Arab al-Mulk

Did You Know?

• The southern part of the village is known as Beldi al-Melek.
• The village occupies a small peninsula on the right bank of the Sinn tributary as it empties into the sea.
• To the immediate northwest is a small creek measuring around 110 meters long and 60 meters wide.

History

Arab al-Mulk is the site of the ancient Phoenician settlement of Paltos, believed to have existed between the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, as indicated by its mention in the dithyrambs of Greek writer Simonides of Keos, who claimed Memnon was buried near Paltos. By the 1st century BCE it came under Seleucid control and prospered during the Late Hellenistic Period. Excavations in 1958 revealed a lengthy period between the 5th and 1st centuries BCE with no settlement activity in the northern Arab al-Mulk part of the village.

Paltos later served as a military camp for Gaius Cassius Longinus while part of the province of Syria. Greek geographer Strabo mentioned it in the last quarter of the 1st century BCE as a coastal town of the Aradians, and it was later listed as one of the cities of Syria. When the Province of Syria was divided into Syria Prima and Phoenicia in 194 CE, Paltos marked the border and was included in Syria Prima. A possible recessionary period occurred between the 3rd and 4th centuries as influence shifted northward.

Under the Severan administration, coins were minted in the town; bronze coins found in the late 1950s by a Danish expedition included those of Constantius II, Arcadius, and Justinian I. Paltos continued to be inhabited and prospered through late Roman and Byzantine times, had a Christian community, possibly contained a basilica church, and served as a diocese. In 528 it formed part of the Theodorias Province with Laodicea as capital. During the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 630s, the Arab general Ubadah ibn As-Samit conquered Paltos, and soon after the town fell into ruin, according to medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi who visited in 1229.

The inhabitants were transferred elsewhere, and Umayyad leader Mu'awiya used building materials from Paltos to reconstruct nearby Jableh.