Arwad

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Harbor in Arwad

Arwad viewed from the air

Arwad – formerly Arado (Greek: Άραδο), Arados (Greek: Άραδος), Arvad, Arpad, Arphad, Antiochia in Pieria (Greek: Αντιόχεια της Πιερίας), Latin: Aradus, and also transliterated from Arabic as Ar-Ruad (ارواد) – located in the Mediterranean Sea, is the only island in Syria. The town of Arwad takes up the entire island. It is located 3 km from Tartous, Syria's second-largest port. Today, it is mainly a fishing town. It is also believed that Arados was an old name for Bahrain.

[edit] History

The island was settled in the early 2nd millennium BC by the Phoenicians. Under Phoenician control, it became an independent kingdom called Arvad or Jazirat (the latter term meaning "island"). The city has been cited^[1] as one of the first known examples of a republic in the world, in which the people, rather than a monarch, are described as sovereign. In Greek it was known as Arado or Arados. The city also appears in ancient sources as Arpad and Arphad.^[2] The city was renamed Antiochia in Pieria by Antiochus I Soter. The island was important as a base for commercial ventures into the Orontes valley.

The Island was mentioned twice in The Holy Bible, The Prophet Ezekiel on the Phoenician City of Tyre, ch. 27:

"The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee, they were thy pilots"

"The men of Arvad with thine army, were upon thy walls round about, and valorous men were in thy towers; they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have perfected thy beauty."

During the time of the crusades, the Knights Templar built an island fortress. After their departure from Tartous in 1291, the Templars kept on to this fortress until 1303 as their last foothold in the Middle East before retreating to Cyprus.