Maʿlūlā is manifestly a site of remote antiquity, but I have been unable to discover any clue to its ancient name or history. I made such search for inscriptions as my time admitted of, but in vain. I have examined the ancient geographical works and Itineraries with no better success; and even in the Notitia Ecclesiasticæ I have discovered no name whose analogy might lead to identification. A tradition of the monks is that it was formerly called Laodicea, but its position does not accord with that of any of the cities of that name mentioned by ancient writers. It is somewhat remarkable that the inhabitants of Maʿlūlā still use the Syriac language, though they are also acquainted with Arabic. A few rites peculiar to the ancient Jacobites are likewise observed here in marriage ceremonies by both Mohammedans and Christians, though the latter now belong to the Greek and Greek Catholic Churches. The only other places where the Syriac is spoken in Syria are the two neighbouring villages of ʿAyn at-Tīnā and Baẖʿā. The former is a little over a mile and a half south of Maʿlūlā, and the latter about three miles north-east.
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