Diban
| Diban ذيبان | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
  Diban | |
| Coordinates: 35°0′9″N 40°30′42″E / 35.00250°N 40.51167°E | |
| Country |
 Syria |
| Governorate | Deir ez-Zor Governorate |
| District | Mayadin District |
| Nahiyah | Diban |
| Population (2004 census)[1] | |
| • Total | 9,000 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Diban (Arabic: ذيبان, also spelled Thiban or Dhiban) is a town in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, located along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, south of Deir ez-Zor, 17 kilometers south of al-Busayrah and 13 kilomaters north of Asharah.[2] Nearby localities include Mayadin to the north and east, al-Hawayij to the northeast, Makhan to the south and al-Tayanah to the southeast According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Diban had a population of 9,000 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative seat of a nahiyah ("subdistrict") which consists of ten localities with a total population of 65,079 in 2004.[1]
Part of Diban is situated on a hill called Tell Diban, which is also an archaeological site. Tell Diban is identified with the ancient Aramean city of Rummunina,[2][3] a probable derivation of the Aramaic word rumman ("pomegranate").[2] The city and its surrounding fields served as a pre-war camp for Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta II's army during his last military campaign in 885 BCE. The king reported that Rummunina was situated along a canal of the Khabur River, a tributary of the Euphrates.[3] According to Belgian orientalist Edward Lipinsky, Tell Diban was "certainly occupied during the Iron Age."[2]
References
- 1 2 General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Deir az-Zawr Governorate. (Arabic)
- 1 2 3 4 Lipinsky, pp. 84-85.
- 1 2 Bryce, 2009, p. 598.
Bibliography
- Bryce, Trevor (2009). The Routledge Handbook of The People and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Earky Bronze Age to the fall of the Persians Empire. Routledge. ISBN 1134159080.
- Lipiński, Edward (2000). The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042908598.
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