Attil, Suwayda

Attil (Arabic: عتيل, also spelled Atil) is a village in southern Syria, administratively part of the al-Suwayda District of the al-Suwayda Governorate. In the 2004 census, it had a population of 4,193. Its inhabitants are predominantly Druze, with a Sunni Muslim Bedouin minority.

History

In 1596 it appeared as Atil in the Ottoman tax registers, part of the nahiya (subdistrict) of Bani Nasiyya of the Hauran Sanjak. It had a population of 25 households, and 5 bachelors; all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 20% on various agricultural products, such as wheat (3750 a.), barley (1350 a.), summer crops (2500 a.), goats and/or beehives (160 a.), in addition to "occasional revenues" (150 a.); a total of 7,910 akçe. A quarter of the revenue went to a waqf.

In 1838 Eli Smith noted 'Atil as being located in Jebel Hauran, and inhabited by Druze.

Archaeology

Atill has been identified with ancient Atheila and contains two Roman-period temples that have been surveyed by multiple scholars since the 19th century.

Religious buildings

• Maqam Al-Sheikh Gharib (Druze Shrine)

See also

• Druze in Syria

Bibliography

• Hütteroth, W.-D.; Abdulfattah, K. (1977). . Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
• Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). . Vol. 3. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.