (PDF). Syria (in French). 76. Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient: 227–236 [233–234]. doi:10.3406/syria.1999.7614. Retrieved 8 March 2021.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. Genequand, Denis (2004). "Al-Bakhra (Avatha), from the Tetrarchic Fort to the Umayyad Castle". Levant. 36 (36). Council for British Research in the Levant: 225–242 [237–38]. doi:10.1179/lev.2004.36.1.225. S2CID 162256544. Retrieved 8 March 2021. The palatial residence in Dumayr, of which the date and history are still uncertain (Byzantine or early Islamic)
7. Hoyland, Robert (2017). Nehmé, Laïla; Al-Jallad, Ahmad (eds.). Two New Arabic Inscriptions: Arabian Castles and Christianity in the Umayyad Period. Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics. BRILL. p. 327-337 [330]. ISBN 9789004357617. Retrieved 8 March 2021. It is difficult to make a convincing case for a Ghassanid owner, since we have no residential buildings that can be confidently ascribed to a Ghassanid or any Arab tribal leader from the pre-Islamic period, whereas we have numerous examples of Umayyad palatial residences (Genequand 2003). [Referring to the "rather fine castle" at Khirbat al-Bayda', modern southern Syria] {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

Bibliography

• Shahid, Irfan (2002). Byzantium and the Arabs, Volume 2, Part 1. Washington, D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

External links

• Syrian Tourism Encyclopedia, Temple of Dumeir

33°38′31″N 36°41′34″E