Braykah: a Roman Temple and the Mound of Tell ad-Dubba

A village in a hollow ringed by rock, on the south-eastern edge of the Lajat. Braykah is known for two things: a small Roman temple studied in 1904 by the American archaeologist Howard Crosby Butler, and the mound of Tell ad-Dubba one kilometre south of the village. No dated source shows the temple’s present condition; the description below is of the building Butler saw.

What kind of place the village is

Braykah stands 895 metres above sea level, 15 kilometres from Suwayda and 8 from Shahba. The houses sit on alluvial soil carried in by the valleys, in a hollow enclosed on every side by rough lava ground, locally called the wa’r. The only way out is a narrow gorge called al-Sakra, which a valley also runs through. The fields lie outside the ring of rock.

What the temple was like

By the time Butler arrived the temple had been dismantled and rebuilt. Even so, much of its architecture was still in place, enough for a reliable reconstruction. It stands on a rectangular podium: a single hall with four columns across the front, the type known as tetrastyle prostyle. It measures roughly nine metres by ten. The columns have Ionic capitals, and the pediment is of the Syrian type, broken in the middle by an arch. Semicircular niches and engaged half-columns flank the entrance. Its building technique and style date it to the early 3rd century.

Tell ad-Dubba

A large mound one kilometre south of the village. It was once enclosed by a massive wall. Finds come from the Aramaean, Greek, Roman and Nabataean periods, and include Egyptian seals, which point to trade links with Damascus and Egypt. Its name is thought to come from an older name, Dubu. A spring that was well known until recently lies to the north-east. Arabic Wikipedia counts Tell ad-Dubba among nine main Bronze Age sites of the third millennium BC in the Lajat.

The village’s name and past

Braykah is identified with ancient Borechath Sabaon. The name appears in inscriptions from the sanctuary of Aumos, a local sun god, a few kilometres away at Dayr al-Laban; one man from the village is recorded there as a member of the Audenoi tribe. In the Ottoman tax register of 1596 the village is listed as Burayka: 6 households and 3 bachelors, paying 3500 akçe in all. In 1838 the American missionary Eli Smith noted that its people were Druze, Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians. The village also has a Druze shrine, Maqam al-Khidr.

Current situation and access

No dated source shows whether the temple still stands or whether it can be visited. Braykah lies between Shahba and Suwayda, and Suwayda governorate has been caught up in armed conflict since July 2025. On 23 August 2026 the newspaper Al-Watan reported that the Damascus–Suwayda road had been cut at the Umm al-Zaytoun checkpoint. Snack Syrian reported on 2 and 10 September 2026 that entry to and exit from the governorate were effectively restricted. This page describes what is at Braykah; it does not say the site can be visited today. Anyone thinking of going should first check the current situation with official sources.