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Bosra

Location: Daraa Governorate

Bosra is a major ancient city that is put on an UNESCO Word Heritage Site. It is no surprise that it is one of the most popular destinations. The town of Bosra is first mentioned in the chronicles of an Egyptian pharaohs of Tutmose III and Akhenaton in the 14th century BC. Due to its strategic location on intersection of trade routes the city prospered under Nabateans, as a provincial capital under Romans, Byzantium and Muslim controls.

For the first time, the settlement is mentioned in documents from the time of Thutmose III and Amenhotep IV (XIV century BC). Bosra was the first Nabataean city in the second century BC. The Nabataean kingdom was conquered by Cornelius Palma, legate prophet of Syria, in 106.

Under the rule of the Roman Empire, Bosra was renamed Nova Trayana Bostra and became the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, Petra. The third legion of Cyrenaica was stationed here. The city flourished and became a metropolis at the intersection of several trade routes, including the Roman road Via Traiana Nova to the Red Sea. Two early Christian churches were built in Bosra in 246 and 247.

Subsequently, after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern, the city came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire and was conquered by the Sassanid Empire at the beginning of the seventh century, the city finally conquered the army of the Arab Caliphate under the command of Khalid ibn Walid in the Battle of Bosra in 634.

Today, Bosra is an important archaeological site where the ruins of Roman, Byzantine and Muslim times are located, as well as one of the best-preserved Roman theaters in the world, which hosts a national music festival every year (as of 2011).

Travel Destinations in Bosra