Nawa (Arabic: نَوَىٰ, romanized: Nawā) is a city in Syria, administratively belonging to the Daraa Governorate. It has an altitude of 568 meters (1,864 ft). In 2007 it had a population of 59,170, making it the 28th largest city per geographical entity[clarification needed] in Syria.
Numerous basalt architectural elements from the Byzantine period, bearing Jewish symbols—most prominently the menorah—were discovered reused as spolia within Nawa (A. Reifenberg, 'Ancient Hebrew Arts', 1952).[clarification needed]
By the 13th century, its status declined; Yaqut al-Hamawi recorded in 1225 that Nawa was "a small town of the Hauran," formerly the capital of the region. He describe it as the city where Job dwelled in and the burial place of Shem, the son of Noah.[7] In 1233, Imam Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, a prominent Muslim scholar, was born in the city.[8]
Ottoman period
In 1596 Nawa appeared in the Ottomantax registers as Nawi and was part of the nahiya of Jaydur in the Hauran Sanjak. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 102 households and 43 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and/or beehives; a total of 26,000 akçe.[9]
Syrian civil war
In July 2018, the citizens of Nawa were subject to heavy Syrian government and Russian military bombardment, in an effort to rid the city from its anti-government forces.[10]
Isaac, mentioned by Le Quien as a third bishop, of about 540 (Oriens christiana, II, 864), was a bishop not of Neve but of Nineve, and lived at the end of the seventh century ("Échos d'Orient", IV, 11).[1]
The Diocese of Neve is noticed in the Notitia episcopatuum of the patriarchate of Antioch in the 6th century ("Échos d'Orient", X, 145).[1]
^ abGoodman, Martin (2002), Jews in a Graeco-Roman World, Clarendon Press: Oxford, p. 70 ISBN0-19-815078-4.
^ abHüttenmeister and Reeg (1977), Die antiken Synagogen in Israel ('The Ancient Synagogues in Israel', in German), vol. 1, Wiesbaden, pp. 336–339 ISBN3920153685.