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Zahlé (also transliterated Zahleh; Lebanese Arabic: ; (アルメニア語:Զահլէ)) is the capital and largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 50,000 inhabitants, it is the fourth largest city in Lebanon (by city proper population) after Beirut, Tripoli and Baalbek, and the fifth largest taking the whole urban area (Jounieh urban area being larger). It is situated east of the capital Beirut, close to the Beirut-Damascus road, and lies at the junction of the Lebanon mountains and the Beqaa plateau, at a mean elevation of 1000m. Zahlé is known as the "Bride of the Beqaa" and "the Neighbor of the Gorge" due to its geographical location and attractiveness, but also as "the City of Wine and Poetry" It is famous throughout Lebanon and the region for its pleasant climate, numerous riverside restaurants and quality arak. Its inhabitants are predominantly Greek Catholic and known as Zahlawis. == Origin of name == History The name ''Zahlé'' is derived from the Syriac word "Zaḥlé", which refers to "moving places". The occasional landslides which take place on deforested hills around the town are probably at the origin of this name. Zahlé was founded in the early 18th century, in an area whose past reaches back some five millennia. It enjoyed a brief period as the region’s first independent state in the 19th century, when it had its own flag and anthem. Due to its relative geographic isolation from the local centers of power in Mount Lebanon and Syria, the town did not have any significant allies in the region to fall back on in case of conflicts or attacks. This led its inhabitants to develop a defensive attitude, which can still be felt today. Zahlé was burned in 1777 and 1791. At the time of the civil war of 1860 Zahlé had a population to 10,000 with its prosperity based on wheat, sheep and silk. In June of that year the town came under siege from a mixed Kurd, Arab and Druze force, numbering 8,000, which approached from the Beqaa valley. The Druze contingent was led by Ismail el Atrash and they were reported to have killed 700 Christians in Rashaiyat el Wady. On 14 June the defenders launched an attack with 200 horsemen and 600 men on foot. They were defeated and 70 killed. A similar sortie was launched the following day with the same result. The local Ottoman Kaimakam offered the population protection if they surrendered their weapons. This offer was rejected. On 18 June the attackers launched a diversionary attack which drew most of the towns 4,000 defenders into the open upon which a force of 1,200 Druze attacked the town from the surrounding hillsides quickly occupying the town centre. The defenders abandoned the town and retreated into the mountains rising 3,000 feet to the Northwest. All the buildings including "The Lady of Refuge" Church were burnt to the ground. The Maronite leadership, with 15,000 armed men less than six hours away, were accused of not doing anything to assist the town. Zahlé was one of the first towns to be re-built with its citizens returning in the autumn, and much of their wealth having escaped the looting.〔Jessup, Henry Harris (c. 1910) ''Fifty-Three Years in Syria. Volume 1.'' General Books LLC, Mephis 2012. ISBN 978-0217-213-34-9 (Years'' ) pp.184-186〕 Quoting a contemporary Christian historian of the siege of Zahlé in the year 1841:The Harfushes did not credit Zahlé only, but also all Christians in Lebanon. The Christians would have been humiliated if they had lost their battle (Zahlé) against the Duruze, who had (the Duruze) earlier won the battle in Deir Al Qamar ( The Harfushes stood behind the Christians and defeated the Duruze in the battle field of Zahlé).〔hoser al litham aan nakabat al sham, Makarios, p. 13.〕 The construction of the railroad line between Beirut and Damascus in 1885 brought prosperity to Zahlé, which became a freight hub on the trade route between Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, while continuing to serve as a regional agricultural center. The town then grew slowly, but steadily, over the following century. Tradition holds that many Christians quit the Baalbek region in the eighteenth century for the newer, more secure town of Zahlé on account of the Harfushes' oppression and rapacity, but more critical studies have questioned this interpretation, pointing out that the Harfushes were closely allied to the Orthodox Ma‘luf family of Zahlé (where indeed Mustafa Harfush took refuge some years later) and showing that depredations from various quarters as well as Zahlé’s growing commercial attractiveness accounted for Baalbek’s decline in the eighteenth century.What repression there was did not always target the Christian community per se. The Shiite ‘Usayran family, for example, is also said to have left Baalbek in this period to avoid expropriation by the Harfushes, establishing itself as one of the premier commercial households of Sidon and later even serving as consuls of Iran.〔• 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zahlé」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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