Ḥalbān; kōmē Olbanōn Complete

Description

A village in Jabal al-ʿAlā registered in TIB 15 on p. 1559 as kōmē Olbanōn. Also called Ḥalbān. Kōmē Olbanōn is the ancient name attested through one of the inscriptions found on site and in PAES III B1, 27, no. 871 William Prentice wonders if it was the Greek transcription of the Aramaic form of this toponym. Klaus Peter Todt and Bernard Andreas Vest in TIB list a tower and expect the presence of a monastery. The dated evidence from Ḥalbān stretches between the fourth and the sixth century. The inscriptions give two precise dates: 362 CE, and 534 CE (from the tower). There is also the One God/εἷς Θεός invocation, and three stonecutters are mentioned, Ioannes, Symeonios, and Leontios. Literature (after TIB 15): TIB 15 – Todt, K.P., Vest, B.A., Tabula Imperii Byzantini, vol. 15 (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), 1559; Peña, I., Lieux de pèlerinage en Syrie (Milan: Franciscan Printing Press, 2000), 13; 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), 18, Abb. 16. Syriac inscription: One bilingual Greek-Syriac: 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), no. 880 (IGLS IV 1899; Aggoula, B., "Studia Aramaica III: II. Deux inscriptions syriaques de la Syrie du Nord; III - Inscriptions syriaques de Syrie-Mésopotamie", Syria 69 (1992), p. 409, no. 3; CSLA.E01894) [Greek]; 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), no. 1 (CSLA.E01894); Aggoula, B., "Studia Aramaica III: II. Deux inscriptions syriaques de la Syrie du Nord; III - Inscriptions syriaques de Syrie-Mésopotamie", Syria 69 (1992), p. 409, no. 3 [Syriac]. Greek inscriptions: 12 Greek inscriptions (as listed in TIB 15, PAES, and IGLS): 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), 26, no. 869 = IGLS IV 315, no. 1890; 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), no. 870, 27-28, no. 872-873, 28-30, no. 876-880 = IGLS IV 316, no. 1892-1897; H. Lucas, II. Die Inschriften, in: M. von Oppenheim, H. Lucas, Griechische und lateinische Inschriften aus Syrien, Mesopotamien und Kleinasien, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 14 (1905), 32, No. 29 = PAES III B1, 27, No. 871 = IGLS IV, 314-315, No. 1889; 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), 28, no. 875 = IGLS IV, 315-316, No. 1891; IGLS IV, 318-319, no. 1900 (previously unpublished); Image and plan of the tower after: 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), 18, Abb. 16.