Bānastūr; Bānasṭūr; Bēṯ Nesṭōr[īōs]; Banastoûr Complete

Description

A ruined village in Jabal Simʿān registered in TIB 15 on p. 939 as Bānastūr. Also spelt" Bānasṭūr, Bēṯ Nesṭōr[īōs], Banastour, Banasṭour, and Banastoûr. The site has been subject to only very cursory archaeological research. Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest in TIB 15 notes the presence of early Byzantine (probably sixth-century) houses and a small monastery with a tower. However, a boundary stone authorized by Diocletian may mean that the village has a history of occupation prior to Late Antiquity. Literature (after TIB 15, p. 939): TIB 15 – Todt, K.P., Vest, B.A., Tabula Imperii Byzantini, vol. 15 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), p. 939; H. C. Butler (ed.) Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1905–5 and 1909. Division II: Architecture, Section B: Northern Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1920), 325; Tchalenko, G. (ed.), Villages antiques de la Syrie du Nord: Le Massif du Bélus a l'époque romaine (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1953), vol. 1, p. 153; vol. 3, p. 87; Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les Reclus Syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1980), 49, 50, 79, 146, 147, 199–202, 309, 310, 313, 327, 328 (Syriac inscriptions), 342, 343, 344, 379 (plan of the monastery), 409-410 (Greek graffiti), 427 (Syriac inscriptions, drawings); Hadjar, A., The Church of St. Simeon the Stylite and other Archaeological Sites in the Mountains of Simenon and Halaqa, tr. P. J. Amash (Aleppo: , 2002), 111, no. 18. 1. Syriac Inscriptions: E. Littmann (ed.), Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1905–5 and 1909. Division IV: Semitic Inscriptions. Section B: Syriac Inscriptions (Leiden: Brill, 1934), 48–49, no. 56 (name); Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les Reclus Syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1980), 327 (Syriac inscriptions – blessings and visitors' graffiti), 427 (Syriac inscriptions, drawings). Greek inscriptions: W.K. Prentice (ed.), Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1905–5 and 1909. Division III: Greek and Latin Inscriptions. Section B: Northern Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1922), 200, No. 1194 = IGLS II 385 (boundary stone); Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les Reclus Syriens (Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1980), 409-410 (Greek graffiti – servant of God with an image?). Plan of the monastery after Peña, I., Castellana, P., Fernandez, R., Les Reclus Syriens..., 379.