Anasartha

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Anasartha
native_name = Khanasser
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map_caption =Location in Syria
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pushpin_label_position =left
pushpin_mapsize =300
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Flag|Syria
subdivision_type1 = District
subdivision_name1 = As-Safirah District
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established_date = est. 4th century
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timezone = EET
utc_offset = +2
timezone_DST = EEST
utc_offset_DST = +3
latd=35 |latm=47 |lats=0 |latNS=N
longd=37 |longm=29 |longs=0 |longEW=E
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coordinates_type = type:city_region:SY
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area_code = Country code: 963
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blank_info =cite web|title=Khanasser, Halab, Syria|publisher=Travel Journals|url=http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/syria/map/m3497844/khanasser.html|accessdate=2008-09-06]

Anasartha was a large village enclosed within ramparts in western Syria. Malalas records that it was a "kastron" (fortified hilltop settlement) that was designated a "polis" by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I.

Today, Anasartha is referred to as Khanasser,France, 2007, p. 243.] and is located in Syria's As-Safirah District. It is one of 24 villages located in the Khanasser valley, an area with a total population of 11,000 people.cite journal|title=Multi-factorial causes of land-use change: land-use dynamics in the agropastoral village of Im Mial, northwestern Syria|authors=T. L. Nielsen and M. A. Zöbisch|journal=Land Degradation & Development|volume=Volume 12 Issue 2|pages=143-161|date=30 May 2001|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/82003548/abstract]

A "qanat" dating back to Byzantine times that served as the water source for the village remained operational well into the 20th century. According to Robert L. France, Byzantine-era remains of Anasartha "are visible on the street, in newly built walls, and inside residential houses," in Khanasser today.

History

Anasartha and its surrounding villages enjoyed a period of prosperity between the late 4th century and early 6th century, with the vast majority of the built houses and churches found in this region dating back to that period. The church in Anasartha itself dates back to 426 CE.Kennedy, 2006, p. 165.]

The bishop of Anasartha built a 'refuge' in neighbouring Bûz al-Khanzír in 506-507 CE.Kennedy, 2006, p. 166.]

While the "qanat" ceased to supply water to the village after the construction of pump wells in the area west of the Khanasser valley in 1975, the convert|12.0|km|mi|abbr=on|lk=on-long structure was described by Hamidé in 1959 as discharging 8 litres per second, irrigating a land area of convert|0.15|km2|acre|abbr=on|lk=on.France, 2007, p. 244.]

Epigraphic artifacts

Anasartha is the site of a number of inscriptions into stone, or epigraphs. For example, there is an inscription dated to 425 CE marking the burial place of Queen Mavia, the leader of Tanukh tribal confederation who mounted a revolt against Roman rule in the late 4th century.Ball, 2001, pp. 98–102.] Inscriptions dating to the late 6th and early 7th centuries include one on a lintel which reads:

By the gifts of (his) majesty (the) city, despising the inroad of the barbarians, set up at its gates its benefactors, (the) Saviour Christ, (her) gloriously victorious sovereigns, (the) renowned (commander), the prefects of the praetorium, also ? its most holy bishop, (and the?) most glorious engineer, in the month Gorpieos (September), in the 906th (?) year, indiction 13. + Jesus Christ, Emmanuel. + God over all.Greatrex and Lieu, 2002, pp. 244, 245.]

Another inscription found on the gate to the city, reads:

+ (Phocas) and Leontia, our most pious sovereigns, O Lord protect! + A pious branch that sprang from noble stock, Gregory, the renowned, and adorned with the fruits of his virtue, presented to God this wall also, in sparing his own country (the expense). Indiction 8, in the 916th year.

Geoffrey Greatrex and Samuel N. C. Lieu write that building work continued in Anasartha in the seventh century and that these epigraphs provide evidence of Roman resistance to Persian invasions.

Climate

A marginal dryland environment, the rainy season in Khanasser falls between October and May with an average annual rainfall of 210 millimetres. Variability between years is high, with 50% of the years between 1929 and 2004 receiving over convert|200.0|mm|in|abbr=on|lk=on, and 25% receiving over convert|250.0|mm|in|abbr=on|lk=on.

July and August are the hottest months with an average daily maximum temperature of C to F|37. The lowest average daily minimum temperature is C to F|2.3 in January. While the temperature can fall below C to F|0 at night in November and December, it hardly ever remains that low throughout the day.cite web|title=Sustainable Agricultural development for Marginal Dry Areas: Khanasser Valley Integrated Research Site|author=International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) & The Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS)|publisher=ICARDA|date=January 2005|url=http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:as_vr_uwJUgJ:www.icarda.cgiar.org/INRMsite/WorkshopBookletFinal_En.pdf]

Economy

Like most of the rest of the villagers of the Khanasser valley, those living in Anasartha derive their income from diverse sources, with the majority working either as agriculturalists, pastoralists, or land-poor labourers. Agriculturalists make a per capita income of US$1.30 to $2 per day, supplementing their income from the growing of crops with the fattening of animals and waged labour. Some 40% of the residents of the Khanasser valley are agriculturalists and this sub-section of the population comprises the major land-owning group in the area. Pastoralists and herders migrate, earning a per capita income of $1 to 1.50 per day and often take up fattening to supplement their incomes. Land-poor labourers own some land, between convert|0.035|km2|acre|abbr=on|lk=on and convert|0.07|km2|acre|abbr=on|lk=on, but make their income by working on the land of others, earning less than $1 per day.

References

Bibliography

*Citation|title=Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire|first1=Warwick|last1=Ball|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|ISBN=0415113768
*France, Robert L (2007). "Handbook of Regenerative Landscape Design". CRC Press. ISBN 0849391881, 9780849391880.
*Greatrex, Geoffrey and Samuel N. C. Lieu (2002). "The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars". Routledge. ISBN 0415146879, 9780415146876.
*Kennedy, Hugh (2006). "The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East". Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754659097, 9780754659099.