Grid position 193/291 PAL Governorate Nabatieh Governorate Elevation 560 m (1,840 ft) Area code +961 | Country Lebanon District Marjeyoun District Time zone EET (UTC+2) | |
Majdel Selm, or Mejdel Islim, (Arabic: مجدل سلم) is a village the Marjeyoun District in Southern Lebanon.
Contents
Map of Majdal Selm, Lebanon
Name
According to E. H. Palmer, the name Mejdel Islim means Islim’s watch-tower, p.n.
History
In 1596, it was named as a village, Majdal Salim, in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 51 households and 8 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25 % on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, vegetable and fruit garden, orchard, goats, beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,110 akçe.
In 1875 Victor Guérin found that the village had about 300 Metawileh inhabitants. He further noted: "A mosque, now abandoned and falling into ruins, has succeeded here a Byzantine church, the materials of which have been used in building it. Over one of the windows is a stone (apparently once the lintel) with an old Greek inscription, the characters of which are too much defaced to be read. A monolithic column lies beside it, half buried in the ground, surmounted by a capital sculptured in form of open basket work."
In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it as a "large village, built of stone, of ancient appearance, containing about 500 [..] Metawileh [..]. Situated on table land, surrounded by olives and arable land. Water supply from a large masonry birket and many cisterns." They further noted: "Village containing several good lintels and remains of ruins; an ancient road leads from the village to the Birkeh."