Country Syria District Al-Safira Elevation 348 m (1,142 ft) Local time Sunday 2:20 AM | Governorate Aleppo Subdistrict Al-Safira Time zone EET (UTC+2) | |
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Weather 7°C, Wind NW at 6 km/h, 67% Humidity | ||
As-Safira (Arabic: السفيرة / ALA-LC: as-Safīrah; North Syrian Arabic: Sfīre) is a Syrian city administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. It is the administrative center for the as-Safira District. As Safīrah has an altitude of 348 meters (1,142 ft), and a population of 106,382 as of 2007, making it the 11th largest city per geographical entity in Syria.
Contents
Map of Al-Safirah, Syria
Name
Medieval geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi spells the name Asfīrah (أسفيرة), not as-Safira (السفيرة), which indicates that the definite article in the modern spelling is a result of hypercorrection.
As-Safira was known in pre-Islamic times as Sipri. Historians have suggested that the name Sipri may have come from the Akkadian word siparru meaning "bronze", which might indicate that copper was mined and bronze was worked there.
History
Since ancient times the city has been the distribution point for salt gathered from the nearby Sabkhat al-Jabbul.
Archeological findings
The Sfire I Treaty which may contain 8th century BCE evidence of a deity called "Most High."