Halboun

A mountain village at 1450 metres in the middle of the Qalamoun range, 27 kilometres northwest of Damascus. The 2004 census counted 6521 people. The valley carries the village’s own name — Wadi Halboun — and this is the closest high-valley walk to Damascus.

Getting there

27 kilometres northwest of Damascus. Administratively the village belongs to the al-Tall district; Rankous lies to the north, Talfita and Saidnaya to the northeast, Menin to the southeast, Bessima to the southwest. On the last stretch the road enters the valley and passes between two walls of rock. That gorge is the entrance to the village.

How long it takes

Two hours, taking in the village, the valley side and the ground where the remains stand. If you mean to walk in the valley, allow half a day.

What is there

There are several Roman remains in the village. The best known are two inscriptions dated to the reign of Herod Agrippa II, carrying the name of the village. Stretches of wall built of heavy blocks stand on the slope; it is not a prepared site but ground between the fields and the footpath. The sources say more of it lies under the soil around the village.

The history of the name

In ancient sources the village appears as Chalybon; it is in Strabo and in Ptolemy, and Ptolemy puts it on his map. The Hobah north of Damascus named in Genesis 14:15 is thought to be Halboun, and the relevant passage of the Dead Sea Scrolls writes Halboun outright. The British traveller Porter, in Five Years in Damascus published in 1855, describes the village at more length than anywhere else around it and writes that uncovering the ruins of Halboun could change something in history. The village’s ancient fame came from its wine, which went to Tyre and to the Persian court. That is a detail that stayed in the past.

What most people miss

The winter. Snow falls on Halboun all winter and in places reaches 5 metres; at 1450 metres the valley can close. For anyone who wants to go up in a snowy week there is only one correct sentence: ask before you set out. In spring the same valley is green and wet and the springs run.