Hadath El Jebbeh

Infobox City Lebanon
official_name = Hadath El Jebbeh
native_name = حدث ألجبة


image_size =
image_caption =
governorate = North Governorate
district = Bsharri District
lat_deg = 34
lat_min = 15
lat_sec = 00
lat_hem = N
lon_deg = 35
lon_min = 55
lon_sec = 46
lon_hem = E
elevation_m = 1420
mapx = 34.2500
mapy = 35.9294

Hadath El Jebbeh ( known as Hadeth El Jebbeh, Hadath el-Jubbah, Hadad El-Gebbeh or Hadet ej Jobbé; _ar. حدث ألجبة), is a town located in the Bsharri District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. It is situated in the Valley of Qadisha. The population is Christian Maronite.

Etymology

Hadath is the name of three localities in Lebanon. To differentiate between the localities, the name of the region is added, Hadath Beirut, Hadath Baalbeck and finally Hadath Al Jebbeh. Other localities by this name exist in the Midlle-East.

The Semitic root of "Hadath" means "the new". "Hadath" could mean "the new town" [Moubarac, Y. (1984). "Pentalogie Antiochienne / Domaine Maronite - Volume 2 - Part 2", Cenacle Libanais, Beirut. page 649.] .

The common pronunciation of the name is "Hadad". It gives an indication to a probable different meaning. "Hadad" was the northwest Semitic storm and rain god and the town could have had a temple dedicated to this god. And the popular tradition claims that the church dedicated to the saint patron of Hadath, Saint Daniel, was built on the remnants of a pagan temple [Lammens, H. (1986). "Tasrih al-Absar fi Ma Yahtawi Loubnan min Al-Athar", Dar Nazir Abboud, Beirut. Page 99-100] .

Jebbeh is the traditional name of the Kadisha region, called also "Jebbet Bsharri" in reference to Bsharri the largest town of this region. The Semitic root "Gb" means "well", "deep" and could be a reference to the deep gorges of the Kadisha. In Lebanon, other "Jebbeh" exist like "Jebbet Mnaytra" and "Jebbet Yanuh".

History

Hadath is a very ancient settlement. Maronites settled there in the 9th Century A.D. after fleeing the Orontes valley. The town knew its importance during the Crusades. It was destroyed at the end of 13th Century A.D. by the Mamluk army. Going to this period, 8 Maronite mummies of inhabitants were found in a nearby grotto, the 'Assi of Hadath. After its destruction, the town recovered and regained some importance till the end of the 16th Century A.D.

Hadath gave the Maronite Church three Patriarchs, Yaaqoub Ibn Eid (1445-1468), Boutros Ibn Youssef Ibn Yaaqoub, known as Ibn Hassane (1468-1492) and Sham'un Ibn Dawud Ibn Youssef Ibn Hassane (1492-1524) [Moubarac, Y. (1984). "Pentalogie Antiochienne / Domaine Maronite - Volume 1 - Part 1", Cenacle Libanais, Beirut. page 14.] . Those three patriarchs were very active in combating the influence of the Jacobites on the Maronites, a struggle that led to the eviction of the Jacobites of the Kadisha around 1550.

ee also

Maronite mummies

References

External links

[http://www.hadeth.com A website dedicated to Hadath, with a lot of useful informatiom, www.hadath.com] Last retrieved on May 8, 2008.