Barada

The Barada (, ) is the main river o Damascus, the caipital ceety o Sirie. It flows throu the spring o `Ayn Fijah (عين فيجة), aboot 27 km north wast o Damascus in the Anti-Lebanon Muntains, but its source is Lake Barada, locatit at aboot 8 km frae Zabadani. The Barada descends through a steep, narrow gorge namit "Rabwe" afore it arrives at Damascus, whaur it divides intae seiven branches that irrigate the oasis o Ghouta (الغوطة). The 'Barada' name is thocht tae derive frae 'barid', i.e. 'cauld'. The auncient Greek name means 'gowden stream'.

Throughoot the arid plateau region east o Damascus, oases, streams, an a few interior rivers that empty intae swamps an sma lakes provide watter for local irrigation. Maist important o thir is the Barada, a river that rises in the Anti-Lebanon Muntains an disappears intae the desert. The Barada creates the Al Ghutah Oasis, steid o Damascus. This verdant aurie, some 370 square kilometers, haes enabled Damascus tae prosper syne auncient times. Frae the mid-1980s onwards, the size o Al Ghutah wis gradually bein erodit as suburban hoosin an licht industry frae Damascus encroached on the oasis.

The river haes suffered frae severe drocht in the last decades, mainly due tae the lawer rainfaw rates an the lairge increase in the population in the region. It an aw suffers frae serious pollution problems, especially in the simmer, whaur thare is amaist nae flow an little watter in the basin.thumb|Barada river near the Citadel o Damascus 2006|left

Biblical mention
Barada is identifeed as Abana (or Amanah, classical Chrysorrhoas) which is the mair important o the twa rivers o Damascus an wis mentioned in the Beuk o Keengs (2 Keengs 5:12). As the Barada rises in the Anti-Lebanon Muntains, an escapes frae the muntains throu a narrae gorge, its waters spread oot fan-lik, in canals or rivers, the name o ane o which, the Banias river, retains a trace o Abana.

John MacGregor, who gies an interestin description o them in his beuk Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirmit that as a work of hydraulic engineering, the seestem an construction o the canals, bi which the Abana an Pharpar war uised for irrigation, might be considered as ane o the maist complete an extensive in the warld. In the Bible, Naaman exclaims that the Abana an Pharpar are greater than aw the waters of Israel.

References
From Gutenberg Encyclopedia (1911)

Category:Rivers o Sirie
Category:Geografie o Damascus
Category:Ebreu Bible rivers