Basufan
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Basufan
باصوفان | |
|---|---|
Village | |
  Basufan | |
| Coordinates: 36°20′23″N 36°52′30″E / 36.33972°N 36.87500°E | |
| Country |  Syria |
| Governorate | Aleppo |
| District | Afrin |
| Nahiyah | Afrin |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
• Total | 901 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (AST) |
Basufan (Arabic: باصوفان; Kurdish: Basûfan)[2] (sometimes spelled Bassoûfâne, Bassoufane, Bosoufane, Bāşūfān) is an ancient village located in northwestern Syria. The village is populated by Yazidis and had a population of 901 in the 2004 census according to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS),[1][2] and had a population of 2059 according to the civil registry records at the end of 2005.[2]
The village is notable for being the site of a former fifth-century church dedicated to Saint Phocas.
The village of Basufan is located in Aleppo Governorate, about 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Aleppo. It is built at an altitude of 632 meters,[3] and is located to the east of Mount Simeon.
Description
The village hosts several vestiges of the Byzantine-era settlement which are dated between the fifth and the seventh centuries. Howard Crosby Butler, in 1905, at the head of an archaeological expedition from the American University of Princeton, mentioned a large Islamic cemetery located around the ancient church. He also mentioned having found the remains of another church, older and completely destroyed.[4] The church dedicated to Saint Phocas was probably part of a monastic complex. The same year, Gertrude Bell crossed Basufan and found the village mainly inhabited by Kurds, who rented their houses during the hot summer months to Christians and Jews of Aleppo who had come on vacation.[5]
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