BOSTRA. - City of the Hawrân, ancient capital of the Roman province of Arabia established by Trajan in the year 106. Christianity was introduced there very early: it already had a bishop in the 3rd century, and Origen visited it twice. Its bishop Titus wrote a work against Mani, now lost. It still preserves many important ruins from the Roman period and those of a large Christian church; an inscription tells us that it was dedicated to Sts. Sergius and Bacchus and that it had been built under Archbishop Julian in the year 407 (of the era of B.), sixth indiction: therefore between September 512 and March 513. The old publications of Rey, de Vogüé and H. C. Butler give an erroneous idea of it; recent excavations have brought to light its real form, that is, that of a rotunda inscribed in a square and having at its center a quatrefoil structure formed by piers and columns (cf. J. W. Crowfoot, Churches at B. and Samaria-Sebase, British School of Archaeol., in Jerusalem, Supplementary Paper, 4, 1937).
It is a ground plan that connects with that of the Armenian church of Zwarthnotz, with St. Lawrence in Milan and the recently discovered churches of Apamea and Antioch; all related to the type of building erected at the center of the stoa of Hadrian in Athens, which was perhaps a church. The type of roofing of the church remains an unsolved problem: probably the central part was covered with a wooden dome, like the Anastasis of Jerusalem, the "new" church of Jerusalem built by Justinian and described by Procopius. The church was decorated with frescoes and mosaics.
Ugo Monneret de Villard
At B. the Catholic episcopate was re-established in 1687. The series of bishops has been uninterrupted since 1836. The metropolitan resides in Damascus or at Habab, where the most important parish is. There are 5,700 faithful, 22 centers of worship, 10 churches, 14 priests, 27 schools.
Guglielmo de Vries