Tafas
|
Tafas طفس |
|
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Tafas
|
|
| Coordinates: 32°44′16″N 36°4′7.5″E / 32.73778°N 36.068750°E | |
| Country |
 Syria
|
| Governorate | Daraa Governorate |
| District | Daraa District |
| Nahiyah | Muzayrib |
| Occupation |
.svg){kind=small} Southern Front
|
| Population (2004 census) | |
| • Total | 32,236 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
Tafas (Arabic: طفس, also spelled Tafs or Tuffas) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the Daraa Governorate, located north of Daraa. Nearby localities include al-Shaykh Saad and Nawa to the north, Da'el, Abtaa and al-Shaykh Maskin to the northeast, Saham al-Jawlan and Adwan to the northwest and Muzayrib to the southwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Tafas had a population of 32,236 in the 2004 census.
Before the Hellenistic era, the goddess Isis Lactans "Weeping Isis" was worshipped in Tafas, as evidenced by the discovery of statuette of her in the town. During the Roman era in Syria, a Jewish community existed in Tafas. Several funerary stelae, the earliest dating to 64 BCE, were found in Tafas. A bronze patera from the Roman era was also found, but it was later stolen from the Mohammedan Museum of Damascus.
In 1596, Tafas appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the nahiya of Bani Malik al-Asraf in the Qada Hawran. It had a population of 73 households and 40 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, occasional revenues, goats and beehives.
In 1810, Tafas was "ruined" by Wahhabi tribesmen, according to Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. The first elementary school in the village was built in 1865. In the 1880s, Tafas was described as a moderate-sized village of around 100 stone-built houses inhabited by around 250 Muslims. Some of the houses were in ruins and not inhabited. There was an active Friday mosque. A decade later, it was described as having 90 houses and 400 inhabitants.
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