Baqirha, Bāķirḥā; was an ancient settlement in the Dead Cities area in northwest Syria. The ruins of a temple from Roman times and the remains of two churches and some residences from early Byzantine times have been preserved.
Location
Baqirha lies on a hill called Burj Baqirha (Burj: Arabic برج"Tower") in Idlib Governorate on the northern slope of the Harim Mountains in the central area of the northern Syrian limestone massif. Six kilometers to the northeast lies the ancient settlement of Ba'uda on the same karst and treeless rock hill, from which the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on the main road from Aleppo to Antakya in Turkey can be seen just under two kilometers away. A few hundred meters north below Baqirha, the road leads to the poorly preserved neighboring village of Dar Qitapast. In a southerly direction it is two kilometers to a crossroads in the tiny village of Ras ibn Hosn and another four kilometers to the south to the extensive early Byzantine settlement of Barisha, whose ruined houses are hidden between trees and bushes, unlike the Baqirha, which can be seen from afar. The large settlement of Dehes is just as far southwest of Baqirha.
Above Baqirha only a few small olive trees thrive, otherwise grassland littered with boulders is predominant, which is used as pasture for sheep and horses. The ruins are uninhabited and there are several small villages in the vicinity.
History
Temple
The oldest building is a Roman prostyle temple, which stands at the upper, southern end away from the settlement near the street. It may have been built on the site of a much older sanctuary. The temple from the year 161 AD was dedicated to Zeus Bomos (" Zeus, the altar"), a local name for the main Syrian god Baal. Zeus' temples were often built on mountains; another was in close proximity on the summit of Jebel Sheikh Baraqat (south of Refade), and several around the summit of Hermon. It is not known which deity was worshiped in the temple of Babisqa, two kilometers to the east.
Above the base of the temple, which is comparable to the Baal Shamin temple in Palmyra, a rectangular building made of mighty limestone blocks rose, to which an entrance hall with four pillars was presented on the west side. The eastern rear wall up to the gable and part of the north wall were preserved. In front of the temple are the sections of the collapsed columns and Corinthian capitals.
Two houses from the 3rd century are preserved in ruins, the remaining ruins date from the 4th to 7th centuries. The religious dispute in the 4th century seems to have only gradually been decided in Baqirha in favor of Christianity. Soon after the reign of the Roman emperor Julian (360–363), the first Christians are documented in writing. From 384 a deacon named Mikalos owned his own house. At the same time, Zeus was worshiped here and in Dar Qita until the end of the 5th century.
Western church
The earlier and poorly preserved of the two churches is the West Church, which Butler said was built in 501. When dating, he relies on an inscription that was not on the church building, but above the northern entrance of the enclosure wall of the Temenos. There was probably a previous building which, according to Butler, dates from the 4th century. Strube dates this first building to 416. The date can be read on the dedication above the east of the two doors on the south side, i.e. the entrance for the male parishioners. There three names are mentioned: "Kyriakos Presbyteros", who was also an architect, "Mikalos Diakonos" and a "Krisianos". Above the western door that led to the rear women's area read: “There is one God and his Christ and the Holy Spirit. May he help those who fear him."