Sarmada and its Roman Twin Column

A town in the Dana subdistrict, 30 kilometres north of Idlib and close to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing. Visitors heading for Dead Cities such as Babisqa, Behyo and Deir Turmanin usually hire a car and driver here. The town’s landmark is the Sarmada Column at its southern end: a Roman tomb monument of the 2nd century, made of two columns standing side by side. Yaqut al-Hamawi records the name as Sarmad, meaning everlasting.

What the column is

The monument is a tomb. It belonged to a man named Alexandros. Two columns rise from a rectangular base, each built of 13 cylindrical drums. At the level of the tenth drum a horizontal beam ties the two together, and capitals crown the tops. A dedication on one of the columns dates to 132-141; the monument is given as 16 metres high.

Other inscriptions in the town reach further back and further forward: the tomb of the priest Manlius, dated 111-112, and Greek inscriptions of 341, 436 and 483. In 722 Elias, Patriarch of Antioch, consecrated a church here.

What happened here in 1119

On 28 June 1119 the Crusader army of Roger of Salerno, regent of Antioch, was destroyed on this plain by Ilghazi of Mardin. Latin sources call the battle Ager Sanguinis, the Field of Blood; it is also known as the Battle of Sarmada. That same summer Ilghazi took Atarib as well.

What is nearby

Two kilometres west of town, 400 metres off the road on a hillside, stands the 6th-century Monastery of Saint Daniel, also known as al-Breij. In 1121 King Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave this fortified monastery, called Hisn al-Dair, to Alan of Gael. On a high hill 3 kilometres south are the wall and column remains of Sarmada castle, and in the old town is the Sheikh Shahid Mosque.

The dress of the Dana area

Sarmada is one of the places where the traditional women’s dress of the Dana plain is recorded. The outfit was a velvet gown, a silk sash 2 to 4 metres long and a silk headscarf decorated with gold coins.

Getting there

The town is 30 kilometres north of Idlib, with Dana 7 kilometres to the east. The column is at the southern end of town; asking locally is enough. Roads and checkpoints change; check the current situation before you set out.

How long it takes

Half an hour for the column. Add the Monastery of Saint Daniel and it is an hour.

Don’t miss

The beam between the two columns. It sits at the level of the tenth drum, with three more drums above it on each column. It shows that the monument was designed as one structure, not as two separate columns.