Images Dar Qita Kharbat El Shams Maez Sheik Sliman

The region of the Dead Cities was as beautiful at the time of its flourishing as it is today. Rural life was based on private property: each family had its own field to take care of. In general the owners lived in the village where they owned a field, although “foreign” property can’t be excluded. Fields were separated by straight lines, divided by little walls. Each village had oil presses: some of them were private and belonged to rich owners, while the public ones provided services to the smaller owners. Local people probably traded oil and wine, iron and other objects from different regions of Syria.