Inkhil

Inkhil (Arabic: أنخل‎, also spelled Ankhil) is a town in the al-Sanamayn District of the Daraa Governorate in southern Syria located north of Daraa and just east of the Golan Heights in the Hauran plain. In the 2004 census by the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics it had a population 31,258.

History

During Roman Empire rule, Inkhil was dominated by the Ghassanid Arab Kingdom, a vassal entity of the Romans based in nearby Jabiya to the west. Among other ruins, there are the remains of a large villa in the town dating from the 2nd-century CE during Byzantine Empire-rule. Within the building is large vaulted central hall which connects to several rooms containing busts and other Byzantine-era sculptures carved from basalt. Its facade has highly decorated entrances and conch-head niches.

In 1596 Inkhil appeared in the Ottoman tax registers under the name of Nahal, being part of the nahiya of Bani Kilab in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 86 households and 45 bachelors. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 40% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, goats and bee-hives; in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 13,000 akçe. Most of the income (22 out of 24 parts) went to a Waqf.