Lajat

ic stone structures in the Lajat Lajat's ancient name "Trachonitis" signifies the land associated with the trachon, "a rugged stony tract." There are two volcanic districts south and east of Damascus, to which the Greeks applied this name: that to the northwest of the mountain of Jabal al-Druze (Jabal Hauran) is called in Arabic, el-Leja, which means "the refuge" or "asylum". ==Geography==

The Lajat is situated in southeastern Syria, spanning a triangle-shaped area between the 45-kilometer Izra'-Shahba line in the south 48 kilometers northward to the vicinity of Burraq. It is about 50 kilometers south of Damascus. Many of its volcanic cones are higher than 1,000 meters above sea level, with the highest, just west of Shahba, at 1,159 meters. Much of the Lajat is covered by gray, disintegrated lava fields that form jagged basalt boulders, though there are some areas of smoother, rocky ground punctured with holes. The holes were formed from gas bubbles caused by cooling lava that flowed over the uneven landscape. Thus, by the modern era, every village contained rectangular cisterns to store rainwater, which serves as the main source of water. ==History==

Antiquity Early history In ancient times, Trachonitis included the regions of Lajat and the Tulul as-Safa to its east. To address the issue of local brigands, Herod settled 3,000 Idumaeans in Trachonitis. Later, around 7 BCE, Herod invited Zamaris, a Jew from Babylonia, and his contingent of 500 mounted archers to settled the village of Bathyra in Batanea (possibly near modern-day as-Sanamayn), This settlement, led by the family of Zamaris, was tasked with protecting the people of Batanea from Trachonite brigands and ensuring the safety of Jewish pilgrims traveling from Babylonia to Jerusalem. According to Josephus, these troops were accompanied by settlers from various places who were dedicated to the "ta patria of the Jews". With Herod's death in 4 BCE, Trachonitis was given to his son Philip the Tetrarch. After the latter's death, circa 34 CE, the area was incorporated into the province of Syria. in the first century CE. (ancient Phillipopolis), located in the southeastern edge of Lajat During the Roman era, Trachonitis' inhabitants gradually became settled and gained exemption from taxation. The main Nabatean tribes of the town were the Sammenoi and the Migdalenoi (migrants from nearby al-Mujaydil). There are at least thirty sites in the Lajat with ruins tracing back to the Byzantine era. One of the earliest known Christian communities in Trachonitis was Sur (ancient name unknown), which had a Christian edifice dated to 458. Zorava was the cosmopolitan capital of Byzantine Trachonitis. There are no earlier indications of a Christian presence in Zorava. According to historian H. Gaube, the Lajat was likely settled by refugees from other parts of Syria due to the pressures of the Mongol invasions. Two Druze villages, Umm al-Zaytun and Lahithah, existed in the interior of the Lajat in the early 19th century. Major Druze settlement began in the aftermath of the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. Ismail al-Atrash led the Druze in their battles with the Sulut, while the prominent Druze clans of al-Hamdan and Bani Amer aligned with the Sulut against their chief rival, the Bani al-Atrash. Lajat was designated a World Biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2009. ==Biblical references==

An extremely rugged region, sixty walled cities were on the island, which was ruled over by Og at the time of the Israelite conquest (; ). Later, Lajat, in Bashan, was one of Solomon's commissariat districts. In Luke's Gospel, the region was called Trachonitis ("the rugged region") (Luke 3:1). This region formed part of Herod Philip's tetrarchy - it is only referred to once, in the phrase tes Itouraias kai Trachbnitidos choras, literally, "of the Iturean and Trachonian region". :Here "sixty walled cities are still traceable in a space of 308 square miles. The architecture is ponderous and massive. Solid walls 4 feet thick, and stones on one another without cement; the roofs enormous slabs of basaltic rock, like iron; the doors and gates are of stone 18 inches thick, secured by ponderous bars. The land bears still the appearance of having been called the 'land of giants' under the giant Og." :"I have more than once entered a deserted city in the evening, taken possession of a comfortable house, and spent the night in peace. Many of the houses in the ancient cities of Bashan are perfect, as if only finished yesterday. The walls are sound, the roofs unbroken, and even the window-shutters in their places. These ancient cities of Bashan probably contain the very oldest specimens of domestic architecture in the world" (Porter, 1867). ==Population==

Most of the inhabited areas of the Lajat are along its fringes, with only a few scattered villages in the interior. The interior villages lay in relatively stone-less depressions. Most villages were built among the Lajat's ancient ruins. Historically, the population of the Lajat consisted of nomadic and semi-nomadic Bedouin tribesmen, peasants from the Hauran plain who occasionally used it as a refuge, and beginning in the 19th century, Druze from Jabal al-Druze who settled it and/or occasionally used it for refuge or to exploit resources. The Lajat was also used as a grazing area for sheep, goats and camels. By the early 20th century, about 5,000 semi-nomadic Bedouin from the Sulut tribe and a smaller population of Bedouin from the Fahsa tribe inhabited the Lajat. Alongside them were about 10,000 Druze peasants who lived along the eastern and southeastern edges and to a lesser extent in the interior. Populated places in the Lajat ==Maps==

File:Rijk Herodes de Grote.PNG File:Trachonitis zur Römerzeit.jpg File:Trachonitis.jpg File:1889 Palestine, geological.jpg File:1889 Palestine, physical.jpg File:1889 Palestine in the beginning of the Christian Era.jpg File:Palestine in the time of Jesus.jpg File:Near east lrg.jpg ==References==