Hit (Ancient Eitha)

Hit is a small village north-east of Shahba, at the northern end of Jabal al-Arab. Under it lies ancient Eitha, the main military base of the al-Lajat region in the time of Herod. A two-storey Roman villa, a large cistern and dated inscriptions survive. The church built here in 354-355 for Saint Sergius is one of the earliest known buildings dedicated to a saint away from the place of his martyrdom.

Where it is

North-east of Shahba. Shaqqa lies to the south, and the villages of Umm al-Zaytoun and Amra to the south-west; Hit is on the same route as Shaqqa.

What to see

A two-storey Roman villa and a large cistern. An inscription dated 232 says the town was run by a strategos, a military governor. The traveller Porter, who passed through in the 1850s, wrote that most of the village was ancient ruins and that most of the houses people lived in were ancient buildings. His list includes a temple of Jupiter, a fountain built by Aelius Maximos and a second fountain dated 120. By his account the town once held 10000 people; the population he saw was a few hundred.

The church of Saint Sergius

In 354-355 the Byzantine deacon Sabinianos built a church to Saint Sergius as part of a monastery. It is counted among the earliest known churches dedicated to the saint away from the place where he was martyred. The sources do not say what is left of the monastery itself.

A Christian village in the Jabal

Records from 1838 describe Hit as a Catholic village. In 1927 it had 284 Christians and 182 Druze, making it the only village with a Christian majority in Jabal al-Druze. Today it has two Melkite Greek Catholic churches: the Church of the Annunciation and, in the cemetery, the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. The 2004 census counted 655 people.

What not to miss

The houses themselves. The remains are not in a separate site: as Porter noted in the 1850s, most of the lived-in houses were ancient buildings. How many still are today is not known, but seeing Eitha means walking the village streets.

Where it stands now

The current condition of the villa and the cistern cannot be confirmed. The area around Shahba has been caught up in fighting since July 2025, and access is not regular. This page tells you what Hit is; it does not tell you that you can go there today.