A Dance to the Music of Time

SYRIA TODAY, August 2005, www.syria-today.com

Every two years the Ministry of Culture hosts the International Bosra Festival, where participants from around the world dance the night away and make merry in some of the most spectacular Roman ruins in the world. By Brooke Carr and Dalia Haidar.    On September 1, the southern Syrian city of Bosra will host the 18th International Bosra festival. The festival will showcase a number of international musical, dance and theatre groups all aimed at exchanging and enriching cultural identities in the glorious settings of some of the most well preserved ruins from the ancient world.

More than 20 countries have been invited to this year’s festival, including Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and Palestine. Each participating country will present a range of dance, music and cultural items throughout the festival which lasts for 10 days. The International Festival, held once every two years under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, is meant to not only encourage cultural exchange, but also to promote Syrian heritage through archeological sites. ‘This kind of communication with the world gives the real impression and view about Syrian society and Syrian nature more than the political media,’ Jihad Al-Zoughbi, assistant to the Theatres Manager in the Ministry of Culture said. So, when you’re done with dancing, surfeit with singing and simply complete with culture, you can get out and about and see Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ruins and wander with the ghosts of time past through the remaining vestiges of this impressive city.

Bosra is all that remains of the town of Bousra or Niatrojana Bostra. The town fell to the Romans and eventually became capital of the Roman Provincia Arabia in 106AD. The sudden influx of people and soldiers to the area - the inevitable accompaniment to the creation of a local Roman capital - greatly swelled the population and realigned the social structure with that of Rome, rather than that of its previous, largely Nabatean population, trader people who lived across what today is the border between Syria and Jordan.

Bosra was considered to be one of the 'granaries of the empire' and the emperor Trajan personally oversaw the building of the road from Aqaba in modern day Jordan to Bosra that took place between 111-114 AD.

The area is rich in cultural, historical and religious relics. The ruins of a 4th century church are all that remains of the Cathedral of Bosra, built in 512AD. The church is dedicated to three Syrian martyrs, Saints Leontius, Bacchus and Sergius. It was home to an archbishop who supervised more than 30 priests in the area. A monophysite church, its doctrinal beliefs caused it to come into conflict with the church in Constantinople (Istanbul). Famously it was here that a monk named Buheira met with a young boy traveling through the area. Having spent an afternoon in theological discussions, the monk predicted that the boy would become a great prophet and messenger for God. The boy's name? Mohammad.

In a subsequent irony, Bosra became the first Byzantine city to fall to the Arab Muslims in 632AD. The prime location of the city on the great pilgrim route between Damascus and Mecca meant that it continued to flourish for many years. Later, under the Mamelukes, the pilgrim routes moved westward and Bosra fell into disuse. The town came to life again when Druze families migrated there from Lebanon in the 18th and 19th centuries.

UNESCO granted Bosra world heritage status in 1980, and there are many programmes and public works to preserve the area. But while UNESCO seeks to protect the area through preservation and restoration, the Syrian Ministry of Culture is doing its best to safeguard the area for future generations in a more pragmatic way. By using the magnificent Roman amphitheatre for the purpose for which it was built, namely as a place of entertainment, the Ministry of Culture hopes to not only draw crowds to the area which will of course bring revenue, they also hope to keep this artifact of the ancient world as alive and relevant to the modern world as it was to its original designers and builders. In the end, these are the ties that bind us to our past and our future. As Jihad Al-Zoughbi said: ‘The popular arts are human culture that reflects the environment and the society of countries.’

What to See in Bosra

• The city’s ruins are of either Roman, Byzantine or Islamic origin. Like all Roman towns, it is built on a grid system which should make it easy to navigate around. Must see locations are:  • The splendid Roman amphitheatre, miraculously preserved, which seats 15 000 people. Engineered in such a way that human voices can be heard from the stage in all parts of the theatre without the need to shout.  • The Cathedral of Bosra  • The Umari Mosque – with an inscription on the walls dating back to 720AD, the 3rd oldest surviving mosque in the world  • The monumental arch on the Decumanus Maximus.

Other sites worth visiting include:

The Roman Baths, the Nabatean arch, the Mameluke Baths, the Mosques of Fatimaand Mabrak, Bab al Hawa (gate of the wind), Bab al Qandil (gate of the lantern), the folklore museum, the nymphaneum (public fountain) and the Roman cistern.

How do I get there?

Bosra is approximately 140km south of Damascus, about 2hours traveling by bus or car. Buses to Bosra leave the Baramkeh terminal every 2hours. Check out www.syriatourism.org or call the tourist office on 015790180