Some 40 vil­lages grouped in eight parks sit­u­at­ed in north-west­­ern Syr­ia pro­vide remark­able tes­ti­mo­ny to rur­al life in late Antiq­ui­ty and dur­ing the Byzan­tine peri­od. Aban­doned in the 8th to 10th cen­turies, the vil­lages, which date from the 1st to 7th cen­turies, fea­ture a remark­ably well pre­served land­scape and the archi­tec­tur­al remains of dwellings, pagan tem­ples, church­es, cis­terns, bath­hous­es etc. The relict cul­tur­al land­scape of the vil­lages also con­sti­tutes an impor­tant illus­tra­tion of the tran­si­tion from the ancient pagan world of the Roman Empire to Byzan­tine Chris­tian­i­ty. Ves­tiges illus­trat­ing hydraulic tech­niques, pro­tec­tive walls and Roman agri­cul­tur­al plot plans fur­ther­more offer tes­ti­mo­ny to the inhab­i­tants‘ mas­tery of agri­cul­tur­al pro­duc­tion.