Hasbaya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hasbeya (حاصبيا)
Administration
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Nabatiyeh Governorate
District	Hasbaya District

Hasbeya or Hasbeiya (Arabic: حاصبيا‎) is a town in Lebanon, situated about 36 miles to the west of Damascus, at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani.

In 1911, the population was about 5000 (of which 4000 were Christians). Both sides of the valley were planted in terraces with olives, vines and other fruit trees. The grapes were either dried or made into a kind of syrup.

In 1846, an American Protestant mission was established in the town. This little community suffered much persecution at first from the Greek Church, and afterwards from the Druses, by whom in 1860 nearly 1000 Christians were massacred, while others escaped to Tyre or Sidon. The castle in Hasbeya was held by the crusaders under Count Oran but in 1171 the Druse emirs of the great Shebb family recaptured it. In 1205 this family was confirmed in the lordship of the town and district, which they held till the Turkish authorities took possession of the castle in the 19th century.

Near Hasbeya were bitumen pits let by the government; and to the north, at the source of the Hasbani, the ground is volcanic. Some travellers have attempted to identify Hasbeya with the biblical Baal-Gad or Baal-Hermon.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.