Syria Trails › Places

Cyrrhus (Nabi Huri)

سيروس (النبي هوري)

Hellenistic and Roman city in far north Aleppo province, with a large theatre, two Roman bridges and the Nabi Huri shrine in a Roman tower tomb.

In the far north of Aleppo province near the Turkish border lie the ruins of Cyrrhus, known locally as Nabi Huri. It was founded by Macedonian generals after Alexander's conquests, early in the Hellenistic period, and named after a city in Macedonia.

It flourished under Rome as an administrative and military centre on the road from Antioch to the Euphrates, with a legion stationed there, and in Byzantine times became an important bishopric, famous for the 5th-century bishop and writer Theodoret of Cyrrhus.

Cyrrhus was founded by Seleucus Nicator shortly after 300 BC and named after a Macedonian city; by the 1st century AD it was a Roman administrative, military and commercial centre on the trade route between Antioch and the Euphrates crossing at Zeugma, and minted its own coinage. In the 6th century Justinian embellished and fortified it. The Arabs took it in 637 and called it Qorosh, Nur ad-Din Zangi captured it in 1150, and Muslim travellers of the 13th and 14th centuries described it as a large city but largely in ruins.

Highlights include one of the largest Roman theatres in Syria and two Roman bridges over the Sabun river, plus walls, streets and churches. At the edge of the site, a hexagonal Roman tower tomb became the Islamic shrine of Nabi Huri, with an Ottoman mosque added.

Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.

For the visitor

Photos

Photos: Bertramz — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY) · Frank Kidner — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)