As Safirah

"Sipri" redirects here. For the town in India, see Shivpuri.

For SIPRI, see Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

As Safirah السفيرة Sfireh, Sipri[1]
As Safirah Location in Syria
Coordinates: 36°04′N 37°22′E / 36.067°N 37.367°E / 36.067; 37.367
Country	Syria
Governorate	Aleppo Governorate
District	Al-Safirah District
Elevation	348 m (1,142 ft)
Population (2007 est.)
– Total	106,382
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	+3 (UTC)

As Safīrah (Arabic: السفيرة‎ As Safīra; North Syrian Arabic: Sfīre) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center for the As Safirah District. As Safīrah has an altitude of 348 meters (1,142 ft), and a population of 106,382 as of 2007, making it the 11th largest city per geographical entity in Syria.

Name

Medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi spells the name Asfīrah (أسفيرة), not As-Safīrah (السفيرة), which indicates that the definite article in the modern spelling is a result of hypercorrection.

As-Safīrah was known in pre-Islamic times as Sipri.^[1] Historians^[2] have suggested that the name Sipri may have come from the Akkadian word siparru meaning "bronze", which might indicate that copper was mined and bronze was worked there.

History

Since ancient times the city has been the distribution point for salt gathered from the nearby Sabkhat al-Jabbul.

Archeological findings

The Sfire I Treaty which may contain 8th C. BCE evidence of a deity called "Most High."

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Ball, Warwick (2006) "The desert edges" Syria: A Historical And Architectural Guide Interlink Publishing Group, Northampton, Massachusetts, page 157, ISBN 1-56656-665-7
2. ^ Notably Dossin and Lewy, see Sasson, Jack M. (1966) "A Sketch of North Syrian Economic Relations in the Middle Bronze Age" Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 9(3): pp. 161–181, page 169, note 2

External links

• Traditional dwellings in As Safirah "Traditional Architecture in Syria: a Mediterranean Dwelling", European Commission Meda-euromed Heritage, page 14, left-hand photo, and page 16, top right-hand photos.

Coordinates: 37°04′N 37°22′E / 37.067°N 37.367°E / 37.067; 37.367