Borj Rahal
برج رحال
Town
Borj Rahal main street
Borj Rahal main street
Borj Rahal is located in Lebanon
Borj Rahal
Borj Rahal
Coordinates: 33°18′35″N 35°16′57″E / 33.30972°N 35.28250°E / 33.30972; 35.28250
Grid position107/153 L
Country Lebanon
GovernorateSouth Governorate
DistrictTyre
Population
 (2015)[1]
 • Total2,625
Time zoneGMT +3

Borj Rahal (Arabic: برج رحال) is a town in the Tyre District in South Lebanon.

Name

The village's center, "Al Baydar"

According to E. H. Palmer in 1881, the name Burj Rahhal means "the traveller’s tower".[2]

History

In the 1860s, Ernest Renan found here seven singular constructions in a row, three being open, the rest closed. He was also informed that to the north-east of these, there were seven more hidden under grounds. The locals call them the Tombs of the Tyrian Kings, Kubur el Moluk.[3]

In 1875, Victor Guérin found here a village with 400 Metawileh inhabitants.[4] "Here are seen good cut stones lying here and there, taken from an ancient fort."[5]

He further noted: "Ten minutes to the west of the village I observed three good subterranean magazines contiguous and parallel. Partly cut in the rock and partly constructed of cut stones, they measure ten metres in length by a breadth not greater than a metre and a half. They are covered within by a stony cement, in which are inserted fragments of pottery, and arc surmounted by great inclined slabs forming a triangular roof. These are covered over by a layer of earth, so as to form a platform. Several other similar caves are adjoining them, but they are at the present moment closed. Formerly they probably served as oil and wine- cellars, or stores for corn. The place is called Kh. Mahatma."[5]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as: "A large village built of stone, containing 150 Metawileh, on a ridge, surrounded by figs, olives, and arable land. There is a good spring and well near."[6] They further noted: "A few more minutes to the west, Guérin found a ruin called Kh. Kerry el Meserta, where he observed the uprights of grooved oil-presses, broken sarcophagi, mill stones, numerous little cubes of mosaic scattered about, and a great cistern extending under a platform. At twenty minutes' march west-south-west of El Meserta, he observed a hillock with the remains of a ruined village called Kh. Halua. Not far from this place, to the east-north-east, he found a platform surrounded by a wall of large stones, having a great cistern hollowed in the middle. It is called Bir el Mellaha."[7]

References

  1. ↑ www.city-facts.com
  2. ↑ Palmer, 1881, p. 4
  3. ↑ Renan, 1864, pp. 643-644; as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 58
  4. ↑ Guérin, 1880, p. 248, as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 48
  5. 1 2 Guérin, 1880, p. 248, as given in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 58
  6. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 48
  7. ↑ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 58

Bibliography

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