Marus, Safad

In 1875, Victor Guérin found major ruins here. He described the place as a destroyed Arab village.Guérin, 1880, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n491/mode/1up 451]-2

In 1881 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine found here: "Modern and ancient ruins; a spring in a rock-cut cave, ancient foundations of good-sized stones; the foundations of a small rectangular building to the west of the eastern portion of the ruin. Some rock-cut tombs and many caves in hills around."Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/242/mode/1up 242]

Starting in 1981 Zvi Ilan excavated in sites next to the 20th century village in different directions. Excavations revealed signs of a long-standing community, and Jewish presence at some periods. An ancient synagogue built in the late 4th or early 5th century,Goodman et al, 2002, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4me0TRqPOB4C&pg=PA841 841] and a related Beth midrash of the 7th century,{{Cite web| publisher = Israel Antiquities Authority |title= Gallery of Sites and Finds| access-date = 2016-01-08| url = http://www.antiquities.org.il/site_Item_eng.asp?id=131}} a cache of coins ranging from the 5th to 9th centuries, a necropolis partly of the 1st century CE, and sherds from Roman to early Ottoman period. There are remains of a defensive wall of large stones, and a hewn moat.Ilan, 1983 (Hebrew), and [http://pace-ancient.mcmaster.ca/york/york/bibl/biblRecord?biblID=993 English abstract]

Based on the archaeological findings and the name Marus, archaeologist Zvi Ilan suggested Marus is to be identified with the town Meroth. Meroth ({{langx|grc|Μηρωθ}}) is mentioned by Josephus as a border town between Jewish Galilee and Tyre in the First Jewish–Roman War, and a place he fortified early in the war. Previous suggestions as to its location included Maroun al-Ras, and Meiron, which show less archaeological parallels. The name possibly derives from {{lang|he|מערות}} (Me'arot, caves).

Marus is probably mentioned in a Samaritan medieval manuscript, again as the border of Tyre, and in a pilgrimage guide of the 14th century.

In 1596, Marus was part of the Ottoman Empire, a village in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Jira under the liwa' ("district") of Safad, with a population of 176. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, and fruits as well as on goats.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 178. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 475Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420031504/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |date=2019-04-20 }} writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied from the Safad-district was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9. All the villagers were Muslim.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 178

In the second half of the 19th century Algerian followers of Abdelkader El Djezairi have been defeated by the French in Algeria, and sought refuge in another part of the Ottoman Empire. They were given lands in various locations in Ottoman Syria, including Marus, and the close by Dayshum, Ammuqa, Al-Husayniyya, and Tulayl.Abbasi, 2007 (Hebrew). Non-Hebrew version in The Maghreb Review, 28(1), 2003 pp. 41-59.

In the British Mandate period the village was classified as a hamlet by the Palestine Index Gazetteer.Khalidi, 1992, p. 475 In the 1922 census of Palestine, Marus had a population of 45; all Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, Sub-district of Safad, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n43/mode/1up 41] increasing in the 1931 census to 59, still all Muslims, in a total of 12 houses.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 108]

Grain cultivation and animal husbandry represented the chief sources of livelihood for the villagers. Figs as well as other fruits were also cultivated mainly to the east, northeast, and north of the site. Columns, tombs carved in rock, presses, and a cave with a carved stone entrance have been found at the site.{{Cite web |title=Marus — مارُوس |url=https://www.palquest.org/en/place/17094/marus |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest |language=en}}

In the 1945 statistics the population was 80 Muslims, and the total land area was 3,183 dunums. Of this, 108 dunums were plantations and irrigable land, 903 used for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Safad/Page-120.jpg 120] while 8 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Safad/Page-170.jpg 170]

The village was occupied by the Israeli Defense Force's Sheva' Brigade, during the Operation Hiram at the close of 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, describing the village land in 1992: "The site contains some olive and fig trees as well as stones from ruined homes. The surrounding land is used for grazing."Khalidi, 1992, p. 476

• Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite journal| issn = 0334-3774| issue = 68/69| pages = 56–72| last = Abbasi| first = Mustafa| title = From Algeria to the Holy Land: Algerian communities in the Galilee, from the late Ottoman period to 1948 / הקהילה האלג'יראית בגליל משלהי השלטון העות'מני עד שנת 1948| journal = Horizons in Geography / אופקים בגאוגרפיה| date = 2007| jstor = 23716446}}
• {{cite book |editor = Barron, J.B. |title = Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 |url = https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |publisher = Government of Palestine |year = 1923 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Conder|first1=C.R.|author-link1=Claude Reignier Conder|last2=Kitchener|first2=H.H.|author-link2=Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|year=1881|url=https://archive.org/details/surveyofwesternp01conduoft|title=The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology|location=London|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund|volume=1}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Department of Statistics|year=1945|publisher=Government of Palestine}}
• {{cite book|author1=Goodman, Martin|author2=Jeremy Cohen|author3=David Sorkin|title=The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4me0TRqPOB4C&pg=PA841|year=2002|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-928032-2|page=841}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongogr00gugoog|volume=3: Galilee, pt. 2|year=1880|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center}}
• {{Cite journal| issn = 0071-108X| volume = יז| pages = 141–146| last = Ilan| first = Zvi| title = Marous — A Fortified Village of the First Revolt on the Northern Border of Eretz-Israel (Pls. יב–יא) / מרות' — יישוב מבוצר מתקופת המלחמה ברומאים בגבול הצפון| journal = Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies / ארץ-ישראל: מחקרים בידיעת הארץ ועתיקותיה| date = 1983 | jstor = 23619498}}
• {{cite book

|last1=Hütteroth|first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth |last2=Abdulfattah|first2=K. |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|title=All That Remains|first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5}}
• {{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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C|first=B.|last=Morris|author-link=Benny Morris|year=2004|title=The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited|isbn=978-0-521-00967-6|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
• {{cite book|last=Palmer|first=E.H.|author-link=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=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}
• {{cite book |last=Rhode |first=H. |author-link=Harold Rhode |date=1979 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2026845 |title=Administration and Population of the Sancak of Safed in the Sixteenth Century |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=2017-12-02 |archive-date=2020-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301141739/https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century |url-status=dead }}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/Safad/Marus/index.html Welcome to Marus] Palestine Remembered
• [https://www.zochrot.org/en/village/49253 Marus], Zochrot
• [http://www.villagesofpalestine.com/Marus.htm Marus], Dr. Khalil Rizk.
• Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4: [http://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=93&type_id=6&id=8367 IAA], [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Survey_of_Western_Palestine_1880.04.jpg Wikimedia commons]
• [http://www.alnakba.org/villages/safad/marus.htm Marus], from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
• {{cite book|author1=Dan Urman|author2=Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher|title=Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery| contribution=The Synagogue and Study House in Meroth |contributor= Zvi Ilan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQyxvmYV-50C&pg=PA261|date=1 January 1998|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-11254-5|page=261ff}}
• {{Cite web| title = Hoard from the Meroth synagogue |publisher= The Israel Museum| url = http://www.imj.org.il/imagine/galleries/viewItemE.asp?case=6&itemNum=537098}}
• {{Cite web| title = Amulet of Yosi son of Zenobia |publisher= The Israel Museum | url = http://www.imj.org.il/imagine/galleries/viewItemE.asp?case=6&itemNum=396141}}

{{Palestinian Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Palestine War}}

Category:Arab villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War

Category:District of Safad

Category:19th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria

Category:1948 disestablishments in Israel