View source for Khirbat al-Simia

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{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Khirbat al-Simia
| translit_lang1          = Arabic
| translit_lang1_type     = [[Arabic script|Arabic]]
| translit_lang1_info     = خربة السيميا
| translit_lang1_type1    = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| translit_lang1_info1    = As-Simiya (official)
| type                    = [[Village council (Palestinian Authority)|Municipality type D (Village council)]]
| image_skyline           = 
| image_caption           = 
| pushpin_map             = Palestine
| pushpin_map_caption     = Location of Khirbat al-Simia within [[Palestine]]
| image_map               = 
| map_caption             = 
| coordinates             = {{coord|31|25|18|N|35|02|01|E|region:PS|display=inline,title}}
| grid_name               = [[Palestine grid|Palestine&nbsp;grid]]
| grid_position           = 153/92
| subdivision_type        = State
| subdivision_name        = [[State of Palestine]]
| subdivision_type1       = [[Governorates of the Palestinian National Authority|Governorate]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Hebron Governorate|Hebron]]
| established_title       = Founded
| established_date        = 
| government_footnotes    = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags -->
| government_type         = [[Village council (Palestinian Authority)|Village council]] 
| leader_title            = 
| leader_name             = 
| unit_pref               = dunam
| area_footnotes          = 
| area_total_km2          = 
| area_total_dunam        = 
| elevation_footnotes     = 
| elevation_m             = 
| elevation_min_m         = 
| elevation_max_m         = 
| population_footnotes    = 
| population_total        = 1,705
| population_as_of        = 2006
| population_note         = 
| population_density_km2  = auto
| blank_name_sec1         = Name meaning
| blank_info_sec1         = The mark, or sign<ref>Palmer, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/408/mode/1up 408]</ref>
| website                 = 
| footnotes               = 
}}
'''Khirbat al-Simia''' ({{langx|ar|خربة السيميا}}) is a [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] village located four  kilometers north-west of [[As-Samu]] .The village is in the [[Hebron Governorate]] Southern [[West Bank]]. According to the [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]], the village had a population of 1,705 in mid-year 2006.<ref>[http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop11.aspx Projected Mid -Year Population for Hebron Governorate by Locality 2004- 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920093135/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop11.aspx |date=2008-09-20 }} [[Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics]]</ref>

==History==
It has been suggested that  Khirbat al-Simia was identical to a Biblical place named [[Eshean]].<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/313/mode/1up 313]</ref>

===Ottoman era===
[[File:Khirbat al-Simia.png|thumb|Diagram of [[tomb]] south-east of Khirbat al-Simia, as drawn by SWP]]
Khirbat al-Simia was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1517, and in the [[daftar|census]] of 1596 the village appeared  under the name ''Simya Burin (Abu Hasan)'', being in the ''[[Nahiya]]'' of [[Hebron|Halil]] of the ''[[Liwa (Arabic)|Liwa]]'' of [[Jerusalem|Quds]]. It had a population of 18 households, all [[Muslim]]. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including  wheat, barley, summer crops, vineyards and fruit trees, goats and bee-hives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 1,600 [[Akçe]].<ref>Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 123</ref>

In 1838,  ''Simieh''  was noted by [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]]  as a place "in ruins or deserted," part of the area south-west of [[Hebron]].<ref name=Robinson116>Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.  [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/116/mode/1up 116]</ref>

In 1863, [[Victor Guérin]]  noted: "The highest point of this mound is occupied by the debris of a small [[fort]], the lower [[Course (architecture)|courses]] of which, still standing, are composed of enormous blocks cut in [[Boss (architecture)|bosses]].

Lower down I notice the location of a building which, except for a fine section of wall of very regular stones, is upset from top to bottom. Two tombs of broken stone columns lie on the ground in the interior. Perhaps, in the [[Christian era]], this edifice served as a [[Church (building)|church]].
As for the houses, there was scarcely anything left, except for the cisterns and caves dug in the rock which a number of them contained. I also observe a small birket about ten · paces by four wide; it is partly built and partly dug in the rock.

