Aḍ-Ḍumayr, the ancient Thelsae (Notitia dignitatum) or Admedera (Tabula Peutingeriana), is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Damascus. It is the site of of Temple of Zeus Hypsistos, which dates back to October 15, 245 CE. In the Middle Ages it was used as a fortress. We know that the name of Hypsistos, the all-High, was sometimes given to Zeus, but here it is an attribute of the one God of Mosaic revelation, in this case the object of a universal worship going beyond the religious particularism of the worshippers of the God of Israel.
The temple was turned into a fortress in the thirteenth century.
Aḍ-Ḍumayr was an important town since at least the first century of our era, as testified by the beautiful Nabataean votive cippus at the Louvre. It was protected, from the east, against the incursions of the nomads, by two fortified posts; One was called al-H̱irba or al-Maqṣūra, and the other al-Burj. Maqṣūra goes back to the second century when it was occupied by a Roman garrison. Burj was likely erected by the Ġassānīd prince al-Munḏir III (566 - 580 CE).
Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.
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