Salkhad

---

title: "Salkhad" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-salkhad-district", "cities-in-syria", "hebrew-bible-cities", "archaeological-sites-in-as-suwayda-governorate", "druze-communities-in-syria", "eastern-orthodox-christian-communities-in-syria", "christian-communities-in-syria"] topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salkhad" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Salkhad
native_name	صَلْخَد
settlement_type	City
image_skyline	Salkhad.jpg
imagesize	200
image_caption	Salkhad fortress
dot_x
pushpin_map	Syria
pushpin_label_position	bottom
pushpin_mapsize	250
pushpin_map_caption	Location in Syria
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Flag of the Syrian revolution.svg Syria
subdivision_type1	Governorate
subdivision_name1	Suwayda
subdivision_type2	District
subdivision_name2	Salkhad
subdivision_type3	Subdistrict
subdivision_name3	Salkhad
subdivision_type4	Control
leader_title1
established_title
established_title2
established_title3
unit_pref	Metric
area_total_km2
area_land_km2
population_as_of	2004 Census
population_total	9155
population_blank1_title	Ethnicities
population_blank2_title	Religions
coordinates
grid_name	PAL
grid_position	310/211
elevation_footnotes
elevation_m	1350
postal_code_type
area_code	16
::

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Salkhad () is a Syrian city in the Suwayda Governorate, southern Syria. It is the capital of Salkhad District, one of the governorate's three districts. It had a population of 9,155 inhabitants in the 2004 census. In Salkhad, Druze make up the predominant population, while Christians and Sunni Muslim Bedouins represent a minority.

It is located at 1350 metres above sea level in the central Jabal el Druze highlands.

History

The city is mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible as "Salcah" (), a settlement in biblical Bashan. Beginning in the second century BC Salcah was a flourishing Nabataean city, where the gods Dushara and Allat were worshiped. A dedication to the goddess Allat, dated to year 17 of the reign of Malichus II, son of Aretas IV (AD 57), survives from the first century AD.

Afterwards it was incorporated into the Roman province of Arabia, it was one of the important cities in Hauran during Roman and later Byzantine epochs, Salkhad is indicated in the Madaba mosaic map of the sixth century AD.

Due to the strategic position of the city overlooking Hauran plains to the west, the Ayyubid dynasty built a fortress in Salkhad between 1214–1247 to counter a possible attack of the Crusades into inner Hauran. It has also been said that Al-Afdal was exiled here by his uncle and brother.

The importance of the city decreased after the Crusades, and it was occasionally overrun by Bedouins seeking pasture in the summer for their flocks.

Ottoman era

In 1596, Salkhad appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as Salhad (Sarhad) and was part of the nahiya of Bani Malik as-Sadir in the Hauran Sanjak. It had a Muslim population consisting of 55 households and 25 bachelors, and a Christian population of 50 households and 20 bachelors. The residents paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and beehives; a total of 36,500 akçe.

In 1838 Eli Smith noted that the place in ruins.

A number of Greek Orthodox Christians, of Ghassanid ancestry, successively remained in the region. The town itself was abandoned in the late 18th century, but was repopulated by Druze and Greek Orthodox Christian families from Mount Lebanon beginning in 1858.

During Ottoman times, the city enjoyed a feudal-type autonomy like much of the Jabal el Druze area under the chieftaincy of Al-Hamdan family and later Al-Atrash family, many battles against the Ottoman Empire took place in this region by the Druze locals to maintain their autonomy.

Modern era

In the early 20th century, the city was part of the 1921–1936 Druze state under the French Mandate of Syria, the state was gradually incorporated into Syria after the Syrian Revolution of 1925–1927 led by Sultan Al-Atrash.

The city now is the centre of Salkhad district of Suwayda Governorate, it is the southernmost district in Syria.

Religious buildings

• St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church
• Evangelical Baptist Church
• Maqam Sultan Suleiman (Druze Shrine)

Climate

Salkhad has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk). In winter there is more rainfall than in summer. The average annual temperature in Salkhad is 14.8 °C. About 291 mm of precipitation falls annually.

|metric first=y |single line=y |collapsed = Y |location = Salkhad, elevation 1447 m |Jan high C = 8.5 |Feb high C = 9.1 |Mar high C = 12.8 |Apr high C = 17.6 |May high C = 23.0 |Jun high C = 27.2 |Jul high C = 28.5 |Aug high C = 29.2 |Sep high C = 27.2 |Oct high C = 26.2 |Nov high C = 16.6 |Dec high C = 10.3 | year high C = |Jan mean C = 3.4 |Feb mean C = 5.3 |Mar mean C = 8.3 |Apr mean C = 12.6 |May mean C = 17.2 |Jun mean C = 21.1 |Jul mean C = 22.5 |Aug mean C = 23.1 |Sep mean C = 21.2 |Oct mean C = 19.2 |Nov mean C = 11.8 |Dec mean C = 6.5 | year mean C = |Jan low C = -1.8 |Feb low C = 1.5 |Mar low C = 3.7 |Apr low C = 7.5 |May low C = 11.5 |Jun low C = 14.8 |Jul low C = 16.3 |Aug low C = 17.0 |Sep low C = 15.3 |Oct low C = 12.1 |Nov low C = 7.1 |Dec low C = 2.5 | year low C = |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 80 |Feb precipitation mm = 62 |Mar precipitation mm = 65 |Apr precipitation mm = 27 |May precipitation mm = 8 |Jun precipitation mm = 0 |Jul precipitation mm = 0 |Aug precipitation mm = 0 |Sep precipitation mm = 0 |Oct precipitation mm = 10 |Nov precipitation mm = 26 |Dec precipitation mm = 60 |year precipitation mm = | source 1 = FAO{{cite web | url = https://www.fao.org/land-water/land/land-governance/land-resources-planning-toolbox/category/details/fr/c/1028000/ | title = World-wide Agroclimatic Data of FAO (FAOCLIM) | publisher= Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations | access-date = 21 December 2024}}

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Air_views_of_Palestine.Villages_in_the_Hauran(Land_of_Gilead)._Castle_of_Salkhad._A_mediaeval_monument_in_the_land_of_Gilead_LOC_matpc.15957.tif" caption="Castle of Salkhad, 1932"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Jebel_el-Druze_&_Hauran._Salkhad._View_of_town_from_castle_hill_LOC_matpc.17218.jpg" caption="View of town from castle, 1938"] ::

Archaeology

The fortress of Salkhad is the most important monument located in a hill inside the city, built between 1214 and 1247 by the Ayyubid dynasty as a part of their defences against the crusades. It is said that this fortress were built in the site of older Roman fortifications. A hexagonal basalt minaret still standing intact in the city's main square. Many Roman old time houses, still partially inhabited by locals. Nabatean, Roman and Ayyubid tombs are also there with decorative motifs.

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book | last1= Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth | last2 =Abdulfattah|first2=K. |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah | title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn= 3-920405-41-2}}

References

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20140307124517/http://www.cbssyr.sy/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB13-4-2004.htm
3. "Druze communities in the Middle East". British Druze Society.
4. "Topical Bible: Salcah".
5. "Hebrew Concordance: sal·ḵāh -- 3 Occurrences".
6. Millar, Fergus. (1995). "The Roman Near East: 31 BC–AD 337". Harvard University Press.
7. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 211.
8. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/160/mode/1up 160]
9. Firro, 1992, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=usEUXYnYWxAC&pg=PA152 152]
10. https://albishara.net/church/details/3128

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