A short distance to the east of this hill, on the last slopes of a mountain, is a magnificent tomb, which is preceded by a small courtyard, cut in the bright rod, which measures eight steps in length by six and half wide. From there one enters into an open [[Vestibule (architecture)|vestibule]], decorated externally with two pilasters and two [[Doric order|Doric]] [[column]]s, arranged in the thickness of the rock, and whose frieze consists of denoted metopes and triglyphs. This vestibule is, on the inside, seven paces long and three and a half wide. A very low bay in the center allows one to penetrate crawling into the [[Tomb|sepulchral]] chamber, which itself is seven paces long by five wide and is surrounded by a bench. The place for two bodies had been prepared under a curved [[arch]]."<ref>Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr06gugoog#page/n215/mode/1up 202]-203</ref>

In 1883, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]]'s  [[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Palestine]] (SWP) noted at ''Es Simia'': "Walls, [[cistern]]s, caves, and tombs, principally broken, but one well cut. It is a large ruin, and evidently an ancient site. A [[courtyard]], 23 feet 8 inches by 19 feet 6 inches, is cut in rock in front of the [[porch]], which is 20 feet 9 inches wide and 8 feet to the back. It is supported on two pillars, 14 inches diameter, and two pilasters, all cut in rock with very simple [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]]. Over the pillars at 6 feet from the
ground is a [[frieze]] with 9 medallions, divided by [[triglyph]]s.
A door 2 feet 3 inches wide leads from the porch into a chamber, 11 feet 7 inches wide, by 9 feet 8 inches to the back. In the right-hand corner at the back is a recess, 2 feet wide, 16 inches to the back. On the
right a door 2 feet wide leads into another chamber 6 feet square."<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/378/mode/1up 378]-9</ref>

===British Mandate era===
In the [[1931 census of Palestine]], conducted  by the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate authorities]], Khirbat al-Simia, together with [[As-Samu]] and ''Kh. Rafat'' had a total of 1,882 Muslims,  in 372 houses.<ref>Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas  33]</ref>

===Jordanian era===
In the wake of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] and the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]], Khirbat al-Simia came under [[Jordan]]ian rule.

===1967, aftermath===
Since the [[Six-Day War]] in 1967, the village has been under [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli occupation]]. The population in the 1967 census conducted by the Israeli authorities was 267.<ref name=67census>{{cite web |url=http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/1967_census/vol_1_tab_2.pdf |title=The 1967 Census of the West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Digitized Version |author=Perlmann, Joel |date=November 2011 – February 2012 |website=[[Levy Economics Institute]] |publisher= |access-date=24 June 2016 |quote=}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|authorlink1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|authorlink2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1883|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp03conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]|volume=3}}   
*{{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|authorlink=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr06gugoog|volume=1: Judee, pt. 3|year=1869|publisher= L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=French}}  
*{{cite book | last1= Hütteroth  |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth|first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah | title = Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ  | year = 1977 | publisher = Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft|isbn= 3-920405-41-2}} 
*{{cite book|editor = Mills, E.|title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932}} 
*{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|authorlink=Edward Henry Palmer|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp00conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer|publisher=[[Palestine Exploration Fund|Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund]]}}  
*{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=E.|authorlink1=Edward Robinson (scholar)|last2=Smith|first2=E.|authorlink2=Eli Smith|year=1841|url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalresearch03robiuoft |title=Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838|  location=Boston|publisher=[[Crocker & Brewster]]|volume=3}} 
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Khirbat_al_Simya_2115/index.html Welcome To Khirbat al-Simya]
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 21:   [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8383  IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.21.jpg Wikimedia commons]

{{Hebron Governorate}}

[[Category:Villages in the West Bank]]
[[Category:Hebron Governorate]]
[[Category:Municipalities of Palestine]]